BOONE, N.C. – Senior quarterback Joe Burchette completed 29-of-45 pass attempts for 357 yards and two touchdowns to key No. 5 Appalachian State University (3-1, 1-0) to a 37-28 victory over The Citadel (1-3, 0-2) in its Southern Conference opener.
In his first start of the season, Burchette set a career high with 29 completions, including a pair of touchdowns in Head Coach Jerry Moore’s 110th win at Appalachian. The win equaled Moore with Duke legendary coach Wallace Wade, who registered 110 victories from 1931-41 and 1946-50.
With the Mountaineers trailing 28-24 and 8:19 remaining in the fourth quarter, Burchette connected with running back Jerry Beard across the middle and Beard went 17 yards for the go-ahead score. Beard’s only catch of the day gave them a 30-28 lead. The PAT kick failed and the lead remained at two.
The Citadel’s following drive stalled before Travis Zobel’s 42-yard field goal try missed. What would have been a career-long for Zobel sailed wide left with 3:50 left in the game.
Beard sealed the victory with a 37-yard run for the final score of the day. The Lincolnton, Ga., native bounced off the left tackle for the final tally. He finished with a team-high 68 yards on 10 carries.
The Citadel’s Nehemiah Broughton recorded a game-high 100 yards on 24 carries. Quarterback Jeff Klein completed 18-of-33 passes for 246 yards and a pair of scores.
Furman 55
VMI 28
LEXINGTON, Va. – Furman tailback Lamar Rembert rushed for 133 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown and Toreico O’Neal added 96 yards and a touchdown to lead Furman over VMI, 55-28, Saturday at Alumni Memorial Field.
Furman (3-1, 1-0) rolled up 640 yards total offense on the afternoon – the second highest in school history. The Paladins acquired 397 yards on the ground.
“We accomplished our goal. We got a win,” said Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. “All week long, we concentrated on playing well in the first quarter,and we did. The last several times that we had been up here (VMI), we had not played well early.”
Furman, playing its second straight game in the Commonwealth of Virginia, scored on its first four possessions and jumped to a 28-0 lead after one quarter of play.
The Paladins scored on the second play from scrimmage when O’Neal took a handoff and burst 58 yards up the middle for the game’s first touchdown just 38 seconds into the game.
Furman assembled a balanced 10-play, 65-yard drive on its next possession, capped by a Billy Napier one-yard quarterback sneak. Napier completed two of two passes for 16 yards on the drive, while Rembart rushed four times for 21 yards. An end around to Brian Bratton for 19 yards to the VMI 1 set up Napier’s score one play later.
Furman cornerback Rodney Johnson picked off a Joey Gibson pass on VMI’s next possession and returned it 18 yards to the VMI 46-yard line. One play later, Napier hit wideout Bear Rinehart in full stride to advance to the VMI 7-yard line. The Keydet defense stiffened and forced a fourth-and-goal from the two, but Furman went for the touchdown and converted a TD pass to tight end Willis Sudderth to make it 21-0 with 4:23 left in the opening quarter.
“It was a great effort. We got a lot of kids in there,” Lamb said.
Napier connected with Brian Bratton for a 76-yard catch and run to cap a 90-yard, four-play possession that stretched the Paladin advantage to four touchdowns with :52 remaining in the first quarter.
The Keydets (2-3, 0-1) mounted a comeback when freshman tailback Sean Mizzer broke free for a 51-yard touchdown run with 12:42 left in the second quarter. Six of the seven plays on the drive were running plays.
VMI halved the deficit to 28-14 at the 5:13 mark when cornerback Musa Sarki picked off his fourth interception of the year and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown.
“When you look at the end result of the game, Furman’s football program is so much further ahead of ours,” said VMI head coach Cal McCombs. “Their speed was a factor and that allowed them to get some easy touchdowns.”
Napier completed nine of 11 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns despite sitting out the entire second half after taking stitches to a cut finger sustained on the Sarki interception play.
Gibson completed 22 of 38 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, but was picked off three times for the second straight week.
“From an offensive standpoint, they are a machine. They were hitting on all cylinders today,” McCombs said. “We just couldn’t get the big plays against their defense.”
Strong safety Paul Billingsly led the Furman defense with 14 tackles while David Latimer, Cam Newton, and Johnson all logged interceptions.
Furman has now won 21 straight against VMI with the last Keydet win coming in 1980. Furman is also 30-2 against teams from Virginia since 1980.
Georgia Southern 38
Chattanooga 10
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Georgia Southern quarterback Chaz Williams ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 116 yards and another score Saturday as the No. 18-ranked Eagles defeated Chattanooga 38-10 in the Southern Conference opener for UTC.
Williams tied his career high on the ground before leaving in the fourth quarter. The sophomore scored on runs of four yards in the first quarter, one yard in the second and one in the third. He also threw for 116 yards, a career-high, including a 69-yard touchdown off a screen pass to fullback Jermaine Austin, which gave GSU a 21-0 lead at 3:09 of the first quarter.
The Eagles (2-2, 1-1 SoCon) are the top-ranked rushing team in Division I-AA, entering the game with an average of 368.0 yards per game. Their offense generated just under that average, 359 yards on 64 attempts.
Austin followed Williams in the rushing category with 114 yards on 23 carries.
UTC quarterback Ryan McCann made his first game appearance since Sept. 7. The UCLA transfer had started the first two games but missed the next two because of tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. He entered the game at 11:35 of the third quarter, replacing Justin Barnes.
McCann led the Mocs (0-5, 0-1) to their only scoring drives of the game.
Patrick Shutters kicked a 29-yard field goal at 7:40 of the third quarter to put the Mocs on the board at 28-3. He connected with receiver Jason Jones on an 18-yard scoring toss at 7:45 of the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 35-10.
“I thought Ryan McCann gave us a real spark in the second half,” UTC head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick said. “In the first half, I thought we had receivers open and we weren’t hitting them. Ryan told me at halftime that he thought he could go. I said that I would watch him warm up and make my decision from there. He really had some zip on many of his passes.”
McCann finished the night completing 10-of-19 attempts for 171 yards and one interception. The interception came on UTC’s last series of the game.
McCann led the Mocs from the UTC 14-yard line to the GSU seven. On second-and-goal with 10 seconds remaining, McCann’s pass was intercepted by GSU’s All-America lineman Freddy Pesqueira to end the Mocs’ final scoring threat.
Barnes completed 5-of-16 passes for 76 yards and one interception. Mario Hain led the Mocs in rushing with 64 yards on 10 carries. Jason ball gained 23 yards on eight totes. Jones had five receptions for a career-best 106 yards.
Maryland 37
Wofford 8
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Chris Downs ran for 147 yards and a touchdown as Maryland beat Wofford 37-8 Saturday.
Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns and Nick Novak kicked three field goals for the Terrapins (3-2), who went over .500 for the first time this season. Maryland has won 10 of 11 at Byrd Stadium.
Wofford (3-1) is 3-28-2 all-time against current ACC teams. The Terriers, ranked 19th in Division I-AA, have lost six of seven games against I-A opponents since 1982.
Melvin Jones scored Wofford’s lone touchdown, on a 2-yard run with 11:44 left in the game. That ruined Maryland’s bid for its first shutout since Sept. 18, 1999.
Scott McBrien completed 11 of 19 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown for the Terrapins.
McBrien moved the Terrapins 46 yards in eight plays, with Downs scoring his fifth touchdown of the season on a 6-yard run off right tackle with 9:57 remaining in the first half.

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