BOONE, N.C. — Sitting together on a plane headed from Chicago to Greensboro, athletics directors Jim Jones of Appalachian State and Gene Hooks of Wake Forest agreed to start a continuous football series.
The Mountaineers and Demon Deacons weren't far-removed from the one-and-done deal that resulted in the first-ever meeting between the two programs in 1975. Four years before a second game was contested, App State claimed a 19-17 win at Wake Forest thanks to Gary Davis' 26-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
Davis' dramatic, rivalry-igniting kick ranks No. 3 on the list of top moments in the 22-game series. The countdown will continue this week, with No. 1 being unveiled before the series resumes Saturday afternoon with the Demon Deacons' first-ever visit to Kidd Brewer Stadium.
TOP MOMENT NO. 5
TOP MOMENT NO. 4
In just its fourth year as a Southern Conference member, App State followed a 41-25 home win against East Carolina in the 1975 opener with the two-point victory in front of 24,300 fans in Winston-Salem. That Jim Brakefield-coached team also won 39-34 at South Carolina late in an 8-3 season.
"We had quite a transition during that time, but that Wake Forest game was one of the biggest games," said Tom Sofield, an offensive guard on the 1975 team and the provider of the lead gift for the Sofield Indoor Practice Facility that's located behind Kidd Brewer Stadium. "It really helped promote the football program as far as a big win and led to a back-and-forth rivalry that was really a neat rivalry for years."
App State was short on a long field goal to finish the opening series at Wake Forest, which had won at 15th-ranked NC State the previous week, and the Deacons responded with a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Calvin Simon's 28-yard touchdown run helped tie the score early in the second quarter, and a fumble recovery on the second play of the next possession set up a 22-yard field goal for Davis. Wake Forest tied the game on a 31-yard field goal as the first half ended, and the Mountaineers pulled back ahead 16-10 on quarterback Robbie Price's 32-yard keeper for a touchdown late in the third quarter.
Davis missed the extra point, though, and the Deacons were able to take a 17-16 lead when a third-and-9 pass turned into a 14-yard touchdown with 4:20 remaining. An interception ended App State's next drive, but it regained possession at its 29 following a Wake Forest punt with less than 90 seconds left and used an 11-play drive to move inside the Deacons' 10.
"We started driving down the field and kept driving, getting another first down, another first down," Sofield said.
Price didn't complete any of his first four pass attempts on the drive, but his third-and-10 carry of 9 yards and a 13-yard keeper on a fourth-and-1 play from App State's 38 prolonged the possession. He gained 15 more yards on a keeper to Wake Forest's 34 before completing consecutive passes of 12 yards to Donnie Holt and 9 yards to Bill Yeager.
John Craig's 3-yard run set up the winning attempt for Davis, and he atoned for his missed extra point by converting the high-stakes kick with five seconds remaining.
"We thought from an offensive unit standpoint that we were going to drive down and score and not have to worry about a field goal, but the clock was about to run out," Sofield said. "When (Davis) came out, I remember getting in the huddle, and he said, 'Let's win this one.' He put it right through there.
"It took us probably 45 minutes to an hour to get out of the locker room, and the band and the fans were still out there playing. It was wild."
Price completed only four passes in the game, including the back-to-back throws late in the final drive, as the Mountaineers totaled 250 rushing yards on 53 attempts. Simon had 118 rushing yards to lead that triple-option offense, which put up at least 39 points in five victories that season and scored 52 on two occasions with Fisher DeBerry working as a 37-year-old assistant on Brakefield's staff.
When Sofield enrolled, App State was making the move from independent status to a SoCon member that played at the highest level of college football. Victories against ECU, Wake Forest and South Carolina were part of a satisfying end to the careers of Sofield and the Mountaineers' other seniors in 1975.
"We knew it was going to be a tough road," Sofield said. "Over a four-year period of time, we got a lot of good athletes in there and started being able to compete."
