dearden

Statesboro, Georgia - In a hard-fought battle against rivals Georgia Southern, Appalachian State came out 27-24 victors away from home in their second-consecutive rivalry victory. Bookending the Mountaineers three touchdowns were two pivotal chip-shot field goals by Senior Placekicker Ronnie Paul, whose first field goal capped off App State’s opening drive and whose second effort sealed the win with just 1:13 left on the game clock. Although both 20 yard efforts could be seen as “routine,” they are exemplary of the Mountaineers efforts to “play complementary football.” The Appalachian State victory marks the fourth-straight defeat for Georgia Southern, a disappointing start to the season for a squad considered contenders for the Sun Belt East title. The Eagles previously fell at home to Middle Tennessee and #24 Notre Dame, before travelling to Ohio and suffering a similar fate. Despite this downturn in form when compared to expectations, there are a number of signs which suggest that it’s only a matter of time before Georgia Southern “rebound” and put up a fight for the divisional title. The Mountaineers host the Monarchs of Old Dominion on Thursday night - with heavy rain in the forecast, the Appalachian State University Student Union will be handing out gold logo ponchos to attendees in lieu of the scheduled spirit night.

Boone, North Carolina - Inside the huddle, the signal-caller demanded attention. Going around the circle, clockwise, orders were barked; understanding confirmed all-around with solemn nods and affirmations. Wasting no time, hands were brought to center - clap - and the group broke with haste. However, this wasn’t a scene from Friday night at the Kidd Brewer, where Appalachian State ran out convincing 35-7 victors against rivals Western Carolina. Neither was it the Mountaineer offense, nor was it during a football game or practice. Rather, this was the scene a mere five-minute drive north of campus in the front lawn of a Mid-19th Century Farmhouse just off State Highway 194; the Appalachian State coaching staff earlier this morning, just after sunrise at 6:30 AM, preparing to celebrate “Victory Saturday.” In just a few hours, their team would be there, Old Mountain Jug in tow, hungry - for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during a quadruple-header film session. How many grown men does it take to set up an outdoor projector? I don’t know, but it only takes one to make enough pit beef to feed over a hundred of them. Despite the monumental endeavor ahead of them - that of having to cater to the appetites of just under a hundred college-aged men for a full day - the Mountaineer coaching staff were all smiles, cracking jokes and poking-fun at one-another as they set up for the festivities. To them, it seemed, Victory Saturday was a nice bookend to an “exciting week.” As alluded to by Coach @dearden, the Appalachian State Football program received positive news around midday on Wednesday in the form of four commitments ahead of next season. The “First Four,” as they are being optimistically-dubbed by Mountaineer boosters and supporters alike are: Eric Smith (Defensive End, 5*) - High Point, North Carolina John Hall (Free Safety, 5*) - Nokesville, Virginia Alfred Perry (Offensive Guard, 4*) - Laurinburg, North Carolina George Shaw (Running Back, 4*) - Charlotte, North Carolina Next Saturday, the Mountaineers travel to Statesboro, Georgia looking for consecutive rivalry victories against their first conference opponents of the campaign. Until then, should you wish to follow along with the Appalachian State Football Team’s “programming guide,” the following games will be shown on the front lawn’s big screen: James Madison vs. Wake Forest (Morning) #7 Florida State vs. #5 Tulane (Afternoon) #11 West Virginia vs. #1 Baylor (Evening) #17 Washington State vs. Hawaii (Night)

Lexington, Kentucky - Despite suffering a second consecutive defeat to open the season, moods throughout the Mountaineer camp remain high. Following their opening week loss to Indiana at home, where the Appalachian State offense was silenced in the second half, media speculation arose as to whether or not the Mountaineers would give their second week hosts - #21 Kentucky - a much-needed break following the Wildcats’ own opening week defeat away to Western Kentucky. Rebounding from their opening week woes, the Mountaineer offense fired into life with the backfield triumvirate of Phil Turner, Ramon Brice, and Wenyen Clinton-Dix splitting three touchdowns equally and posting a combined 221 yards on the ground, while signal-caller Austin Redding threw for a respectable 255 yards - a “positive development” going into rivalry and conference play. Although the questions pertaining to the potency of the Mountaineer offense have been thoroughly answered, some have begun to doubt the strength of the Appalachian State defense following their performance against #21 Kentucky, where they allowed 658 all-purpose yards. When asked about his team’s defensive capabilities, Coach @dearden remained confident, responding idiomatically. Responding to the Mountaineers defensive woes against Kentucky, Junior Cornerback Josh Roberts only asks that the media and statisticians “get it right.” Appalachian State looks to retain the Old Mountain Jug on Friday against the Catamounts of Western Carolina in the first meeting of the rivals since 2013.

Boone, North Carolina - Only fifty-eight seconds had run off the game clock when Samuel Johnson, Indiana’s Redshirt Freshman Quarterback, received the snap and began his three-step-drop. One. As Johnson dropped back, Mountaineer Cornerback Ben Shelton took one step forward, placing himself between Johnson and his intended receiver as the former flicked his wrist - interception, Appalachian State ball. Two. It would only take two sets of downs for the Mountaineer offense to capitalize; Austin Redding received the snap, dropped back, and flicked his wrist, as his counterpart had done a few minutes prior … and connected with Wide Receiver Geoff Lucas in the endzone - touchdown, Appalachian State. Three. As the First Quarter wound down, Fullback Ramon Brice powered through the Hoosier defense, crossing the goal-line as the clock hit zero - touchdown, Appalachian State, their second in three drives. The capacity crowd at the Kidd Brewer celebrated with elation - players, coaches, students, alumni, and even attending recruits cheered, high-fived, and shouted early sentiments of hope for the long season ahead. It was a dream start. It would become a nightmare. 14-0; 14-3; 14-10; 14-17; 14-24: what began with fourteen unanswered points in Appalachian State’s favor would end with twenty-four unanswered points to their detriment - a “second-straight strong start squandered.” How do the gritty and determined Mountaineers plan on building up their ruthlessness? According to Senior Linebacker Jose Thomas - who snagged the Mountaineers second interception - ruthlessness will “come naturally.” While the Mountaineer locker room appears determined to move forward from their opening defeat and develop in a manner akin to a 1980s training montage, they also have to remember to simply play the game they love - to “play football.” The Mountaineers travel to #21 Kentucky, who are looking to immediately bounce-back from an opening loss away at Western Kentucky.

Boone, North Carolina - As games kick-off elsewhere across the country, we sat down with Coach @dearden, his staff, and players to recap the Mountaineers 3-0 Spring Record and to preview the upcoming regular season. Spring Games: at. Bucknell (Final Score: 34-3) Spring games began with a trip to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania to face-off against the Bucknell Bison. Led by Coach Shane Berg, the Bison were looking to shake off a disappointing 2023 campaign where they finished at the bottom of the Patriot League with a sole conference win to their record. In contrast, the Mountaineers entered the matchup with “zero expectations.” The Mountaineers certainly “rose to the occasion” against Bucknell, running out to a 24-0 lead at halftime before increasing the ultimate margin in a 34-3 victory. vs. Liberty (Final Score: 35-0) Returning to North Carolina in good spirits following their victory in Lewisburg, the Mountaineers were “eager” to host the Liberty Flames. Turner and Co. would be rewarded for their competitive spirit. Three Running Backs: Senior Fullback Ramon Brice, Senior Halfback Wenyen Clinton-Dix, and Turner himself, would each rush for over 100 yards each against Liberty in a 35-0 win for the Mountaineers. Turner, who could been seen grinning ear-to-ear through the game, accomplished his goal: finding the endzone three times in the victory. vs. Southern Methodist (Final Score: 25-23) For the third and final week of Spring, the Mountaineers hosted the Mustangs of the Southern Methodist University. Led by Coach @JW1952TX, the Mustangs started Spring 0-2, following losses at Bowling Green and vs. Wisconsin; however, they showed “flashes of brilliance” in both matchups. While the Mountaineers would open up strong, leading 10-0 at the half, SMU would respond in the third quarter - closing the gap to within a score and the scoreboard displaying 12-10 heading into the fourth. Ultimately, the Mountaineers would prevail in a nail-biting 25-23 win; holding the Mustangs with 1:09 left on the clock with a resolute defensive performance to halt the SMU two-point conversion attempt. Although the win signified a perfect pre-season for the Mountaineers, there was an opinion amongst the players that there was “still work to be done.” Redding, the Mountaineers presumptive signal-caller, finished Spring slinging 6 Touchdowns and 4 Interceptions. Regular Season: Jumping into the Regular Season, the Mountaineers have a singular focus: "win football games." Schedule: (WEEK ZERO) vs. Indiana (Coach: @Piercewise1) at. #7 Kentucky (Coach: @Ezaco) vs. Western Carolina* at. Georgia Southern* (Coach: @Miller) vs. Old Dominion at. Marshall* vs. Lousiana, Lafayette at. Southern Mississippi (BYE WEEK) vs. Georgia State at. Washington State (Coach: @TuscanSota) vs. James Madison (Coach: @JC.) at. Coastal Carolina *This season's rivalry games include "The Battle for the Old Mountain Jug" and "Deeper than Hate" in back-to-back weeks, followed by "The Old Mountain Feud" two weeks later.

