BOONE, N.C. — App State Football rallied for three touchdowns over the final 20 minutes, with one more score needed to complete a comeback win, but Georgia Southern was able to run out the clock in a 25-23 victory at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Thursday night.
App State's red zone defense made a comeback possible by forcing the Eagles to kick field goals from 21, 26, 23 and 24 yards during the midweek rivalry game that drew a crowd of 31,876. The Mountaineers (4-5, 1-4) trailed 19-0 when
Dominic De Freitas made a 36-yard field goal to put points on the board as the first half ended, and they were behind 22-3 before scoring touchdowns with 4:51 left in the third quarter (
David Larkins' 1-yard reception) and 13:50 remaining in the fourth quarter (
Jaquari Lewis' 27-yard run).
The Eagles (4-5, 2-3) pushed a 22-16 lead to a two-score separation with their final field goal at the 9:05 mark, and
AJ Swann's 16-yard touchdown pass to
Jaden Barnes with 1:56 remaining prolonged the comeback bid. Georgia Southern recovered the onside kick but still needed to move the ball given that App State had all three of its timeouts remaining.
The Eagles collected a first down with an 11-yard run on the first play and sealed the game by converting a fourth-and-inches run from the App State 27 with 34 seconds remaining.
Barnes totaled 13 catches for 160 yards and a score, posting App State's highest reception total since Sean Price had 13 catches for 167 yards against Illinois State in 2012, and Swann threw for 348 yards with two scores in his return to the starting lineup. He completed 34 of 51 passes on a night when the Mountaineers rushed 23 times for 77 yards.
Defensively,
Colton Phares delivered a big third-down sack to force a punt between App State's back-to-back touchdowns, and
DJ Burks led the way with 12 tackles.
Larkins tipped the ball to himself on his 1-yard score that cut Georgia Southern's lead to 22-9 in the third quarter, with Barnes' 32-yard reception on a fourth-and-2 throw from the 33 setting up that touchdown, and Phares' sack forced Georgia Southern to punt from its 32. Barnes made a diving grab for 6 yards on a fourth-and-1 throw from the App State 40 to prolong that drive, and Lewis rushed for 15 yards to the Eagles' 27 before scoring untouched on the next play — he cut between key blocks from pulling offensive linemen
Griffin Scroggs and
Will Flowers.
Georgia Southern needed just six plays to go from its own 28 to the App State 6 on the next series, but
Aiden Benton's stop for a 2-yard loss and
Kevin Abrams-Verwayne's tackle on a 1-yard gain to the 7 preceded another short field goal.
The Mountaineers reached the Georgia Southern 23 on the next series thanks to Barnes' improbable catch for 22 yards on a fourth-and-14 pass, but Georgia Southern intercepted a throw just shy of the end zone from a pressured Swann on the next play.
Time and field position took a hit when a three-and-out punt resulted in App State regaining possession at its 34 with 5:24 left, and Swann's 17-yard pass to
Davion Dozier on a fourth-and-17 play from the Georgia Southern 47 extended an 11-play, 66-yard scoring march.
Barnes scored his seventh receiving touchdown of the season on the first play after the two-minute timeout, but the Mountaineers never got the ball back.
App State hits the road next weekend to face division-leading James Madison at 3:30 p.m. in Harrisonburg, Va.
