CHAPEL HILL — It wasn’t the finish North Carolina thought it was going to get, but the Tar Heels will take it.
After missing a potential game-winning field goal attempt at the end of regulation, UNC scored touchdowns in both overtime periods and got a defensive stop to get past Appalachian State 40-34 in a rainy Kenan Stadium.
After losing by three at Kenan in 2019 and winning a wild 63-61 shootout in Boone last year, the Tar Heels found themselves in another back-and-forth battle with the Mountaineers. The teams traded leads before finishing the first half tied 10-10. There were eight lead changes in the game and no team led by more than a touchdown.
The fourth quarter and extra periods saw a total of 37 points scored. App State scored on a Nate Noel rush with 10:44 remaining to take a four-point lead. Noel finished with 127 yards rushing and two scores.
Carolina responded as Drake Maye led the Tar Heels on a four-play, 75-yard drive in 1:25, highlighted by a 68-yard pass to J.J. Jones to set up an Omarion Hampton touchdown rush.
Hampton had a huge day, rushing for 236 yards on 26 carries and scoring three touchdowns. He became the first Tar Heel since Gio Bernard in 2012 to have more than 25 carries in a game.
“We see it every day in practice,” UNC coach Mack Brown said. “We knew it was coming, but we didn’t know when. The offensive line did a great job.”
The Tar Heels’ three-point lead held up until 1:22 remained, when App tied it at 27 with a field goal. Maye then led the team on another drive, moving 53 yards to set up a 39-yard field goal attempt with seconds remaining. Ryan Coe’s kick was low and off the mark, however, and the game went to overtime.
Noel rushed three times before finding the end zone to put the Mountaineers on top, but three Hampton rushes tied things back up.
Carolina got first crack in the second overtime, and, after two more Hampton rushes, Maye kept the ball after faking to his running back and ran around end for a touchdown.
App managed just five yards on the first three downs, and quarterback Joey Aguilar overthrew his receiver on fourth down to clinch the win for UNC. It snapped a six-game overtime losing streak for the Tar Heels, who last won in OT in 2015.
The key was winning.
“I’m so proud of the defense,” Brown said. “They stopped them on fourth down at the end.”
Maye finished 21 of 30 for 208 yards. Aguilar was 22 of 43 for 275 yards and two touchdowns, against one interception.
Brown had a long list of areas where Carolina struggled, including stopping App State on third down and having inopportune penalties to extend App drives or curtail UNC ones.
“We’ve got a lot that we’ve got to get better,” he said.
Still, in the end, the Tar Heels escaped with the win.
“I’m just happy we don’t have to play them again,” he said. “This will reap benefits for us down the road.”
