BOONE, N.C. — An exhilarating start and a high-anxiety finish bookended App State Football's home opener in a sold-out Kidd Brewer Stadium on Saturday.
In head coach
Dowell Loggains' first game at The Rock, before a crowd of 34,921, the Mountaineers used a 20-13 win against FCS program Lindenwood to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2019.
App State scored a long touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and held a 14-0 lead after one quarter, but four turnovers kept the Lions within striking distance, and a series of wild plays over the last four minutes enabled Lindenwood to have possession in App State territory with a chance to tie the game or even take the lead.
Defensive back
Elijah Mc-Cantos intercepted a fourth-down heave at the App State 16 with less than two minutes left, and one offensive first down sealed a win in which the Mountaineers finished with a 503-216 advantage in total yards, including minus-1 rushing yards from the Lions (0-2).
App State's defense recorded eight sacks — the highest total in the program's FBS era — and 16 tackles for loss, with Mc-Cantos and
DJ Burks (first-quarter interception, plus a forced fumble that Lindenwood recovered) accounting for takeaways.
Kevin Abrams-Verwayne,
Aiden Benton and
Caleb Sandstrom had 1.5 sacks apiece, while
Thomas Davis (3.0 tackles for loss),
Dylan Manuel (2.0 tackles for loss) and
Brayshawn Littlejohn posted one sack apiece.
Offensively,
Dalton Stroman's 72-yard touchdown on the opening play of the game and a 47-yard gain on a near-touchdown a few minutes later were part of a career-high 142 yards on three connections with
AJ Swann, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 294 yards and two scores.
Rashod Dubinion's 25 carries for 194 yards gave App State its best individual rushing total in a game since Camerun Peoples set a school record with 317 yards in the 2020 Myrtle Beach Bowl, and
Jaden Barnes' 13-yard touchdown catch gave him a touchdown in each of the first two games.
App State didn't score a touchdown over the final 48 minutes, settling for short, second-half field goals of 29 and 24 yards from
Dominic De Freitas.
The Mountaineers won for the fourth time at the FBS level when committing four turnovers, a feat last accomplished at ULM in 2023. Those turnovers came in the form of two fumbles in the running game, one interception and, similar to a play in the Charlotte opener, a fumble moments before the receiver crossed the goal line on a potential touchdown.
The final turnover occurred as App State held a 20-6 lead with less than 10 minutes left, and a hail-mary-style heave from heavily pressured QB Nate Glantz on a fourth-and-14 play from the App State 24 ended up in receiver Rico Bond's hands for an improbable touchdown. The Lions kicked the extra point and recovered the onside kick but followed a first-down incompletion with a pair of completions that netted a total of 3 yards. Pressure from Sandstrom and Littlejohn contributed to Glantz's errant, desperation throw to Mc-Cantos on fourth down.
App State couldn't have started any better, scoring 18 seconds into the game when Swann hit Stroman in stride on a deep throw as the closest defender fell to the turf around the 33-yard line.
Burks intercepted a deep throw toward the end zone to end Lindenwood's first drive, and it appeared that Swann and Stroman had connected again for a 47-yard touchdown, but the trailing defensive back knocked the ball loose for a touchback moments before Stroman crossed into the end zone.
App State did manage to force a punt on the next series before scoring its second touchdown on a 75-yard drive that included a 26-yard run from Dubinion, a 17-yard reception by
William Fowles and a sliding catch in the end zone by
Jaden Barnes, but the rest of the half was a forgettable one.
Lindenwood followed a fourth-and-3 incompletion from near midfield with an eight-play, 54-yard touchdown drive, scoring from the 1 one play after App State couldn't come up with the recovery of Burks' forced fumble, and the Lions intercepted a deep throw in the final two minutes of the half.
An inability to convert red-zone appearances into touchdowns and untimely turnovers prevented the Mountaineers from gaining much separation in the second half, but they did enough to improve to 2-0 in advance of their Sun Belt Conference opener next weekend at Southern Miss.
