Boone, N.C. While an early 79-yard break-away touchdown for Appalachian State's junior running back Kevin Richardson appeared to set the tone early for the Mountaineers, it was their top-notch defense that dominated the game early for the Mountaineers as they defeated The Citadel, 42-13 in Boone, N.C.

With the Mountaineers up 7-0 early in the first quarter, the period did not end without an answer from the Bulldogs who recorded their first scoring drive with a Blake Vandiver 38-yard field goal, tying his season long, at 4:36 in the first making the score 7-3.

However, forcing two Bulldog fumbles in the first half, returning one for a touchdown early in the second, Appalachian State held The Citadel to that field goal and only 110 yards of total offense in the first half.

“We said we couldn't come in here and turn the ball over and we had to make plays and you see what we did in the first half,” said The Citadel Head Coach Kevin Higgins. “You can't turn the ball over against a good football team like Appalachian State and expect to win.”

Leading the Mountaineer defense, senior Marques Murrell, responsible for both forced fumbles for App State, improved to the top spot on Appalachian State's all-time list, recording the 14^th and 15^th of his career. The first, at 13:53 in the second, was recovered by Mountaineer junior safety Corey Lynch for a 25-yard touchdown return, his 20^th career take-away, putting Appalachian State up, 14-3.

After another Bulldog fumble and recovery within the 20-yard line and a Mountaineer 24-yard touchdown reception by Dominique Wilson for his first career reception at 5:49 in the second, Murrell forced another Bulldog fumble at 4:38 in the second, leading to the second Mountaineer recovery of the game, the most of any Bulldog opponent in a single game this season.

The Bulldogs stopped the Mountaineers' last attempted scoring drive in the half with a Jonathan Vest interception of App State Armanti Edwards' pass in the end zone as the clock expired for the half. Appalachian State went into the half leading The Citadel, 21-3, marking only the second Division I-AA opponent that stopped the Bulldogs from scoring a touchdown in the first half this season. The first was No. 8 Furman who led The Citadel 23-0 in the first half.

The second half did not find much more success for the Bulldogs, who saw the end zone only once in the game and was outscored by the Mountaineers 21 to seven in the second.

The Bulldogs' first scoring drive of the second half was another Vandiver field goal, this time a 28-yarder at 2:12 in the third. The score came after a Duran Lawson interception that was returned and fumbled by Mountaineer Corey Lynch. The Bulldogs recovered, losing 18 yards on the play and finishing the drive settling for a field goal at 8:26 in the third.

Three Mountaineer touchdowns later, the Citadel found their way to the endzone for the first and only time in the game on a 59-yard pass from Lawson to freshman wide receiver Andre Roberts for the Bulldogs' quickest scoring drive of the season at 12:03 in the fourth quarter. The Citadel drove the ball 80-yards in two plays in 52 seconds, making the score 42-13. Roberts' reception was his second longest of the season and the longest scoring play for the Bulldogs' this season.

“I thought we really moved the ball well in the first half, but we fumbled it a couple of times and that really hurt us.” Higgins added. “We thought we had a chance in the second half, but unfortunately we just couldn't get it going.”