BOONE (AP) — Zac Thomas passed for two touchdowns and rushed for two more, leading Appalachian State past South Alabama 52-7 on Saturday.
Appalachian State (3-1, 1-0) had five consecutive touchdown drives in the first half, scoring 21 points in each of the first two quarters for a 42-7 lead. Thomas had scoring runs of 7 and 54 yards and throwing plays of 2 and 27 yards.
App State entered as the Sun Belt leader in scoring (51.7 points), total offense (525.7 yards) and total defense (265.7). Its high-powered offense racked up 517 yards to the Jaguars’ 308.
Thomas passed for 146 yards with two interceptions and he had 77 yards on six carries. Jalin Moore added 123 yards on the ground with two scores. Three of App State’s 10 completions were for touchdowns.
Evan Orth had 225 yards passing with an interception for South Alabama (1-4, 1-1). Gus Nave and Travis Reed each made an interception.
“There’s a lot of talk about how young we are, but we have some good leaders that bring these young guys along. These young guys are being led and allowing it to happen,” App State coach Scott Satterfield said. “When you have that buy-in, then you can have a special team. We’re still early in the season and of where we are right now and where we want to be. We’re 1-0 in this conference, and we’re excited about that.
