I still don’t have words for the insanely incredible ending of yesterday’s game in Boone.
It all started at 9AM, with ESPN’s flagship college football program, College GameDay, coming up the mountain for the very first time ever, which was a massive deal for us in and of itself.
Plus, not only that, but Luke Combs was the celebrity guest picker, which was the cherry on top of the cupcake, if you will…
And I think Mr. Pat McAfee summed it up best… the entire town of Boone was absolutely electric all day (and week, really) long:
With my Mountaineers coming off a big win in College Station and beating the #6 Texas A&M Aggies the week prior, which is why GameDay was even in Boone, the excitement levels were just at an all-time high in the high country.
Anywho, that whole GameDay experience was incredible, and not something any App State fan will soon forget.
But we also had a game later that afternoon, against the Troy Trojans in what was our Sun Belt Conference opener.
And by the grace of the good Lord above, we managed to pulled out a 32-28 victory… in absolutely heart-pounding fashion.
It came down to the last two seconds of the game on fourth-and-ten, as we were trailing 28-26 from our own 47-yard line, leaving no other options left but to throw up a Hail Mary and pray for the best (and believe you me, I was).
And on an absolutely incredibly well-executed play by the entire offense, quarterback Chase Brice threw the ball up to the end zone, where it got deflected and caught by Christan Horn at the 7-yard line. It was a play head coach Shawn Clark later confirmed happened exactly the way they drew it up and had practiced many times before.
With some perfect blocking by Kaedin Robinson, Christan ran it into the end zone and we won the game by a score of 32-28.
It took about 10 years off my life, and I think Luke’s tweet sums it up best… though even these words still fall short of articulating what this moment was really like to experience in person:
I mean, a miracle is exactly the right word for this scenario…
And of course, everyone went absolutely insane, storming the field to celebrate what is easily an instant classic.
Chase was understandably overcome with emotion, and had these few words for App Nation in the seconds immediately following the game:
“Mountaineer nation, never give up, man. Never give up.”
Chase Brice after the Hail Mary
“Mountaineer Nation: Never give up”@appstatesports #GoApp pic.twitter.com/xGdK2kzaEJ
— Phil Murphy (@Phil_Sports) September 17, 2022
What a guy…
But the most impressive part of the ending of that game, maybe even more so than his epic Hail Mary throw, is what he did right after when fans started running onto the field.
Chase headed straight for the sidelines to help fans safely jump onto the turf. He’s a total gentlemen and class act in every sense.
Journalist Phil Murphy shared the video, with App State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay telling his QB on Twitter:
“Just be a good person, that’s all. @chasebrice7”
If you want to know what makes this program so special, that’s it right there.
Yes, that’s my quarterback:
And actually, a few fans did experience minor injuries as a result of the field-rushing, so it’s cool to see Chase doing what he could to help everyone stay safe. He could’ve easily run the other direction to go celebrate with his teammates, which he eventually did, make no mistake about that.
But no amount of money, even in conferences like the SEC and BIG 12, for example, can buy character and class like that.
As cheesy as it is, win, lose or draw, it always just comes down to being a good person and doing the right thing.
Ya gotta freaking love college football, right?
And if you want to hear something really cool, check out the App State radio call by Adam Witten and Brandon Turner, because this is literally the best depiction of every single one of us during that moment yesterday:
I’m still processing everything that I experienced yesterday, and words still fall short, but no matter what.. it’s always great to be a Mountaineer.
