Tar Heels survive wild comeback by Mountaineers

NORTH CAROLINA 63 APPALACHIAN STATE 61

BOONE, N.C. — Drake Maye is looking like the real deal.

North Carolina’s redshirt freshman quarterback continued his torrid start to the season, throwing for 352 yards and combining for five touchdowns as the Tar Heels outlasted Appalachian State 63-61 on Saturday — despite surrendering 40 points to the Mountaineers in a wild fourth quarter.

Maye, the younger brother of former Tar Heels basketball star Luke Maye, has thrown a schoolrecord nine touchdown passes in two starts. He also ran for a score against the Mountaineers.

“He’s a special young guy,” Tar Heels coach Mack Brown said. “He’s a great young quarterback who is only going to get better.”

Sixth-year quarterback Chase Brice threw for 376 yards and a school-record six touchdowns — four of those in the fourth quarter — for Appalachian State (0-1). The Tar Heels (2-0) won despite squandering a 20-point fourth-quarter lead and allowing the Mountaineers to gain 664 yards and score nine touchdowns on offense.

But that didn’t dampen Brown’s enthusiasm.

“You take a win and go,” Brown said. “We were underdogs and hadn’t won a road game all of last year, so anybody who thinks I’m going to be mad or disappointed over this one doesn’t understand coaching.”

Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark said he was thrilled with the fight his team showed in the fourth quarter.

“We were down 20, and our guys never quit,” Clark said.