BOONE, N.C. — Twenty years removed from a dominant run to a second straight national title, App State Football's 2006 championship team will be honored and celebrated during the Oct. 10 home game against Old Dominion.
That is also Homecoming weekend in Boone, with a kickoff time scheduled for 1 p.m. in Kidd Brewer Stadium. Members of the 2006 team will be recognized on the field during the Sun Belt Conference opener for the Mountaineers.
Tickets for the Oct. 10 game can be purchased online at appstatesports.com. For team members, registration information for the 2006 celebration weekend in Boone will be shared with you soon.
The second step in a national title three-peat under Hall of Fame coach Jerry Moore from 2005-07, the 2006 squad went 14-1 by following a season-opening loss at NC State with 14 straight wins, including a 13-0 mark with freshman Armanti Edwards as the starting quarterback.
The Mountaineers outscored their opponents 528-223, using a stout defense to allow just 14.9 points per game. App State held six opponents to 10 points or less and capped a 4-0 run through the playoffs with a 28-17 victory against UMass at the national championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn., where Kevin Richardson closed a record-setting season by scoring four rushing touchdowns.
Edwards, Richardson, Kerry Brown (OL), Matt Isenhour (OL), Corey Lynch (DB), Marques Murrell (DE) and Jeremy Wiggins (DB) received first-team All-America recognition that season, while Daniel Bettis (TE) was a third-team All-American.
Mario Acitelli (OL), Pierre Banks (LB), Omarr Byrom (DL), Dexter Jackson (WR/RET), William Mayfield (WR), Julian Rauch (K), Jeremy Robertson (OL), Monte Smith (LB), Scott Suttle (OL), Gary Tharrington (DE) and Jerome Touchstone (DB) also earned All-SoCon recognition.
Moore received multiple national coach of the year awards, Richardson was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award for national player of the year and Murrell was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award that goes to the national defensive player of the year.
Remembering the 2006 National Title Run:
Moving forward from the program's first national title in 2005, App State needed to replace key contributors from the previous season, including standout quarterback Richie Williams. Trey Elder, one of the heroes during the 2005 playoff run for how he ran the offense when an injured Williams was sidelined, started the 2006 opener in what turned out to be a defensive-minded game at NC State. The two teams combined for just 375 yards of offense, and the Wolfpack held a 16-10 lead before capping the scoring on a touchdown with 5:14 left in the third quarter of a 23-10 victory.
Sill ranked No. 1 at the FCS/I-AA level, App State faced No. 12 James Madison in Boone the following weekend and prevailed 21-10. Elder was shaken up by a late hit in the first quarter of that game, leading to another appearance from Edwards, who had worked his way up the depth chart during the preseason as a true freshman (contributing to fellow freshman CoCo Hillary's move from quarterback to receiver) and played briefly in Raleigh. Edwards rushed for a 7-yard touchdown on his first snap at The Rock.
Edwards made his first start a week later in a 41-0 shutout of Mars Hill, beginning a string of wins by margins of 41, 35, 24 and 35 points. The Mountaineers built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter of a 14-7 victory against Wofford, then needed two overtimes to win 27-20 at Georgia Southern. The Mountaineers had lost five straight games in Paulson Stadium, but they traded overtime field goals with the Eagles before Richardson scored on a double-overtime run and the defense kept Georgia Southern's offense out of the end zone.
App State followed up that dramatic win with a 40-7 thumping of Furman in a top-10 matchup, then closed the regular season with decisive wins over The Citadel and Western Carolina to wrap up an outright SoCon title.
App State opened the playoffs by scoring the first 31 points in a win against No. 13 Coastal Carolina and led 24-17 entering the fourth quarter of a 38-17 victory against No. 18 Montana State, with Richardson scoring two of his four touchdowns in the last 12 minutes. The Mountaineers advanced to another national championship game with Richardson and Edwards both rushing for more than 100 yards in a 49-24 home victory against No. 5 Youngstown State.
Facing No. 3 UMass in Chattanooga, App State broke a 14-all tie early in the fourth quarter on Richardson's third touchdown run of the night. The Mountaineers' defense forced UMass to settle for a 42-yard field goal on the next drive, and App State clinched a second straight championship by going on a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown march that took nearly seven minutes off the clock.
Richardson powered into the end zone on a 2-yard run with 1:51 left, capping a season in which the former walk-on set a I-AA single-season record with 30 rushing touchdowns and set an App State single-season record with 1,676 rushing yards.
Edwards rushed for 1,153 yards with 15 touchdowns and threw for 2,251 yards with 15 touchdowns as Mayfield led the receiving corps with 1,129 yards.
Banks led the way defensively with 110 tackles, and Murrell posted 13.0 sacks among his 17.0 tackles for loss. Tharrington had 15.0 tackles for loss, followed by Byrom with 11.5, while Lynch and Wiggins tied for the team lead with five interceptions apiece.
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