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FOOTBALL

17th Ranked North Carolina Is Hosting Appalachian State Tonight In Chapel Hill

17th ranked North Carolina is hosting Appalachian State tonight in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina traveled Boone North Carolina a season ago and won a high scoring affair at Appalachian State by a score of 63-61 on Saturday September 3, 2022.

In the high scoring affair at Appalachian State Redshirt freshman Drake Maye continued his torrid start to the season, throwing for 352 yards and combining for five touchdowns as North Carolina outlasted Appalachian State 63-61 on Saturday despite surrendering 40 points in the fourth quarter.

Maye, the younger brother of former Tar Heels basketball star Luke Maye, has thrown a school-record nine touchdown passes in two career starts. He also ran for a score against the Mountaineers.

Chase Brice threw for 376 yards and six touchdowns for Appalachian State (0-1).

The two teams combined for 62 points and 504 yards — in the fourth quarter. With the game tied at 49, Maye lofted a ball over the middle to D.J. Jones for a 42-yard touchdown pass on an all-out blitz by the Mountaineers to give North Carolina (2-0) the lead with 2:50 left in the game.

App State responded with Brice throwing his fifth TD pass of the game, a 28-yard strike to Deshaun Davis with 31 seconds left. The Mountaineers went for the 2-point conversion — and the apparent win — but Brice's pass sailed just over Davis' head.

It seemed the game would end there, but UNC's Bryson Nesbit returned the ensuing onside kick for a 43-yard touchdown — a mistake that gave the Mountaineers 31 seconds to try to score again. Sure enough, Brice found Kaedin Robinson for a 26-yard TD strike with 9 seconds left to cut the lead to 63-61.

The Mountaineers went for 2 but Brice was stopped short of the end zone.

The Tar Heels fell behind 21-7 before rattling off 34 straight points and silence a record crowd of 40,168 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Maye threw three TD passes in the first half, including a 10-yard TD strike to Nesbit to give the Tar Heels a 28-21 lead with 1 second left.

Maye made it 28 straight unanswered points for UNC with a 12-yard touchdown run to start the second half, receiving congrats from former Tar Heels and current Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell in the end zone after tiptoeing the sideline.

UNC pushed its lead to 41-21 after two Noah Burnette field goals entering the fourth quarter before the Mountaineers battled back with six touchdowns.

It was the most points ever scored in a UNC game since the school started football in 1888.

According to Steve Reed article of Associated Press on goheels.com

Appalachian State lost the high scoring affair a season ago by a score of 63-61 Chase Brice threw a school-record six touchdown passes, including four in the final 10:37, during a 361-yard day through the air. Henry Pearson, Dashaun Davis, Christan Horn, Kaedin Robinson, Christian Wells and Miller Gibbs each hauled in one touchdown pass apiece, and App State's running game produced 288 yards, with 116 coming from Nate Noel in a two-touchdown performance. Defensively, Nick Hampton recorded 2.5 sacks before forcing a momentum-swinging fumble, and Andrew Parker made a team-best eight tackles.
 
Behind by 20 points in the fourth quarter, App State came back to tie the score at 49-all on Camerun Peoples' 38-yard touchdown run and Michael Hughes' extra point with exactly four minutes remaining.
 
UNC moved back ahead, converting a third-and-9 pass from Drake Maye to an open D.J. Jones for a 42-yard touchdown with 2:50 remaining, before App State moved inside the Tar Heels' 35 in the final minute. Brice hit Davis for a 28-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left, and the Mountaineers went for a go-ahead two-point conversion, but the pass to Davis sailed just out of his reach.

"I had made my mind up early that we were going for two and the win," Clark said. "We're not going for second place at Appalachian State."
 
UNC's Bryson Nesbit returned the onside kick for a 43-yard touchdown with 28 seconds left, but that at least gave App State one more chance, because the extra point kept the margin as a one-score game at 63-55. Milan Tucker's 47-yard kickoff return to the UNC 48 and Brice's 22-yard completion to Robinson set up another Brice-to-Robinson connection, this one a 26-yard touchdown with nine seconds remaining.
 
The Tar Heels took away Brice's throwing options and stopped him short of the goal line.

North Carolina who is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference comes into the game with record of 1-0 because on Saturday September 2, 2023 As starting quarterback Drake Maye threw pair of touchdowns 21st North Carolina kicked off 2023 season Saturday with 31-17 win over South Carolina in Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte.

Where?

Bank Of America Stadium home of NFL’s Carolina Panthers!

