— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Last Friday, Hurricane Helene devastated much of western North Carolina.
Part of the affected areas included Boone, home of Appalachian State, which was in the middle of the devastation as residents were plagued by flooding, blocked roads and power outages.
The storm also led to the cancellation of last Saturday’s scheduled home football game against Liberty.
As things have started to at least somewhat improve in the area this week, the Mountaineers are scheduled to be in Huntington for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. matchup with Marshall at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. It’s Homecoming Week and the Herd’s second straight home game can be seen on ESPN+.
Marshall, which begins Sun Belt Conference play with this matchup, has the same 2-2 record as Appalachian State. The Mountaineers are 0-1 in the Sun Belt after a 48-14 thrashing at home by South Alabama two Thursdays ago.
“This is an opportunity for a football team to come together,” Marshall head coach Charles Huff said. “This could give a little bit of joy to the Boone community for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, so I expect it to be something they use so they can provide their fans with some mental relief from all that’s going on there.”
Huff expects to see the usual physical Mountaineer team on Saturday, meaning plenty of touches for tailbacks Anderson Castle and Kanye Roberts to go with efficient passing from veteran quarterback Joey Aguilar to players such as receivers Kaedin Robinson and Makai Jackson.
Defensively, the Mountaineers are young with the exception of defensive backs, where seniors Seth Robertson and Ronald Clarke are standouts.
The special teams are led by kicker Michael Hughes, who like Appalachian State head coach Shawn Clark, is a Charleston native and graduate of George Washington High School.
“They’re well coached and have a system that they believe in,” Huff said. They’ve run the same system for several years and it allows their kids to have some familiarity with it and how people defend it. They have an identity of being tough and physical and they have really good players.”
This will be the 27th meeting, with Appalachian State holding a 16-10 series advantage. The teams have met the four previous seasons and the home team has won on each occasion.
All other Appalachian State athletics this week are canceled with the exception of a women’s soccer match against Georgia State in Charlotte on Friday.
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Marshall redshirt senior defensive back J.J. Roberts won Sun Belt Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts in last week’s 27-20 win over Western Michigan.
Roberts tallied 15 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss while adding a forced fumble to his credit. Ten of his tackles came in the second half.
The 15 tackles tied Roberts’ career-high, which was set last year against Georgia State.
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Marshall October 12 matchup at Georgia Southern will be an 8 p.m. kickoff at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia, and will be shown on ESPNU.
The ESPNU broadcast will be Marshall’s third nationally-televised game through five contests in the 2024 season, with the others coming for games at Virginia Tech and Ohio State.