The Texas State football team fell short 20-13 to the 2016 Sun Belt Conference champions, Appalachian State on Sept. 16 at Bobcat Stadium.
The Bobcats are now 1-2 for the 2017 football season, and 0-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Appalachian State improved to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the SBC.
Texas State took an early lead in the first quarter after graduate quarterback Damian Williams connected with junior wide-receiver Mason Hays for a 49-yard touchdown. The Bobcats ended the first quarter 7-0.
Junior kicker James Sherman extended the Bobcat lead 10-0 with a 28-yard field goal.
The Mountaineers were finally able to get on the board with 29 seconds left in the half making the score 10-7 going into halftime.
Appalachian State took over the second half with a field goal in each of the last two quarters and a touchdown in the third. The Bobcats answered back with a field goal, but were still short 20-13.
“They are a very talented and skillful football team,” Texas State head football coach Everett Withers said. “It was good to have them here and to have an opportunity to compete against them.”
The Bobcats fought till the end with a 98-yard drive in the final minutes of the game after a forced fumble by junior safety A.J. Krawczyk. A pass from Williams to senior wide receiver Elijah King left the Bobcats a half yard away from the goal line with no time on the clock.
“I was proud of the way they fought, and the way they competed,” Withers said. “We made a bunch of strides this football program, but we still have a long way to go. We are just going to try to be better tomorrow than we were tonight.”
Overall, the Bobcats led Appalachian State in rushes 21-19, passing yards 125-116 and total offensive yards 385-283. The Bobcats also held possession of the ball for 33:31, while Appalachian State only had the ball for 26:29.
“The bottom line is that we are improving, but we didn’t win,” Withers said. “We talked about just getting better. You start looking at the categories and see that we held the offensive player of the year to 14-yards tonight. That is pretty good.”
Williams led the team with 260 passing yards and one touchdown. Williams also rushed for 46-yards during the game.
King finished with a team high of 112 receiving yards followed by Hays’ 88 yards.
Defensively, Hal Vinson sophomore linebacker led in tackles with 10 followed by Krawczyk who had seven. Both junior Ishmael Davis and sophomore linebacker Bryan London II totaled five tackles each.
The Bobcats continue their season with the 2017 H-E-B I-35 Showdown against the University of Texas at San Antonio at Bobcat Stadium on Sept. 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.