App State beats the Ragin’ Cajuns to win the first Sun Belt Championship Game

The Sun Belt conference celebrated its first ever championship game in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday afternoon and the Appalachian State Mountaineers won the dance as they punched their ticket to the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on December 15th.

At times it was ugly but the App State defense hung tough and was able to hold the Cajuns when it mattered to preserve the Mountaineers first ever outright Sun Belt title.

Darrynton Evans ran rampant on the Cajun defense as he ran for 111 yards on 17 carries and walked away with the MVP belt. Evans contributed on special teams too, as his 99 yard kickoff return setup the first touchdown of the game. Zac Thomas struggled through the air as he was a meager 6/13 for 75 yards but what Thomas lacked in the air he made up for on the ground, reeling off 59 yards on 9 carries and 2 touchdowns.

For UL at times things looked like it may spin their way as running back Trey Ragas tallied up 101 yards on 16 Carries. Andre Nunez struggled as he managed 85 yards on 10/21 passing with the big hurt being 2 interceptions. Mitchell also ran for 85 yards on 17 carries.

Turnovers were surly the difference maker in the game as both teams gained 300 total yards of offense, both teams had 35 penalty yards, and the Cajuns only had the ball 3 more minutes than App State.

Both teams are heading to bowl games to finish out 2018 as the Cajuns will head to Orlando to play in the Cure Bowl while App State will head down to the Big Easy and battle a team from C-USA in the New Orleans Bowl.