Drake Maye’s inaugural for touchdown was to Kobe Paysour his wide receiver for 34 yards in 2nd quarter before Ryan Koe kicked the extra point making score 17-14 North Carolina in the 2nd quarter. His second passing touchdown was to John Copenhaver his Tight End before Ryan Coe kicked the extra point in the 3rd quarter to make score 31-14 North Carolina in the 3rd quarter. Though, that wasn’t the only scoring that North Carolina offensively as Omarion Hampton who is a running back ran for 1 yard touchdown in the 1st quarter before Ryan Coe kicked the extra point making score 7-0 North Carolina before South Carolina tied up the score 7-7 with touchdown of their own as South Carolina running back Dakereon Joyner ran for 4 yard touchdown, Mitch Jeter kicked extra point. In 2nd quarter Ryan Coe kicked 37 yard field goal giving North Carolina a 10-7 lead before South Carolina would take the lead briefly at 14-10 on a Juju McDowell 1 yard run, Mitch Jeter extra point before North Carolina would regain the lead yet again 17-14 as Wide Receiver Kobe Paysour would catch 34 yard pass from quarterback Drake Maye , Ryan Coe would kick the extra point . In 3rd quarter North Carolina would score pair of touchdowns as Omarion Hampton who is a running back would run for 1 yard touchdown , Ryan Coe would kick the extra putting North Carolina ahead of South Carolina by 10 at 24-14 before extending their lead to 31-14 as Tight End John Copenhaver would catch 18 yard pass from Drake Maye, Ryan would kick extra point before Mitch Jeter would kick 26 yard field to make final score 31-17 North Carolina.

Following North Carolina kicking off their season beating South Carolina 31-17 in Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte Saturday at Bank Of America Stadium home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers North Carolina Head Coach Mack Brown had this to say about his starting quarterback Drake Maye!

That ‘Drake was Drake,’’

It’s important to offer qualification that this was but one game and who knows how good, or not , South Carolina turns out to be. Yet the answers Unc provided over the course of three plus hours inside Bank Of America Stadium either portend great things in the coming months , or will be remembered as one of the greatest teases in the Tar Heels more -cursed then not recent history.

North Carolina Head Coach Mack Brown’s response?

We’re growing up,’’

Following North Carolina kicking off their season beating South Carolina 31-17 in Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte Saturday at Bank Of America Stadium home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers North Carolina starting quarterback Drake Maye had this to say!

The sky’s the limit who met with reporters how about them boys tonight?

According to Andrew Carter article on newsobserver.com

Appalachian State who is a member of the Sun Belt Conference like North Carolina comes into the game with record of 1-0 because they beat Gardner Webb 45 -24 on Saturday September 2, 2023 In relief of starting quarterback Ryan Burger, who went 7 of 11 with an early touchdown pass before exiting for the rest of the game with a finger injury, Joey Aguilar completed 11 of his 13 passes for 174 yards and four touchdowns. He threw a touchdown on his first play for the Mountaineers and set a school record for the most touchdown passes by a quarterback in his App State debut.

Joey came in, his first collegiate pass for App State is a touchdown, and that gave us the spark we needed,"Eli Wilson, Kaedin Robinson, Dalton Stroman, Dashaun Davis and Christan Horn had one touchdown catch apiece, and Nate Noel rushed for 117 yards and one touchdown on a career-high 24 carries.
 
Three turnovers forced in a span of eight minutes from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth enabled the Mountaineers to gain separation from the Runnin' Bulldogs, who led 24-21 in the third quarter before App State scored the final 24 points against an opponent coming off an FCS playoff appearance in 2022.
 
With App State ahead 31-24 after a career-long field goal of 43 yards from Michael Hughes, defensive end Michael Fletcher's second QB pressure of the game led to an interception from veteran safety and team captain Jackson Greene, who returned the ball 25 yards to the Gardner-Webb 23. Noel followed a 16-yard run with a 7-yard score, and pressure from Shawn Collins contributed to an interception by fellow newcomer Jack Scroggs shortly thereafter.
 
Kevin Abrams-Verwayne later forced a fumble that was recovered by newcomer Montez Kelley, and Aguilar's fourth-down touchdown pass to Horn capped the scoring.

Burger and Aguilar both threw first-half touchdown passes, as Burger's 12-yard strike to Wilson late in the first quarter followed running back Maquel Haywood's fourth-and-2 conversion. The Runnin' Bulldogs scored the next 10 points, and Aguilar took the field for the first time following a 14-yard punt that gave the Mountaineers possession at the Gardner-Webb 32 with 2:13 remaining in the first half.
 
Aguilar looked left and found Robinson wide open along the left hash at the 7-yard line. Robinson caught the throw, side-stepped one defender and scored easily to put App State back in front.

"You have to go out there and just play, no matter if it's first, second, third," Aguilar said. "It's always next guy up, and you just have to be prepared."
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs began the second half with an 11-play touchdown drive, App State regained the lead on Aguilar's 26-yard touchdown pass to Davis and Gardner-Webb took its final lead on running back Jayden Brown's third touchdown — a 41-yard reception.
 
The Mountaineers went ahead for good on Aguilar's 43-yard touchdown pass to a streaking Stroman down the right sideline, and back-to-back hurries from Nate Johnson and Fletcher forced a three-and-out punt.
 
Hughes' field goal extended the margin to seven points, and the Mountaineers pushed their lead to a two-score margin for the first time following Greene's interception to begin the next series. Returning to the sideline, he was swarmed by a big group that included head coach Shawn Clark and injured teammate Anderson Castle, a fellow Watauga High School graduate who managed to join the fray via his rolling scooter.
 
Nick Ross totaled 12 tackles to lead the defensive unit that had three second-half takeaways, while Andrew Parker Jr. and Tyrek Funderburk added six stops apiece.

According to article on appstatesports.com

Kickoff is set for 5:15pm from Kenan Memorial Stadium!

The game is going to be televised on ACC Network!