Friday, January 07, 2011
Congrats to jojo niner-niner for winning this year’s contest. Mr. or Ms. jojo wound up with 20 points, enough to edge Alex (19) and Doug (17). Thanks to all who participated this year. Maybe a prize next year.
By the way, exciting final. Couldn’t help but think about Eastern Washington’s win over North Dakota State a couple of rounds ago, and the controversial fumble call after a review in overtime. Some red-turf magic there. Nice playoff run by the Eagles, though.
Perry Hudspeth, an Appalachian State graduate and former defensive lineman for the Mountaineers, has retired after a 38-year career as a football official.
His final game was last Saturday, when he was head linesman in the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
“I always wanted to go out at the top of my game, not being slowed down by injury or other problems,” said Hudspeth, 62, from Winston-Salem. “I feel like I finished at the top of my game. I went out with my boots on, as they say.”
Hudspeth had been part of an ACC officiating crew since 1993.
He began refereeing Pop Warner games in 1972, the year after graduating from ASU, and moved up to calling high school and eventually college games. His “other” career has been in insurance and banking, and he began an investment firm in 2002.
Singling out a highlight through his long officiating career would be a challenge, but Hudspeth said: “The most rewarding game to me was the Army-Navy game, just because of the nature of those young men are going. They’re soldiers first and athletes second.”
Next season, he said he’ll welcome the opportunity to sit in the stands and be an ASU fan.
“I bought club seats when they first did the new expansion,” Hudspeth said. “I haven’t had a chance to even sit in them yet. So this year will my first year to be able to sit in those seats.”
He said that he’ll probably wind up focusing on the officials, but probably won’t join fans in verbal criticism of them. He’s been on the receiving end of that often.
“I’ve really roused the crowds many times,” Hudspeth said. “The biggest adjustment I’m going to have to make is standing in line, getting in with a ticket, listening to all the fans and the opinions in the stands. We’re used to being whisked in with a police escort three hours before kickoff and taking off immediately after the game. I’m just going to be a fan now.”
By Tommy Bowman at 01:41 PM
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Thursday, January 06, 2011
Appalachian State’s 74-66 road victory over Davidson last night was due in large part to the return of two players, figuratively and literally.
Omar Carter, a 6-5 guard who made his ASU debut Nov. 12 with 35 points in a season-opening victory at Tulsa, had seen his scoring production drop in several games since. But his 25 points against Davidson – including 19 in the second half – provided a crucial punch.
And Mitch Woods, a freshman who had been bothered by a hip injury that left him sidelined in three of the previous five games, returned to the starting lineup and contributed significantly at point guard.
Carter, a junior transfer from Charleston Southern, endured a slow start last night but hit 7 of 10 field-goal attempts in the second half and made a clutch 3-pointer with 1:20 left that squelched a Davidson rally. He also wound up with a team-leading seven rebounds.
“For me, it’s been mental,” said Carter, who has weathered sporadic scoring totals since the impressive debut against Tulsa. “I’ve got to take my time. Coach (Jason Capel) has been preaching that to me all year.”
Capel said: “Omar has proven he can score the ball. It’s fun having a guy like that you can put in some many different positions to score…. When teams focus on Donald (Sims) the way they do, Omar has to be one of the guys to step up and I thought he did that in the second half. He did a good job in the post, he did a good job driving. He made good decisions with the ball. He didn’t over dribble. He played in a nice rhythm and got easy baskets.”
Woods, a 6-3 point guard, had just one turnover in 27 minutes. He wound up with five points and four rebounds.
“We need Mitch, and I’ve been very adamant about that all season,” Capel said. “Even as a freshman, he brings a calm to the team. He brings a toughness. He’s one of our two best defenders. He’s a coach’s son. He’s a smart kid, he’s strong…he’s smart enough to know he can beat his guy and he’s strong enough to get to the basket and finish.
“Him being healthy brought confidence to this team. He’s already a leader and having him back is a huge asset.”
Woods’ presence frees quick and sharp-shooting Sims to play off the ball, and provides complement to both Sims and Carter in the backcourt.
“You don’t get too many freshmen who can calm a team down and do what he does,” Carter. “Defensively, he brings a lot of energy.”
