COLLEGE FOOTBALL/TOP 25 ROUNDUP Bruins blank Flyers

Shai Werts rushed for 129 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown run, and Georgia Southern upset No. 25 Appalachian State 34-14 on Thursday night to spoil the Mountaineers’ first week in the Top 25.

Werts threw a 57-yard scoring pass to Darion Anderson early in the second quarter. It was Werts’ only completion in three attempts for Georgia Southern (7-1, 4-0 Sun Belt). Wesley Fields had scoring runs of 10 and 18 yards in the Eagles’ fifth straight win.

Appalachian State quarterback Zac Thomas was knocked out of the game on the opening series for the Mountaineers (5-2, 3-1). The back of Thomas’ helmet hit the ground as he was tackled following a 5-yard run. He was taken to the medical tent on the sideline and then escorted to the locker room. He didn’t return. Backup quarterbacks Peyton Derrick and Jacob Huesman combined to throw four interceptions

Will Grier threw three touchdown passes and West Virginia used a big second quarter to cruise past Baylor.

The Mountaineers (6-1, 4-1 Big 12) bounced back from a blowout loss at Iowa State with arguably their best performances of the season on both sides of the ball.

During a 31-point second quarter, Grier had TD tosses of 25 and 65 yards to David Sills, and Grier ran for a 1-yard score for a 41-0 halftime lead.

West Virginia had 10 first-half drives, compiled 435 yards by the break and 568 overall. Grier, who was limited to 100 passing yards in the 30-14 loss to the Cyclones two weeks ago, had 302 by halftime.

Boston — Zdeno Chara scored twice, Jaroslav Halak stopped 26 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on Thursday night.

Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 6-0-2 in their last eight against Philadelphia and 9-0-1 in the last 10 meetings in Boston.

Halak got his second shutout with the Bruins and 44th of his career.

Chara’s goal 13 minutes into the second period put Boston up 1-0, and DeBrusk scored on a tip-in with 2:32 left in the second.

Brian Elliott had 22 saves for the Flyers, who have lost two straight and three of four.

The Bruins improved to 4-0 at home, where they last played Oct. 13 in an 8-2 rout of the Detroit Red Wings.

Halak was in position the few times he was tested, stopping a one-timer by Claude Giroux from the right circle with about eight minutes left in the second period. The Bruins got it going the other way and took a 1-0 lead on Chara’s slap shot from the blue line through traffic. It was the 197th goal of Chara’s career and first since the second game of the season.

Chara added an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left.