Joey Aguilar threw a touchdown strike on his first pass after coming off the bench, then threw three more, helping Appalachian State surge past visiting Gardner-Webb 45-24 on Saturday.
Aguilar entered the game in the second quarter after starter Ryan Burger jammed his finger. Aguilar’s first throw covered 32 yards for a score to Kaiden Robinson, giving the Mountaineers a 14-10 lead in the second quarter.
After falling behind 24-21 the second half, App State outscored the Bulldogs 24-0 in the final 18:25 for the non-conference, season’s opening victory.
Aguilar finished 11-of-13 for 174 yards. Burger had a touchdown throw before exiting, giving Mountaineers quarterbacks five on the day – to five different receivers (Eli Wilson, Dashaun Davis, Dalton Stroman and Christian Horn, in addition to Robinson).
Nate Noel rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown, his ninth 100-yard performance. Maquel Haywood added 11 rushes for 46 yards. Nick Ross added 12 tackles for the App defense. Jackson Greene and Jack Scroggs came up with interceptions.
Gardner-Webb came into the contest ranked No. 24 and No. 25 in the major FCS national polls.
Bulldog senior Ty French, our FCS preseason defensive line MVP, made history early in the game, sacking Burger on third down. That play gave French 25 career sacks, tying the Big South Conference record held by Chima Uzowihe of Liberty. French is now four sacks away from reaching the Gardner-Webb all-time mark.
Jayden Brown scored all three Gardner-Webb touchdowns. He rushed for a pair of scores and caught a 41-yard TD pass from Matthew Caldwell. The passing score gave Gardner-Webb a 24-21 advantage with 5:16 left in the third quarter.
The rest of the game was all Appalachian State, though. The Mountaineers will visit North Carolina next Saturday. Gardner-Webb will open its home schedule against Elon.