Apologies if this one's already been addressed, though I couldn't find any thread about it and didn't notice this trend last week; it appears as though during Thursday night's Week 2 Spring Games that Quarterbacks were taking the field as two-way players for at least part of the game. Within the "Defensive Stats" section of the Box Score, I'd noticed that my designated QB2, Geno Wimmers, made a solo tackle at some point during the game. This was despite the fact that there was no indication that he had been on the field during an offensive turnover, as his "Passing Stats" indicated that he hadn't thrown an interception and our offense had not fumbled the ball. Upon further investigation, I'd noticed within the "Play-by-Play" that he'd made the tackle in one of the last drives of the game on a 3rd and 10, indicating that he was probably just out there playing defense for whatever reason. Being a relatively new coach, I'd figured that I'd messed up my Depth Chart somehow, but this pattern appears to have happened through all of Thursday night's matchups. For example, within the other two games where a Quarterback did not throw an interception (Utah vs. Bucknell and Texas A&M vs. Northern Colorado), five Quarterbacks were listed under the "Defensive Stats" section of their respective Box Scores. These were Utah QBs Jacob Dozier and Gerald Wright, Bucknell QB Jan Quinn, A&M QB Brian Bass, and Northern Colorado QB Orlando Dzubner. While none of these Quarterbacks made a tackle, my immediate supposition is that, like my QB2, they were playing snaps on the defensive side of the ball for whatever reason at some point during the game. Second round of apologies for how long-winded all-of-the-above was - not sure if I'm just misreading things or if there's a genuine goof somewhere, but I figured it was best to flag it ahead of the remaining games this weekend.

1. What is your username? Dearden 2. We use discord often for quick communications and for streaming games to our community. Using discord is optional, though we suggest it because it's a great way to connect with others and to watch games. For those applicable, what is your Discord username? dearden 3. League you are applying for (CFB, College Basketball, NFL, NBA) CFB 4. Which team do you want to apply for? (Click here for a list of currently open teams.) (If NFL or NBA, please specify the role.) Appalachian State 5. What are 3 backup teams in descending order of preference? Old Dominion, Liberty, Wake Forest 6. How much time can you devote to the community? The more people that are active, the more fun the sim as a whole is with all of the fun interactions that can take place between users, whether it be in the Shoutbox, or through various forms of media. Looking to be sporadically active on-forum and via Discord day-to-day, with some days being more or less active due to work/other commitments - should be able to dedicate a bit of each day of the week to being engaged in the community 7. How did you find out or hear about SFA? Stumbled upon SFA through a series of links; browsed for a bit and decided to take the plunge 8. Do you know anybody from SFA? List their usernames if applicable. N/A 9. Tell us a little about yourselves to serve as a short introduction to the community. Originally from the West Coast, educated in the Midwest, and now living on the East Coast - college and professional sports fan with fandoms and affinities to match my diverse geographic heritage. Looking forward to getting started and learning more!