BOONE, N.C. — Blanketed by tight coverage in the front corner of the end zone, receiver
Jacoby Pinckney left his feet and used one hand to haul in the 25-yard throw from
Connor Barry for a highlight-reel touchdown.
During a Saturday scrimmage in which App State's offense, defense and special teams all made big plays, this one raised the volume in Kidd Brewer Stadium. The speakers began playing "Mountain Music" louder than any song had played all day, and offensive linemen danced purposefully after turning to face the defensive sideline.
"I liked both sides of the ball," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "It was up and down at times, but I liked the way the defense tackled. It was great to see today the way the defense tackled, especially in the red zone. The red zone defense improved, and on offense, we were able to run the football the way we wanted to, which was good to see."
Andrew Parker delivered the first big hit in red zone work, which included a fourth-down touchdown run by
Nate Noel and a short touchdown pass from
Joey Aguilar to
David Larkins.
Once the full-field scrimmaging began,
Ryan Burger and Aguilar took most of the snaps at quarterback.
Burger completed two-thirds of his passes for close to 200 yards, including big gains by Pinckney (39-yard catch in addition to his connection with Barry),
Dashaun Davis (32 yards) and
Makai Jackson (pair of catches for 55 yards, including a 26-yard score). Aguilar started fast, highlighted by a gain of 22 yards on an over-the-middle throw to Davis.
The run game included an 11-yard touchdown run by
Maquel Haywood as well as a bruising score from
Anderson Castle.
Ahmani Marshall and
Kanye Roberts both had runs of at least 15 yards, and Noel gained 35 yards on his six attempts.
The defense did a good job of forcing field goals, with
Michael Hughes connecting from 36, 22, 42 and 31 yards. After Burger moved the offense down the field quickly in a two-minute drill to set up another kick,
Milan Tucker blocked that attempt.
Playing cornerback, Tucker made a leaping interception of one throw at the 20 and sprinted the other way for what would have been an 80-yard touchdown. Kyle Arnolt produced one sack and followed that with an interception near midfield.
Other sacks came from the likes of
AJ Mebane,
Trenton Alan Yowe,
Markus Clark and
Shawn Collins.
Jalen McLeod,
Ronald Clarke, Collins and others joined Parker in making big hits that were proof of the high-level tackling that their head coach wanted to see.
