Appalachian State rallies past Idaho after trailing 20-0

MOSCOW, Idaho – After dominating Appalachian State through the early third quarter, building a 20-0 lead, the key for Idaho pulling an upset against the Sun Belt Conference defending co-champion was whether time ran out before the Vandals’ luck did.

It didn’t.

But when the Mountaineers came back to tie the game then go ahead on a field goal with 7 minutes, 24 seconds to play after Rashaad Townes forced Idaho running back Aaron Duckworth to fumble and fellow linebacker Eric Boggs recovered at the Vandals 28, Idaho showed that while fortune turned against them, it had endless reserves of grit.

On fourth-and-24 on the UI 32-yard line, when quarterback Matt Linehan had been sacked twice and flushed out of the pocket once for a meager 3-yard gain, the Vandals went for it with a bit more than 1 minute left in the game.

Linehan threw once more. He loaded up and drilled a pass on the sideline to Reuben Mewhla on the Mountaineers 45. Mewhla made a leaping reception and tried to dive for the first down as he was falling. He was less than 1 yard short. Appalachian State ran two plays to run out the clock.

“It’s hard. It’s a hard one to take,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said of the 23-20 defeat, especially after Idaho had lost a one-possession game to Louisiana-Lafayette the previous week.

“There’s two ways to look at it,” Petrino said. “We didn’t play well enough at the end or we overachieved to be there at the end.”

Idaho fell to 2-4 with the loss, 1-2 in the Sun Belt. Appalachian State is 4-2, 3-0.

Through a 17-0 first half and the first series of the third quarter, the Vandals looked like the better team. Duckworth, who finished with 108 yards on 20 carries, gained 97 in the first half on 15 carries. Linehan threw for 200 yards in the game on 15-of-28 passing.

In the first half, Linehan was 13 of 21 for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and Idaho’s defense held Jalin Moore to 44 yards rushing on 12 carries. Moore was the Sun Belt offensive player of the week last week after a 241-yard effort.

The Vandals kept rolling as the second half began. Mountaineers quarterback Taylor Lamb attempted to find Malik Williams with a pass at the Appalachian State 45. Idaho safety Armond Hawkins jarred the ball free and cornerback Sedrick Thomas took it out of the air and returned it 20 yards. The Vandals got the ball to the 1-yard line on a D.J. Henderson rush on third down at the 2 but elected to go for a Cade Coffey field goal to get the sure points.

“Let’s get the points,” Petrino said. “Our defense was playing great and (the Mountaineers) hadn’t done anything to us.”

Coffey missed on a 37-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter but got Idaho on the board with a 28-yard kick in the early second quarter.

The Vandals then hit for back-to-back touchdowns. Linehan first hit Alfonso Onunwor with a beautiful 20-yard pass that intersected with Onunwor as he was crossing the field from right to left and running away from Mountaineers cornerback Clifton Duck.

The second touchdown concluded a 10-play, 46-yard drive. Linehan faked a pitch left, rolled right and fired a 5-yard pass to tight end Joe Wysocki, who was uncovered in the end zone.

Appalachian State stopped the bleeding when Lamb completed a short pass to wide receiver Ike Lewis, who took advantage of a block from Thomas Hennigan and weaved 38 yards for a score. The Mountaineers second score came on a 6-yard pass from Lamb to Collin Reed. Michael Rubino’s kick attempt was blocked by Vandals linebacker Kaden Elliss.

That merely made the rest of the game a bit more dramatic. With 13:23 to play in the third quarter, Lamb completed another big pass to Lewis, good for 45 yards and a touchdown to knot the score at 20. But the Mountaineers quickly untied it on the next series, recovering Duckworth’s fumble and kicking the winning field goal.

Idaho had a great opportunity to retake the lead after Coffey pinned the Mountaineers at their 1-yard line with a 69-yard punt. The Vandals forced Appalachian State to go three-and-out, and on fourth down Rylee Critcher shanked a punt 10 yards to the 18-yard line.

A holding penalty on tackle Jordan Rose gave Idaho a first-and-20 at the 28. Linehan completed a pass to Onunwor to get back 10 yards of that, but Linehan was hit from behind by cornerback Tae Hayes while he was throwing and missed David Ungerer. On third down at the 18-yard, Linehan kept the ball himself but fumbled. After a wild scramble, the Mountaineers’ Akeen Davis-Gaither recovered at the 6-yard line.

“We took care of the ball most of the game, but those two fumbles in the second half, that really hurt,” Petrino said.

“It’s not like (the Vandals) didn’t keep fighting,” Petrino said. “That’s one team you can say about this team, they keep fighting.”

“To the last play, we were in it,” Duckworth said.