Appalachian State Wins Third Consecutive National Title

Mountaineers beat Delaware to cap historic three-peat

Dec. 15, 2007

By Myron Hosea

Special to CSTV.com from CollegeSportingNews.com

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Appalachian State struck early and stopped a trio of Delaware scoring opportunities to capture its historic third-consecutive national championship Friday night with a 49-21 victory.

The Mountaineers are the first team in the Football Championship Subdivision era to win three consecutive national championships. For head coach Jerry Moore and his players, the team's chemistry and its sense of family generate great energy for the program.

"It's been a great run with some great kids," Moore said. "The togetherness part for us has been huge."

"I'm honored to be a part of this team," said senior offensive guard Kerry Brown. "It's just a great way to go out. Three-peat is an amazing accomplishment."

Appalachian State has demonstrated a certain magic inside the five-yard line during the playoffs, and it exhibited itself twice in the first half when the Mountaineers built a 28-7 lead.

Kevin Richardson had taken a screen pass 19 yards for a score on Appalachian State's first possession of the game. Then, thanks to Aaron Love's receptions of 29 and 24 yards, the Blue Hens moved inside the Mountaineers five. On second down, Omar Cuff appeared to have scored on a four-yard run, but a review of the play overturned the call. On third down, the Mountaineers stopped Cuff short, and Joe Flacco's fourth-down pass was incomplete.

The Mountaineers then conducted a 99-yard drive, capped by Devon Moore's 46-yard burst up the middle. Appalachian State led 14-0 with 4:15 to go in the opening quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the goal line magic worked again. Richardson fumbled on second down from the two, and tight end Daniel Kilgore recovered in the end zone for the touchdown.

An overturned call late in the first half worked in Delaware's favor, as the new ruling indicated Mark Duncan had caught a touchdown pass from Flacco. That made the score 21-7 with 1:10 to play in the first half.

The Mountaineers needed just two plays to answer. After throwing 12 yards to Hans Batichon, Edward hit Dexter Jackson for a 60-yard touchdown pass that gave Appalachian State a 28-7 halftime lead.

"I thought we lost to a great football team," said Delaware head coach K. C. Keeler. "We had some things happen early in the ball game that put us behind. Whatever our difficulties were, it had a lot to do with how ASU played."

For the second year in a row, Richardson topped 100 yards rushing in the national title game. He finished with 118 yards. Richardson scored a pair of second-half touchdowns. The first was an eight-yard pass from Edwards in the third quarter. The second was a six-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Senior backup quarterback Trey Elder raced 53 yards for a late score for the Mountaineers. Delaware's Mark Duncan returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for the final score of 49-21.

A record crowd of 23,010 witnessed the game. The attendance broke the Finley Stadium record of 22,808 set in last year's championship game and was the largest attendance for a Division I Championship game played at a neutral site.