Sims said: “It frees me off the ball, I can use some screens better. Teams can not worry about me as far as all eyes on me when I have the ball. He’s a facilitator. He gets me going, he gets everybody going. And he’s great defensively, and we need his toughness defensively.”
Monday, January 03, 2011
Making 86 percent of free throws is great for most players. But Donald Sims set the bar so high last season when he led the nation in free-throw accuracy, 86 percent almost seems as if something is wrong.
Nothing wrong, Sims said.
“I’ve just been missing some,” Sims said. “There’s no excuse, really. If I had to look at anything, maybe it’s playing so many minutes. Maybe I’m tired a little bit. But there’s no excuse, really. Everything’s fine. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything differently. I just need to step up and knock them down.”
What Sims did from the free-throw line last season was phenomenal. He made 175 of 184 free throws, setting a Southern Conference record at 95.1 percent.
By comparison, this season’s 80 of 93 (86 percent) seems like a letdown.
“Ninety-five percent, that’s just hard to beat,” Sims said. “But I put myself in that position, so I need to respond.
“I’m feeling like 15 or 16 in a row is coming. That’s my goal.”
Friday, December 31, 2010
Jason Capel, Appalachian State’s coach, said Thursday that Ike Butts, the Mountaineers’ senior center who has missed every game this season following a knee injury in August, will be redshirted this season.
Butts is recovering from surgery to his left knee, which he injured in a pickup game. Last season as a junior, Butts averaged 8.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a game while bothered with an injury to his right knee.
Butts said Thursday that he hadn’t completely ruled out returning this season although he doubts that he will, and Capel said that he will indeed redshirt this season and return next season.
“Ike won’t say it,” Capel said. “Ike wants me to say it.
“Ike will be redshirted. We’re this deep into the season.”
Butts said that he feels as if he is recovering, although the process has been slower than he hoped. “It doesn’t feel as good as I had hoped at this point and time,” Butts said.
Butts returned to full practice Nov. 29 for the first time since the surgery, but said that the knee didn’t respond well afterward.
“After the practice, it locks up and I can’t bend it,” Butts said. “It felt like that three or four days afterward so having it feel like that is just something I don’t want to go through. It was like that last year and just got worse and worse.”
Butts said he feels the knee is getting stronger, but that it’s just taking more time than he had hoped. And time, for this season, has practically expired with the Mountaineers set to begin the bulk of their Southern Conference schedule with a game at Davidson on Wednesday.
“I want to be 100 percent,” Butts said. “The whole thing for me has been if I’m 100 percent I’d go, if I’m not 100 percent I wouldn’t play.”
Capel said: “I just want him to be healthy. He played through a lot of pain last year. I want him to be healthy and have a great senior year.”
Which means wait until next season.
“Will we miss Ike, sure,” Capel said. “He’s 6-10, 280 pounds. And I feel good saying 280 pounds because he was 300 last year. He’s worked hard to keep it off. He gives us an offensive and defensive presence that we don’t have, and one person isn’t going to make up for it. Teams have to prepare for Ike. Teams have to double-team Ike, and that makes life easier on Donald Sims, and makes life easier on Jeremi Booth.
“But we have to continue to work with Andre Williamson…to be more assertive, and Petey Hausley to be more assertive and Nathan Healy, who needs to be more assertive and play within himself and Anthony Breeze, when he comes back, needs to be more assertive. Do we have enough? Yes, we do. But we all have to do it together to make up for the absence of Ike.”
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Don King says that the game has changed since he played basketball for Appalachian State from 1957-58 through 1960-61. But his scoring record has stood for 50 seasons.
“The players are a little bigger, and the game is probably a little faster now,” King said. “The shot clock, which we didn’t have, has changed the game along with the 3-point line. I’m surprised the record hasn’t been broken by now.”
Chances are, King’s career scoring total of 1,794 points will be topped Thursday night when ASU plays Milligan. Donald Sims is 16 points away from breaking the record.
King, who grew up in Winston-Salem and now lives in Fuquay-Varina, was a prolific shooter – and his school-record 700 field goals will be tough to beat.
