The App State Mountaineers football team played their second conference game of the season Saturday, taking on the Marshall Thundering Herd, losing 52-37.
Marshall opened up the scoring on a Braylon Braxton three-yard rushing touchdown after App State’s first drive resulted in a three-and-out.
Redshirt freshman kicker Jackson Moore responded with a 42-yard field goal, making the score 7-3.
The Mountaineers opened the second quarter with a 10-yard rushing touchdown courtesy of redshirt sophomore Kanye Roberts. Roberts’ touchdown rush capped off a 14-play, 94-yard drive that lasted 6 minutes and 26 seconds.
Marshall responded quickly. On the second play of the drive, Braxton found wideout Jordan Houston for his first completion of the game, a 75-yard passing touchdown to move the score back in favor of the Thundering Herd, 14-10.
It wouldn’t take long for Marshall to extend their lead. On the first play of the next drive, linebacker J’Coryan Anderson intercepted a pass from senior quarterback Joey Aguilar and returned it for a touchdown to make the score 21-10.
App State looked to respond but a 39-yard field goal attempt from Moore missed wide right, giving the ball back to the Thundering Herd. Marshall capitalized 3 minutes later after Braxton hit running back A.J. Turner for a five-yard passing touchdown, moving the score to 28-10.
Aguilar responded by finding redshirt junior Dalton Stroman for a 21-yard touchdown. The Mountaineers closed the lead down to nine points. Marshall led at halftime 28-17.
Marshall struck first in the second half off a 29-yard rushing touchdown from Turner, his second touchdown on the day, extending the Marshall lead 35-17.
Following this, Aguilar threw his second interception of the game, this time to cornerback Jacobie Henderson. Marshall got the ball at the App State 28-yard line and capitalized with a Rece Verhoff 38-yard field goal to go up 38-17.
App began to close the lead again, scoring on a 27-yard pass from Aguilar to Stroman. The Mountaineers tried a two-point conversion but it was called back after an offensive pass interference call. They opted to kick the extra point on the second attempt. Marshall still led 38-24.
Braxton found wide receiver Chuck Montgomery for his third passing touchdown of the day, making it 45-24.
With 6:05 remaining in the fourth quarter senior running back Ahmani Marshall ran it in for a touchdown to once again cut the lead back to 14. The Mountaineers failed to recover the onside kick, giving Marshall the ball around midfield.
Braxton scored his fifth total touchdown of the day off a 35-yard run. This put the Thundering Herd up 52-31. Braxton had accounted for 129 yards and two passing touchdowns through the air as well as 140 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
The Mountaineers scored in the remaining minutes of the game when Ahmani Marshall scored off a 2-yard rush, his second of the day.
Marshall defeated the Mountaineers 52-37. Head Coach Shawn Clark was critical of the team as a whole postgame.
“Very disappointing, that’s not what we came down here for, to play like we did,” Clark said. “Too many mistakes on both sides of the ball, too many penalties. You have almost 500 yards of offense but you have two turnovers that turn into touchdowns.”
The Mountaineers accounted for a total of 15 penalties for 185 yards.
Clark was asked about the team’s mindset playing after Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina.
“It’s been tough, you can’t deny that a lot of people lost their everything in Boone and Watauga County, those fans and those residents of Watauga County have a lot of pride in App State football, and we have to make sure that we come through for them,” Clark said.
The Mountaineers moved to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. They’ll look to rebound next weekend when they travel to Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana, to take on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.