Sports Editor

BOONE, NC – No. 2 Troy State (2-0) recovered an Appalachian State (1-1) onside kick with 46 seconds left to preserve a 34-28 victory over the No. 4 Mountaineers.

A 52-yard pass by Appy State quarterback Joe Burchette to Troy Albea set up the Mountaineers first and goal at the nine yard line, where Burchette then hit Joey Gibson for a touchdown. Sophomore place kicker Mark Wright, who made field goals of 40, 27, and 57 yards in the game, missed the extra point, his second miss of the night.

After the onside kick, TSU junior quarterback Brock Nutter took a knee to kill the clock.

"This is great," said head coach Larry Blakeney. "Our team had a lot of opportunities to quit, but they didn’t and they really came together tonight. Appy State has a great program and they didn’t disappoint us tonight."

Demontray Carter led the Trojans with 255 all-purpose yards. The junior tailback rushed for 102 yards and had 153 yards receiving.

"Demontray can make the plays," said Blakeney. "We knew when we came in tonight that we wanted to get the ball in his hands as much as possible."

Carter got TSU on the board early with a 31-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The TD was set up but a 52-yard pass by Nutter to wide receiver Jonathan Carter.

The Mountaineers came back with a six play, 42-yard drive which resulted in a Daniel Wilcox touchdown reception from quarterback David Reeves.

Nutter hit back-to-back passes to Daniel O’Brien to move the Trojans to the two-yard line. From there Nutter called his own number and took it in for the score. Lawrence Tynes added the extra point and with 23 seconds left in the half TSU was up 14-13.

But the lead was short-lived.

23 seconds was all the ASU offense needed to move down the field and allow Wright to nail a 57-yard field goal to give the Mountaineers a 16-14 lead at the half.

"I told the players ‘hey that was a great kick,’ now let’s go to the locker room, because we get the ball first in the second half," said Blakeney.

Tynes gave TSU the lead for good with a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter.

ASU was forced to punt on their next possession and Carter made them pay with a 77-yard touchdown pass and run from Nutter.

The Mountaineers moved deep inside Troy State territory early in the fourth quarter, but coughed up the football in the TSU red zone.

Defensive back Rayshun Reed recovered to kill the ASU threat.

Nutter passed again to Carter, who scored this time from 67-yards out.

"I think we sort of got in sync with what they were trying to do on offense in the second quarter," Blakeney said. "Our defense got in there and put some hits on their quarterback. Tonight we did it Trojan style. We won it tough and physical."