|
Wednesday, 07 December 2005 09:16 |
| ASU quarterback Richie Williams breaks free in last Saturday's playoff win over Southern Illinois
|
BOONE ?? Quarterback Richie Williams racked up 403 yards of total offense and accounted for four touchdowns to lead Appalachian State University to a 38-24 victory over Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs at cold and rainy Kidd Brewer Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
Williams completed 20-of-28 passes for a season-high 367 yards and
three touchdowns and added 36 yards and a touchdown on the ground to
lead second-seeded ASU (10-3) to this Saturday??s national semifinal
versus Southern Conference-rival Furman, a 24-20 winner over Richmond
on Saturday evening. (At presstime, the starting time for Saturday??s
game had not been decided.)
Williams set ASU playoff records for passing yards and total offense
and tied the school??s single-game playoff record with three passing
touchdowns and four total TDs.
After a 32-yard Julian Rauch field goal on the first drive of the game,
Williams plunged into the end zone from a yard out to put the Apps
ahead 10-0 with over five minutes to play in the first quarter.
Appalachian stretched the lead to 17-0 early in the second quarter when
Williams found running back Kevin Richardson on a well-executed
out-and-up route for a 41-yard touchdown.
Southern Illinois (9-4) was set to put its first points on the board
when it drove to the ASU 29-yard line on the next series, but
Mountaineer cornerback Justin Woazeah stymied the potential scoring
drive when he picked off his second pass in as many weeks and returned
it 78 yards to the SIU 11. Appalachian made it 24-0 one
play later
when T.J. Courman took the handoff on a reverse and ran it in from 11
yards out.
The Salukis got within two touchdowns with a 24-yard field goal just
before halftime and Craig Turner??s 93-yard kickoff return for a
touchdown to open the second half. However, ASU answered quickly with a
four-play, 80-yard drive that took just 43 seconds off the clock,
capped by a 54-yard touchdown pass from Williams to William Mayfield
that extended Appalachian??s advantage to 31-10.
Southern Illinois added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, sandwiched
around a 40-yard scoring connection from Williams to Dexter Jackson, to
round out the scoring.
In all, the Mountaineers out-gained the Salukis 500-337, including a 367-220 advantage through the air.
In addition to Williams?? 403 total yards, Richardson recorded 160 all-purpose yards.
Running back Arkee Whitlock led SIU with 95 yards on 20 attempts, while
quarterback Joel Sambursky
completed 19-of-38 passes for 220 yards and
two touchdowns, but threw a pair of costly interceptions.
|
