Appalachian St. knocks off Elon

BOONE, N.C. (AP)—Armanti Edwards threw three touchdown passes and Appalachian State survived a late scare to beat Elon 24-16 on Saturday.

Edwards was 12 of 14 for 147 yards and added 104 yards rushing for the Mountaineers (9-2, 7-0 Southern Conference), who trailed by two points early in the third quarter.

However, Edwards’ third scoring pass—a 22-yarder to Brian Quick with 9:49 left in the third quarter—gave Appalachian State the lead.

Edwards left the game midway through the fourth quarter after a late hit, and backup DeAndre Presley drove the Mountaineers to a 24-yard field goal with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter.

Appalachian State stopped the Phoenix (8-3, 6-2) twice—including a fourth-and-inches—in the final six minutes to win its eighth straight game.

Elon’s Scott Riddle threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns, including a 13-yarder to Terrell Hudgins with 11:10 remaining in the third quarter that put the Phoenix ahead 16-14.

Riddle was 20 of 39 with one interception.

Appalachian State bolted to a 14-0 lead in the first half behind Edwards, who threw for 95 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and ran for 99 more yards.

He found Ben Jorden in the back of the end zone on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 4:02 left in the first quarter to give the Mountaineers the lead, then hit Matt Cline on a 33-yard scoring pass with 12:29 left in the second quarter.

Elon pulled within 14-7 on Riddle’s 55-yard touchdown pass to Bo Williamson with 9:11 remaining, then thwarted a chance for Appalachian State to widen its lead when it stopped a fourth-and-1 at the Phoenix 4 with less than four minutes left.

Elon had a shot to tie the game when it recovered a muffed punt at the Mountaineers’ 19 with 47.1 seconds left.

The Phoenix drove to the Appalachian 4, but had to settle for Andrew Wilcox’s 21-yard field goal and a 14-10 margin at the break.

Brandon Newsome added 118 yards rushing for Elon, which has lost two of its past three games.