“He never had a bad practice shooting the ball, or a bad game,” said Bob Light, whose 15 seasons as ASU’s coach began with King’s freshman season. “He was amazing. I’ve said Don King could wake up in the middle of the night, go to the gym still half asleep and beat you in a game of HORSE. He was that good.
“It’s a testament to what he did, without benefit of a 3-point line or 30-second clock or the one-on-one play that everybody features now, and the fact that scores were lower then, that the record has held up for so long.”
Light, who lives in Boone and still attends ASU games regularly, tips his hat to Sims.
“Both are great ball players, and both have had great careers at Appalachian,” he said. “Donald Sims is a fine young man and he has been a joy to watch. He has such a great shot, and great ability to get away from his man one-on-one and produce a good shot. His free-throw shooting has been amazing. He puts a lot of pressure on defenses. Like Don, he’s fun to watch.”
More on Don King can be found in Thursday’s Winston-Salem Journal.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Odds and ends heading into Saturday’s FCS quarterfinal game between Appalachian State and Villanova:
The game will be the first meeting between the programs.
“Last year we unfortunately had to play two teams in our league in the playoffs, and that’s never fun,” Coach Andy Talley of Villanova said. “We’re happy this year that at least we can play some other people that haven’t seen us and we haven’t seen them and that makes for a little more interesting game.”
ASU is 21-10 against current Colonial Athletic Association teams, and 9-2 against them in the postseason. Villanova is 3-0 against current SoCon members, Furman and The Citadel.
Saturday’s game will match the FCS’s No. 7 scoring offense against the No. 8 scoring defense. ASU is averaging 35.2 points a game. Villanova has allowed 17.0 points a game.
Running back Devon Moore of ASU, who re-aggravated a thigh injury against Western Illinois, practiced Wednesday for the first time this week and is expected to play against Villanova.
Anthony Wilson, a junior and reserve defensive tackle, missed last Saturday’s game as result of a knee injury sustained in practice last week and will likely be out for the remainder of the season.
A victory Saturday would mark the 200th win for Coach Jerry Moore at Appalachian State. Moore is 199-78 in 22 seasons at ASU. Overall, Moore is 226-126-2 in 29 seasons as a head coach. He and Villanova’s Andy Talley (215-124-2) are among 12 Division I head coaches with more than 200 wins.
ASU has won at least 10 games in a season for the sixth straight year. The only other Division I programs (FCS or FBS) to win at least 10 games each of the last six seasons are Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
Either the Southern Conference or Colonial Athletic Association will have two teams in next week’s semifinals. Both leagues are assured of having one advance (Georgia Southern plays Wofford in one quarterfinal; Delaware plays New Hampshire in another), and a second will be the ASU-Villanova winner.
Between the two leagues, they’ll have three of the four semifinalists.
Matt Szczur, Villanova’s versatile running back and wide receiver, is back from an ankle injury that sidelined him for seven games this season.
Szczur was the CAA’s player of the year on offense and special teams last season when he accounted for 2,239 multipurpose yards. He was the only player in Division I to have a touchdown rushing, receiving, passing and on a kick return.
“The return of No. 4 Matt Szczur had a great effect on how we played football because Matt not only can provide the big play, which he did on the 48-yard touchdown catch that he had (last Saturday), and he was a big factor in the Wildcat,” Talley said. “So having him back gives us a few more weapons in terms of how we can attack people.
“With Matt, you can do so many more things formationally. You can line him up in different spots and challenge some different areas of a defense. When you put him the Wildcat he can throw as well as run. He sees the field very well and has a lot of speed. He has a chance to explode and break a big one for you at any point in the game. And now you really can’t double any one of our receivers because you have to know where he is. We do a lot of different things with him.”
Szczur was selected in the fifth round of the 2010 major-league baseball draft by the Chicago Cubs and spent last summer in their minor-league system, finishing with Class A Peoria. He had a combined .347 batting average at three levels.
Mark LeGree, ASU’s free safety who has recovered from a hamstring injury that sidelined him in the Mountaineers’ final regular-season game against Florida, will be among ASU’s secondary members charged with containing Szczur and wide receiver Norman White, who has 10 touchdown receptions this season.
