Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511060115 SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"We need no pats on the head," Stewart said Saturday after his team fell to NCAA Division I-AA's No.2-ranked team 26-24 before 6,207 spectators. "We came in here to win the football game, not to play well. It's not OK to fall just short."
Especially when it's just 2 1/2, maybe 3 yards short. After a Thomas Haskins touchdown cut the Keydets' deficit to two with 1:35 to play, Stewart called for a two-point conversion.
VMI (3-6 overall, 2-4 Southern Conference) wanted overtime. Thoughts of last season's 26-23 OT victory over the Mountaineers (9-0, 6-0) in Boone, N.C., filled the Keydets' heads. "It had us in a deja vu," said center Jack Smith.
Haskins went in motion to leave the backfield empty. Quarterback Al Lester had four receivers, but the one the Keydets wanted to have the ball - tight end Greg Harris - was held up at the line.
With no one open, Lester ran a quarterback draw toward a hole in the middle of the field. "It closed kind of quickly," he said.
The man who closed it was Mountaineers defensive end Shawn Elliott, who pulled off his block and dropped Lester about 21/2 yards short.
VMI's emptying of the backfield "told me quarterback draw," Elliott said. "They hadn't done that all day. I figured they wanted to open up the middle."
VMI tried an onside kick to get the ball back, but Appalachian State's Jamie Coleman recovered at the VMI 43, and the Mountaineers ran out the clock.
Haskins went to the outside to make the score close. On third-and-four from the Mountaineers' 47, Haskins streaked around the left end for the touchdown. As Elliott did later, Haskins could see the big play coming.
"I was getting ready to go back in, and I told Coach [Stewart] to tie his shoe," Haskins said. "By the time he looked up, I had scored."
It was his second rushing touchdown of the day, and it gave him 14 for the year, a single-season VMI record. His 12 points in the game gave him 88 for the season, also a single-season school mark.
Haskins finished the game with 200 yards rushing on 32 carries. It was the sixth 200-yard game of his career. The junior tailback needs 183 yards to break Floyd Allen's career record of 3,188 yards.
``We were watching film of him this week and somebody said, `Man, he's not that good,''' said Mountaineers defensive tackle Mark Ivey, a Martinsville High School graduate. ``Well, he's awesome. I can think of three or four times when I had him wrapped up and he got away.
``I'm definitely glad I don't have to mess with him again,'' the senior added.
Appalachian State actually built a 23-7 lead with 4:49 left in the first half, but a Lester-to-Marlon Anderson touchdown bomb and a three plays-and-out stand by the Keydets' defense gave VMI hope at the break.
"It seemed like every time we were about to put them away, they came right back," Ivey said. "Almost every team we've played this year at some point quit. They didn't."
VMI's aggressive play-calling, however, may have given the Mountaineers the chance to pull it out.
Their fake punt-pass play that punter Howie Lowden has converted three out of three times coming into the game twice went awry in Keydets territory.
The ensuing Mountaineers possessions produced a field goal and touchdown. ``But those are the kinds of things that tell the kids, `We're going to go after these guys,''' said Jerry Moore, Appalachian State's coach.
He was speaking with respect. Stewart wanted to talk about a victory.
NOTE: VMI linebacker and Franklin County High School graduate Mike Edwards finished the game in the hospital. Edwards separated a shoulder midway through the third quarter.
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB