BOONE, N.C. – Chase Brice threw for two scores and ran for another as Appalachian State pulled away late to earn a 31-7 Sun Belt Conference football win on Saturday over the University of South Alabama at Kidd-Brewer Stadium.

Brice finished 14-of-26 passing for 195 yards and Camerun Peoples added 90 yards on 23 carries to move the Mountaineers to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Sun Belt on the year.  App State was led defensively by Nick Hampton with eight stops, with D'Marco Jackson adding seven tackles and a pass defensed.

A.J. DeShazor Jr. paced a Jaguar defense that allowed only 330 yards with 10 total tackles, while Keith Gallmon Jr. and Wy'Kevious Thomas were credited with six stops apiece and Trey Kiser posted five.  Desmond Trotter completed 21-of-38 pass attempts for 221 yards and a score — including connecting with Jalen Tolbert seven times for 108 yards — as the Jaguars dropped to 5-5-, 2-5 in the SBC.

Appalachian State 31, South Alabama 7 (game stats)
South Alabama/Appalachian State photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-Brice ran for one touchdown and threw for another with a 17-yard pass to Corey Sutton as the Mountaineers scored twice in a 56-second stretch to go ahead 14-0 at the end of the opening period.
-Following a recovery by AJ Phillips on a fumbled punt return, Trotter hit Jacob Hopper on the ensuing play for a 27-yard touchdown to pull the Jags within a score with just under four minutes left in the first half.
-Chandler Staton provided the only scoring in the third quarter with a 25-yard field goal to extend App State's advantage to 17-7.
-App State led 24-7 following a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brice to Thomas Hennigan, tacking on a 100-yard interception return for a score from Trey Cobb in the final minutes of the game.
-In finishing with a 330-284 edge in total offense, the Mountaineers — who were credited with 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage — limited the Jags to 58 yards on 33 rushes.
-South was 3-of-16 on third-down conversions, turning the ball over twice on downs in the red zone.

NOTES
-This was the first meeting between the two teams in two years, and the Jaguars' first visit to Kidd-Brewer Stadium since the 2018 campaign.
-The Mountaineers have now claimed the last four match-ups in the series.
-South matched a season high after recording four takeaways, with its 22 this year ranking fourth on the school season record list; it's the first time the Jags have forced 20 or more turnovers since the 2017 campaign, current head coach Kane Wommack's second season as the program's defensive coordinator at the time.
-Tolbert broke his own season receiving record, ending the contest with 1,140 yards through 10 outings this fall.
-He would go on to finish with his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season while it marked the eighth occasion in his career the junior has posted 100-plus yards.
-Darrell Luter Jr. now stands tied for second on USA's season record list after recording his fourth interception of the year in the second quarter.
-Shawn Jennings became the second member of the Jaguar defense to force more than one fumble this season with his first since South's Sept. 11 victory at Bowling Green.
-With his second interception in three weeks, Devin Rockette — who now has picked off five passes in his time with the program — moved into the top five on South's all-time list in the category.
-It was the first occasion that DeShazor Jr. has posted 10-plus tackles in a contest since the 2020 finale against Troy.
-Hopper's touchdown catch was the first of his career
-Trotter became the fourth quarterback in program history to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a career with his performance.
-It marked the fourth time in the last six contests that Jack Brooks has averaged better than 44 yards per punt after he posted a 44.6 figure on seven kicks.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack
On the team's fight: "I thought that there was tremendous effort by our defense, they really fought their tails off. Appalachian State had 300 yards total [offense], which is the least that they've had all season. They've been rushing for well over 200 yards a game, and we held them to 130, so there are some great things. If you're being critical, we didn't stop them enough in the red zone and we really needed one more third-down stop, whether that had been a red zone third-down stop or a couple in the open field to get the ball back with some field position. From an offensive standpoint, we're so banged up. Credit Reggie Smith who's been a walk-on, been on our scout team all season long, and now he's playing at guard for a majority of the game from the second quarter on. That's just where we are with our offensive line right now as we're banged up, but it's a credit to how well our guys are fighting right now. We've got a bunch of people that are fighting at such a high level, that it's giving us a chance to go compete against even the elite teams in our league."
On the final score not being indicative of the game: "You look at the score and defensively, we really held them to 17 points. You can't turn the ball over and you certainly can't turn the ball over for a touchdown, which is now the second week in a row that we've had a pick six. We had another pick in the red zone and then we had a fumble down in the red zone. Those are the things we have to eliminate, those self-inflicted wounds, because against good teams it's going to be very challenging to overcome. Even with those turnovers, we're in a position in the fourth quarter where it's 17-7 and we have an opportunity to still win the game. We have to capitalize on our opportunities and limit the amount of mistakes that we make."
On what the offense found in the second quarter to get things going: "We started opening up our passing game a little bit. We weren't getting a whole lot done in the run game. We had 33 rushes for 58 yards. Again, we're so banged up in that position. They [App State] do a really good job of stopping the run, they're one of the better teams in the conference in terms of some of their guys up front. At the same time, we have to find creative ways to get our playmakers the ball. I thought we started to do some of that, but we probably hurt ourselves with some inconsistencies, a holding call here, getting behind the chains in a play-action setting, taking a sack, and then when you turn the ball over against a team like App you're going to have a really difficult time working back."

Junior S Keith Gallmon Jr.
On the how defense played on Saturday: "I felt like we played hard and played fast, we took the fight to them.  We know they are a great offense and that they were going to come out and try to run the ball.  We were able to stop their runs, but we couldn't get off the field in third-down situations."
On what the team needs to do moving forward: "We have to keep fighting, we have to get back to practice and work to get better.  We need to capitalize on the things we did well in this game and fix the mistakes we had.  They were mental mistakes, but we'll fix it and get back to work and keep going."

Junior WR Jalen Tolbert
On tonight's game: "First and foremost, the defense held things down for us and came up with a lot of turnovers. Offensively, we were able to get in the red zone a handful of times and we weren't able to come away with points. I take credit for one of those times, because I should have caught the fade ball with one hand since I want to play at the next level. I have to be able to make those plays, so I'm going to work on that this week. Offensively, we just need to execute and finish. We're getting where we want to be, but we just need to finish."

Up next: The Jags conclude a three-game road swing with a 6:30 p.m. (CST) kickoff in Knoxville against Tennessee Saturday, with the game set to air nationally on ESPNU.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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