“I know about Szczur, and that he’s an all-purpose player, and the difficult part about that is that he didn’t play (for seven games) this season and we only have two games of him on film, so we didn’t get to see much,” LeGree said. “They have another good receiver (White) who’s big and tall and fast. And the quarterback (Chris Whitney) is not the type to run and slide. When he runs, he’ll put his head down and he’ll hit you. They’ve got a good team.”
Monday, December 06, 2010
Appalachian State had a blast in Saturday’s wintry blast, coming away with a 42-14 victory over Western Illinois in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Quarterback DeAndre Presley said that he liked playing in the snow, but didn’t say it was easy. The FieldTurf at Kidd Brewer Stadium was covered with a dusting by game time, and it didn’t get any better.
“It’s hard,” Presley said. “Running wise, you’ve got so much snow packed up under your cleats that you can’t really dig into the turf the way you want to. Passing-wise, it was a little difficult, too, but the (interceptions) I threw were just me trying to put it on a line instead of putting more air under it. But it is a lot different than playing when it’s not snowing.”
Presley did make it look easy. He ran for a career-high 264 yards, and the running game turned out to be the preferred method of travel in the slippery conditions
“We all said on the sideline, ‘If it’s going to take running the ball to win the game, we’re going to do it,’” Presley said.
Western Illinois, a team more reliant on passing, struggled. The Mountaineers kept the heat on quarterback Matt Barr, but defensive end Jabari Fletcher said that wasn’t as easy as it might have looked, either.
“When you dig your feet into the ground and get into the three-point stance and get your hand down, you kind of worry about being able to push off and get a good jump off the ball,” Fletcher said. “You know that you may slip. I had to wipe the snow away and kick my shoes a lot. But it was a challenge for everyone, the offensive guys, too.”
Cornerback Demetrius McCray, who had an interception and two breakups in his second start at cornerback, said that snow did help throw off Western Illinois’ timing.
“Conditions helped us out, too, because (their receivers) couldn’t really cut,” McCray said.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Odds and ends heading into Appalachian State’s game against Western Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs:
ASU is the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs for the third time. The Mountaineers were the top seed in 1987, when they made it to the semifinals and lost to Marshall, and in 2006, when they won a national title.
The Mountaineers are in the playoffs for the sixth straight year. That’s the second-longest streak in the field behind New Hampshire’s seven straight appearances.
What’s a Leatherneck? Western Illinois University is located in Macomb, Ill., and has an enrollment of 13,331. The school adopted the Marine Corps’ nickname, “The Fighting Leathernecks” in 1927 when coach Ray “Rock” Hanson, a Marine hero, received permission from the military. A bulldog is the team’s mascot.
There are few ties between the programs, although both Coach Jerry Moore of ASU and Mark Hendrickson of Western Illinois were once assistant coaches under Hayden Fry.
The programs will meet for the first time. ASU center Brett Irvin said that his team doesn’t know much about the Leathernecks, but that it cuts both ways.
“The good thing about it is that they really don’t know what to expect from us,” Irvin said. “It’s better than going against a team that has already played you and has the advantage of adjusting what they do the second time around.”
Dominique McDuffie, a free safety for the Mountaineers, said: “Going against an opponent you’ve never played is kind of exciting. It’s another chance to show what you can do, and another chance to see how good you really are.”
Western Illinois was 1-10 last season, and was picked to finish eighth this season in the Missouri Valley Conference’s preseason poll.
“We’ve had the biggest turnaround in school history and gotten our team in the playoffs and had a big first-round win (over Coastal Carolina),” quarterback Matt Barr of the Leathernecks said. “Now to go and play probably the most known and most successful Division I FCS teams in Appalachian State, to go play at their place in the second round, is really all you can ask for as a college football player.”
Barr, a 6-2, 210-pound senior, ranks third in the FCS with 3,312 passing yards and has thrown for 26 touchdowns.
“He throws the ball well,” Coach Jerry Moore of ASU said. “He’s an experienced player, has been in big ballgames. He moves the ball around. They’ve got several guys who can catch the ball but two of them are more dominant than the others, but he scatters the ball around to the tight ends and backs just enough to make you really have to respect those other receivers.”
