Published: 4:42 PM, 10/31/2009

Last updated: 12:52 PM, 11/17/2009

By: Steve Behr Sports Editor

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

GREENVILLE, S.C. - A year ago, Appalachian State scored 70 points in a win over Wofford on a Halloween night. Exactly one year later, the Mountaineers shredded Furman's defense in a 52-27 victory in Paladins Stadium.

Appalachian State didn't need a whole lot of tricks to run through, over and around Furman's defense Saturday. Instead, the Mountaineers rolled up 554 yards in total offense, making it the fourth straight week the Mountaineers have gained at least that many yards.

Appalachian State (6-2, 5-0 SoCon) also scored at least 44 points in its fourth straight game. The Mountaineers bolted out to a 35-13 halftime lead, but it could have been more had they not missed a field goal, committed a personal foul penalty on a defensive two-point conversion and saw a two-minute drive fizzle just before halftime.

As it was, Appalachian State scored five touchdowns in its first six possessions in the first half before failing to reach in the end zone on its final drive of the half.

Appalachian State has won eight of the past nine games against the Paladins, and beat Furman in Greenville two straight games for the first time in the series history.

"Coming down her to play, you never know," Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. "You always expect it to be a tough, hard-fought within a touchdown or field goal ballgame. Most of the time it's just been a dogfight."

Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards, who became the first Division I player to ever throw for 9,000 and run for 4,000 yards in a career, scored touchdown runs of 3, 4 and 1 yards in the first half, and on a 5-yard run in the second.

"He's just an incredible person," Moore said of Edwards' latest record. "I said person and player. To accomplish all of the things he's been able to accomplish and to stay at such an even keel..."

Edwards also tossed a 16-yartd touchdown pass to tight end Ben Jorden on the Mountaineers' first drive of the game and found CoCo Hillary for a 21-yard score, which put the Mountaineers in front 49-20 with 8:57 left in the third quarter.

By the time Edwards was finished, he had completed 25-of-36 passes for 355 yards. He also gained 106 yards rushing despite being sacked once for a 10-yard loss.

Edwards' favorite target was Matt Cline, who had eight catches for 122 yards, including a 45-yarder. Hillary added six catches for 83 yards and Brian Quick had four receptions for 70 yards, including a 46-yarder.

"Some of our screen passes go off the run," Edwards said. "We read the guy who is supposed to have Devon Moore, so a lot of times they'll kept going off of Devon and leaving Matt Cline on the screen."

Furman helped the Mountaineers by touching the ball before an game-opening onsides kick went 10 yards, giving Appalachian State a first down at the Paladins' 38. Edwards, after opening the game with three straight passes and a run, found Brian Jorden for a 16-yard touchdown pass that gave the Mountaineers a 7-0 lead.

"We see what we can take advantage of on film," Edwards said. "If they come out and show us what we saw on film, then we take advantage of it."

ASU struck again with a 3-yard touchdown run by Edwards after a Furman fumble at the ASU 14-yard line cost the Paladins a possible scoring drive. The Mountaineers failed to convert a Dominique McDuffie interception into points, but a short punt on Furman's ensuing possession gave ASU a first down at the Paladins' 47.

Four plays later, Edwards scored from four yards out to give the Mountaineers a 21-0 lead. Furman struck back with a 4-yard Tersoo Uhaa touchdown run, but Appalachian State marched 71 yards in 10 plays on a touchdown drive capped by an Edwards 1-yard TD run. During that drive, Edwards became the only Division I quarterback to ever pass for over 9,000 yards and rush for over 4,000 when he found CoCo Hillary for a 13-yard pass play that went to the Furman 1-yard line.

Furman scored on its next drive on a 33-yard Jordan Sorrells pass play to Colin Anderson, but the Paladins failed to convert the extra point because of a bad snap. Kicker Matthew Cesari recovered the snap and tried to run, but was hit and fumbled. ASU's Mark LeGree recovered and reached the end zone going the other way, but Appalachian State was called for a personal foul and the score was nullified.

Appalachian State got the ball back on the ensuing kickoff and, with help of a 46-yard completion to Brian Quick, marched 72 yards on just four plays. Devon Moore took it the final four yards to put the Mountaineers in front 35-13.

Edwards said the good field position was helpful, even if the Mountaineers didn't score touchdowns as a result.

"Even if we stall out, we can punt it deep and make them have a long field or get three points out of it," Edwards said. "We have to take advantage of that."

Furman scored two touchdowns in the second half, but never made a serious run at the Mountaineers' lead.  It was 49-27 when Jason Vitaris made a 25-yard field goal to close out the scoring.

Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

Defensive-wise, we did good, but we didn't do great, because at the end of the game we kind of let up and they started moving the ball," McDuffie said. "We've got to have a complete game. When we're on the field, we should expect them not to get anything and expect to do that the whole game."

Appalachian State 52, Furman 27
Appalachian State 14 21 17 0 - 52
Furman    0 13 14 0 - 27

Scoring summary
First quarter
ASU-Jorden 16 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick)
ASU-Edwards 3 run (Vitaris kick)
Second quarter
ASU-Edwards 4 run (Vitaris kick)
Fur-Uhaa 4 run (Cesari kick)
ASU-Edwards 1 run (Vitaris kick)
Fur-Anderson 33 pass from Sorrells (Rush failed)
ASU-Moore 4 run (Vitaris kick)
Third quarter
ASU-Edwards 5 run (Vitaris kick)
Fur-Mills 782 pass from Sorrells (Cesari kick)
ASU-Hillary 21 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick)
Fur-Forcier 25 run (Cesari kick)
ASU-Vitaris FG 25

                            ASU        Furman
First downs            27            18
  By rushing            9            12
  By passing            17            5
  By penalty            1            1
Rushes-yards        39-178    34-185
  Avg rush              4.6        5.4
  Yards gained        195        204
  Yards lost            17            19
Passing yards        376            165
  Passes            26-38-0        10-21-1
  Avg attempt        9.9            7.9
  Avg. completion    14.5        16.5
Total plays-yards    77-554    55-350
  Avg. per play        7.2            6.4
Fumbles-lost        1-0            2-1
Penalties-yards        6-60        7-53
Punts-avg.            3-47.0        5-41.6
  Net average        32.0            40.2
  Inside 20            1        1
Third-down conv    10-of-15    5-of-11
Fourth-down conv.    0-of-0    0-of-1
Time of possession    33:59    26:01

Individuals:
Rushing: ASU-Edwards 13-106, Moore 11-37, Baker 6-19, Cadet 7-16, Cline 1-0, Chisholm 1-0; Furman-Uhaa 19-114, Forcier 6-41, Mims 2-21, Cunningham 2-14, Maples 1-7, Lenard 1-3, Sorrells 3-(-15).

Passing: ASU-Edwards 25-36-0 355, Cadet 1-2-0 21; Furman-Sorrells 10-17-1, Forcier 0-4-0 0.
Receiving: ASU-Cline 8-122, Hillary 6-83, Quick 4-70, Jorden 3-40, Elder 3-35, Presley 1-21, Moore 1-5; Furman-Mims 5-102, Webb 2-27, Anderson 1-33, Cunningham 1-4, Uhaa 1-(-1).

For more in-depth coverage, see the latest print edition of the Watauga Democrat, available at hundreds of locations across the High Country.

To subscribe to the Watauga Democrat for less than 15 cents per day, click here (https://ssl.jonesmedia.biz/circ/index.php?db=watauga).