BOONE, N.C. — It's not called The Rock for nothing.
The terrain surrounding Kidd Brewer Stadium is responsible for the lengthy scar that remains visible along the palm of
Scott Satterfield's right hand.
Appalachian State's current head coach was Appalachian State's senior quarterback 22 years ago, and a serious hand injury suffered 10 days before the 1995 opener threatened to sideline him for the Mountaineers' visit to Wake Forest.
Satterfield's two-touchdown performance in a 24-22 victory that initiated an undefeated regular season ranks No. 2 on the list of top moments in App State's series history with the Demon Deacons. The countdown will conclude before the rivalry resumes Saturday afternoon with Wake Forest's first-ever visit to Kidd Brewer Stadium.
TOP MOMENT NO. 5
TOP MOMENT NO. 4
TOP MOMENT NO. 3
Satterfield has coached in plenty of games against teams from Power Five conferences, but the 1995 win in Winston-Salem was his lone start against an opponent from one of those leagues.
"I looked so forward to playing that game," said Satterfield, who enrolled at App State as a walk-on. "I had never played a Power Five team at the time, an ACC team. That was my only time, the only shot I got, and I wasn't going to miss the game."
Satterfield made a combined 15 starts for coach Jerry Moore as a sophomore and junior, but he didn't play in either of his team's mid-September losses at Wake Forest in 1993 or 1994. A heavy thunderstorm almost eliminated his last chance to compete against the Deacons.
App State was conducting a preseason practice on the elevated outdoor field where the Sofield Indoor Practice Facility now sits behind Kidd Brewer Stadium when a downpour littered with lightning sent players scurrying down the hill toward Owens Field House.
While still wearing their pads, Satterfield and some teammates treated the hill like a steep, bumpy Slip 'N Slide.
"The trainer didn't even have to say to get off the field – everybody took off running," Satterfield said. "Coming down to Owens, there used to be a bank right there, and we're all sliding down the hill. There was one more little hill at the bottom, and I took that one more time, hit a rock, split my hand open and ended up getting 28 stitches in my hand."
Despite the injury to his throwing hand, Satterfield played at Wake Forest with a protective pad positioned between his palm and the fabric of a makeshift, fingerless glove.
He completed 9 of 18 passes for 101 yards and gained 98 yards on 19 rushes, including touchdown runs of 5 and 2 yards as the Mountaineers built a 24-0 halftime lead in front of 21,831 fans.
"I played with the 28 stitches in my hand and ended up ripping a couple out through the game," Satterfield said. "It came down to the wire. Fortunately, we pulled it off."
Relying heavily on a "belly" option play, Satterfield rushed 12 times for 83 yards in the first half alone, and 210-pound back Damon Scott had 76 of his 101 rushing yards before halftime.
App State's Jamie Coleman opened the game with a 43-yard kickoff return, and Satterfield capped a 10-play drive with his first touchdown. The Mountaineers' next possession was a 16-play, 84-yard march that covered more than seven minutes and ended with a 23-yard field goal from Jay Sutton.
Jason Hatcher sacked Wake Forest quarterback Rusty LaRue on the first play of the next drive, and Chip Miller recovered a LaRue fumble on the next play, creating a short field for Kareem Young's 2-yard touchdown run with 11:35 remaining in the second quarter.
A fumble ended another App State drive deep into Wake Forest territory, but Jon Fanning's third-down sack of LaRue forced a punt that gave the Mountaineers one more possession before halftime. Satterfield directed another 10-play drive, scoring on a short run with 27 seconds left before the break.
"I was getting hit a lot," Satterfield said.
Wake Forest rallied in the second half, in part because the Mountaineers took a more conservative approach with their big lead. Backup quarterback Brian Kuklick threw a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes to Marlon Estes, and the Deacons' cut App State's lead to two points following Herman Lewis' 3-yard touchdown run with 5:45 left in the game.
Wake Forest regained possession with 4:03 remaining but punted 59 seconds later. An 11-yard carry by Scott and third-and-10 carry for 14 yards by Aldwin Lance enabled the Mountaineers to run out the clock.
For his efforts, Satterfield was named the Southern Conference player of the week.
"I remember coming back here around midnight and having to get straight in the ice tub up to my neck because I was so beat up," Satterfield said.
With defensive stars such as All-America linebacker Dexter Coakley and All-America safety Matt Stevens, the 1995 team put together the only unblemished regular season in school history, with six of those 11 wins coming by seven points or less.
The Mountaineers needed Satterfield's 27-yard touchdown pass to Ron Gilliam with 1:23 left in the regular-season finale to claim a 28-24 win against The Citadel, which went 0-8 in the Southern Conference, and App State beat James Madison by seven points in a playoff opener before losing to Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinal round.
Moore had only one losing record in his 24 years as the Mountaineers' coach, and that was a 4-7 season in 1993. Many of the young players who received early playing time for that struggling team helped lead the unbeaten run as upperclassmen in 1995.
"They went through a little bit of a rough start," Moore said. "The only losing season we ever had, they were on it, but we played so many young kids, and it turned out to be one of the elite teams we've had. They were a special group."
