STATESBORO, Ga. — No. 25 Appalachian State suffered its first Sun Belt Conference loss of the season Thursday, falling 34-14 at league co-leader Georgia Southern.
Anthony Flory had a team-high 10 tackles for the Mountaineers, who were playing their first game as a ranked team at the FBS level. They lost starting quarterback
Zac Thomas to an injury three plays into the game and second-leading tackler
Jordan Fehr to a targeting penalty in the first quarter.
Georgia Southern finished with 24 points off the five turnovers it forced, and App State was held to 288 yards of offense, including a team-best 63 rushing yards from
Darrynton Evans.
Peyton Derrick and
Jacob Huesman took snaps at quarterback the rest of the way after Thomas left the game, and Huesman threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to
Malik Williams with 10 seconds remaining.
The Mountaineers (5-2, 3-1) return to action Nov. 3 at Coastal Carolina (4-3, 1-2).
Demetrius Taylor's blocked punt and
D'Marco Jackson's 15-yard return to the Georgia Southern 31 created the first scoring opportunity on a rainy night at Paulson Stadium. The Eagles (7-1, 4-0) immediately followed a goalline interception and long return to start the second quarter with Shai Werts' 57-yard touchdown pass to Darion Anderson.
App State answered back quickly, using
Marcus Williams Jr.'s 23-yard run and backup quarterback Derrick's 50-yard pass to
Corey Sutton to set up a 1-yard touchdown run from Williams.
App State's defense forced a three-and-out, with
MyQuon Stout and Flory converging for the stop on a third-and-3 carry, but the Eagles made a fumble recovery at the Mountaineers' 10 following a muffed punt in heavy traffic.
Wesley Fields' 10-yard touchdown run on the next play put Georgia Southern ahead for good, and a three-and-out possession preceded a six-play scoring drive for the Eagles, who took a 17-7 lead on Tyler Bass' 42-yard field goal.
After Georgia Southern forced a three-and-out to open the second half, Fields rushed for 32 yards on a third-and-7 conversion and Werts scored on a 47-yard option keeper. The Eagles moved ahead 27-7 late in the third quarter on a 43-yard field goal that followed an interception on a tipped pass.
Huesman took over at quarterback for App State late in the third quarter, and one of the Eagles' four interceptions set up Fields' 18-yard touchdown run with 3:28 remaining. Huesman led a late scoring drive and threw the first touchdown pass of his career in the closing seconds.
POSTGAME NOTES
Appalachian State is now 30-4 in its last 34 conference games and 14-3 in its last 17 conference road games.
A week after batting down two passes,
Demetrius Taylor recorded the first blocked punt of his career. With
Steven Jones blocking two punts against Gardner-Webb and
Tae Hayes blocking a field goal against South Alabama, the Mountaineers have four blocked kicks this season, a total that's tied for third place nationally.
Corey Sutton, who entered the game with a yards-per-catch average of 21.53 that ranked No. 9 in the nation, had his third reception of at least 40 yards this season. He hauled in a 50-yard reception to set up a first-half touchdown.
Cole Garrison, a sophomore, made his first career start at right guard.
