By DAN BISER

With a 9-2 record, the five-year-old Coastal University football team has rolled into the NCAA Division I-AA football playoff for the first time.

The Chanticleers of Coach David Bennett have a tough assignment as they are scheduled to open against defending 1-AA champion Applachian State Saturday at Boone.

The game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

For Britt Leggett, starting left tackle in the Chanticleer offensive unit, the big journey to Boone will keep him away from his Evergreen home for the Thanksgiving holidays.

“This is the only good reason I can think of to not be home for Thanksgiving,” said Leggett, a former athletic standout at West Columbus High School, who has started all 11 games for the Coastal squad this season. “We’ve worked hard all year to get in the playoffs, and all we’re thinking about now is Appalachian State. It’s big challenge for us, but also a big opportunity.

“I figure I’ll be eating my turkey dinner in Boone this year,” he said.

The 6-foot-4, 285-pound Leggett has sophomore eligibility after being red-shirted as a true freshman in 2004. In 2005, he played in every game, becoming a starter in the last four outings.

“There has been a lot to learn for me as a college player,” Leggett said. “In high school, I got along pretty well because I just about always had more size than the guy line up across from me in. It’s not that way in college. There is a lot of technique and strategy you have to know. It takes a while to learn it.

“When you’re an offensive lineman, the announcer doesn’t ball your name, you rarely get your name in the paper ... you just go out and do your job. It’s been a whole lot of fun, and I’m really excited that I have two more years of college football left.”

Football at the Conway, S.C., school is still basically in its embryo stages. But Coastal won the Big South Confeerence championship this season and has yet to have a losing season. The Chanticleers are ranked 13th among the nation’s Division I -AA teams.

Appalachian State is not only the defending Division I-AA champion, but the Mountaineers continue the carry the nation’s No. 1 ranking in the division.

Appalachian has won 10 straight games after opening the season with a road loss at North Carolina State.

Leggett feels that Coastal will make a much better showing at Boone Saturday than it did last fall when it fell to Mountaineers 30-3 in a regular-season game.

“Appalachian is an outstanding football team,” said Leggett, who played against standout ASU running back Kevin Richardson in high school while Richardson was starring at East Bladen. “Some people may be disappointed that we’re having to play them in the first round, but I feel that if your program wants to be the best, you have to go out and beat the best.”

The Chanticleers losses this season have been to Elon and Georgia Southern by three points each. They have since won eight straight games, including a 31-17 victory over Charleston Southern in last week’s regular-season finale.

The big wins over the season came over in-state rivals Furman and Wofford.

Leggett said that Coastal University football is just now starting to get recognized and that the program with all its nearby connections to Myrtle Beach and the ever-growing Grand Strand area will continue to grow in strength and recognition.

“I’m just really glad to be part of it now,” Leggett said. “I feel like we’re building on something good here.”