Barr’s top target is senior Lito Senatus, who has 1,120 yards and 13 touchdowns receiving.
Bobby Bozzo, a defensive tackle for ASU, said of the Leatherneck’s offense: “Their offensive line is taller and leaner than some we play against. They run a kind of zone that we haven’t seen a lot. A lot of the teams we play have moved away from that normal zone scheme, but that’s kind of what we run and we go against the best zone team in FCS every spring and every camp. I feel like that’s our strong point.”
The Mountaineers will be facing a predominately passing offense, something they haven’t seen an overabundance of this season.
“They like to sling it around,” McDuffie. “No team is easy, especially in the playoffs, but if everybody will focus on their assignments, pay attention to what they’re doing and wrap up and make tackles we should be fine.”
The Mountaineers will be without starting cornerback Ed Gainey, who will have to serve a one-game suspension after being ejected for fighting in the final regular-season game against Florida.
Demetrius McCray, a sophomore who got his first start against Florida, when cornerback Troy Sanders was shifted to strong safety to fill in for injured Mark LeGree, is expected to start in Gainey’s spot. Sanders will return to cornerback, with LeGree expected back at strong safety.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast on MASN and available on ESPN’s GamePlan pay-per-view package as well as online on ESPN3.
The winner will between ASU and Western Illinois will face the winner of Saturday’s Villanova-Stephen F. Austin game in the quarterfinals. If ASU wins, the game will be in Boone either next Friday night or Saturday, Dec. 11.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
For the first time in Appalachian State’s 18 years in the FCS playoffs, the Mountaineers didn’t play an opening game on Thanksgiving weekend.
That was due to a new playoff format, and first-round bye extended to the Mountaineers.
Players said that it seemed a bit strange not to be playing last Saturday, but that it was a benefit – replacing an open week before the start of the playoffs in previous seasons and providing time for some rest after an 11-game regular season.
A lot of players went home for Thanksgiving. Bobby Bozzo, a long way from his home in New Jersey, spent time with teammate Ben Jorden’s family. DeAndre Presley, from Florida, went hunting with a friend.
All had plenty of turkey.
“I ate a lot,” Presley said. “It was kind of strange because the past few years we’ve played on Thanksgiving (weekend) but, then again, it was something that was needed for us to get rest for guys with injuries to heal and to get back into the mindset of winning.”
Brett Irvin said: “It was great. The first time in five years. Now we’re ready to go for a four-game season.
“We can focus on winning a national championship now. The Southern Conference is behind us. Florida was a team we wanted to beat, but it really doesn’t matter whether we did or didn’t, but now the focus is on our main goal – to get to Texas to play for a national championship.”
Dominique McDuffie said: “This year a lot of us got to go home, which we usually don’t get to do for Thanksgiving. That was nice, but everybody was back on Sunday ready to go.”
Coach Jerry Moore has always preferred to schedule an open date the weekend before the playoffs.
“The only negative thing about it is that you lose a little bit of your routine, but given the choice you would rather have your kids fresh,” Moore said. “Particularly in our case, we had just come off a really tough ballgame against Florida. We came back and worked hard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then gave them three or four days off.”
McDuffie said: “The extra week was great, because we had a lot of minor injuries. We pretty much have everybody back and we’re 100 percent. We practiced hard early last week but then had some time for everybody to get their legs back. That’s the big plus for having a first-round bye.”
Bozzo said: “It was great to have that time to recover from the regular season. A lot of the bumps and bruises got better. It felt a little weird, because traditionally we’ve been here as a team throughout Thanksgiving, basically the only people on campus, but I think having the time off is better for a playoff run.”
None of the players said that the one-sided loss to Florida in the regular-season finale was a detriment to playoff readiness, and Bozzo said that there might have actually been benefit from it.
“It’s kind of like swinging with a heavy bat before you get up to the plate,” Bozzo said. “We won’t see an offensive line throughout the playoffs that were as big as them. We learned a lot from breaking down film and I feel we learned a lot that will help us.”
Read more on the Mountaineers’ FCS title bid in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal.
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