BOONE, N.C. — Georgia State left Kidd Brewer Stadium with a first on Saturday, beating Appalachian State 39-23 for the first victory over the Mountaineers in program history.
The Panthers are now 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Sun Belt under coach Dell McGee, who said the team had spent the week aiming to make history and then went out and did it on the road. The defense set the tone with six sacks and three takeaways. App State managed only 59 yards on the ground, and the Panthers sat on the football for 37 minutes and 19 seconds.
Pereira went 10-for-17 for 115 yards, threw three scoring passes and was not picked off. Grant Hollier caught a 22-yard touchdown late in the first quarter, DJ Riles hauled in a 10-yard score just before halftime, and Rodshaun Dorsey added a 17-yard touchdown early in the fourth. The Dorsey catch was his ninth scoring reception of the season, tying the school’s single-season record.
Linebacker Coby Owens changed the game in the second quarter, intercepting Malachi Singleton and returning it 23 yards for a touchdown that put Georgia State ahead 20-14. Owens later grabbed a second interception, matching the program record for picks in a game, and that takeaway set up another Samer Layous field goal.
Layous accounted for 15 points, converting four of five field-goal tries. His kicks covered 45, 52, 27 and 45 yards, and the 52-yarder was the longest of his career. After App State had gone back in front 14-13 on a 56-yard strike from Chris Lofton to Jamel Howse, Owens’ return and the Pereira-to-Riles score sent the Panthers into the break up 26-14.
Georgia State piled up 380 yards, 265 of them on the ground, and ran 75-yard scoring drives more than once. Lanear McCrary Jr. carried 21 times for 123 yards. The Panthers won the turnover battle 3-0, converting a late Mountaineer miscue into clock-killing offense after Layous made it 39-23 with 4:33 left.
The win also pulled Georgia State into a group of four East Division teams sitting one victory from bowl eligibility. Appalachian State fell to 5-4 and 2-3. A week from Saturday the Panthers host Southern at 3:30 p.m. in their annual in-state bowl game.
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