Andrew Conrad became the hero for the ECU football tam as his 55-yard field goal as time expired gave the Pirates a 20-17 win over South Florida on Friday.
Check out Pirate Radio
Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
=====
Photo and story by ECU Sports Information
It’s been more than four years since Andrew Conrad enjoyed being on a football field quite this much. But he made Night at the Boneyard on Friday one moment he will never forget.
Conrad, in his fifth season at East Carolina, nailed a career-best 55-yard field goal as time expired to send the Pirates to a 20-17 comeback win over South Florida and trigger a field storming from the fans at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Kernersville native had not attempted a field goal since the 2024 season, when he made 10 of 14, but had a 33-yard game-winner at BYU on Oct. 28, 2022, in his memory bank.
With ECU at the Bulls’ 37-yard-line and 2 seconds showing, head coach Blake Hareell opted for Conrad over Noah Perez, whose career long is 49 yards. Conrad’s best was 52 yards before Friday.
“I knew when I hit it, it had a very solid chance of going in,” Conrad said.
He actually made the kick twice. USF head coach Brian Hartline called timeout as ECU lined up for the attempt, but Conrad went through with the kick and split the uprights. The second attempt also was true.
“It’s a great feeling,” Conrad said. “You go out there and knew they were probably going to call a time out. I just wanted to hit the first one through just to get some confidence just went from there and great feeling, great feeling.”
Wide receiver Landon Sides, who also had a night to remember with 14 catches for 126 yards and a pair of touchdowns, said he had confidence Conrad would come through.
“We’d seen him do it a hundred times in practice,” Sides said. “I was like, all right, and then he made the first one and I was like, OK, we’re good. He’s got his confidence there. I’m like, all right, we’re good. He made it, and I was just so happy for him to go out there and get it done.”
Conrad did not shine alone as an unexpected hero on a night when ECU fought back from an early 7-0 deficit to win their fourth straight over USF and improve to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the American Conference. The Pirates lost three key pieces on offense in the first half but still managed to churn out 361 total yards against a defense that limited four of its last five opponents to less than 300 yards.
Offensive lineman Karson Jones limped off with 7:34 left in the first quarter and did not return. A jarring hit by Israel Boyce staggered Mitch Griffis at the1:56 mark of the first quarter, sending the starting quarterback to the locker room. Leading rusher TJ Engleman Jr., the owner of four 100-yard games this season, then suffered a lower leg injury less than three minutes into the second quarter.
Emory Williams, coming off the bench, stepped in and completed 19 of 27 passes for 175 yards and two TDs. Ashton Gray gave ECU some punch in the running game with 101 yards on 18 carries.
“You have a guy go down, the next guy steps in and makes big plays,” Harrell said. “There never was a doubt on our sideline. We knew it was going to be a tight ball game. They’ve got a good defense, and we played pretty good, decent defense at times. So, we knew it was going to be tight and come down to maybe the last play of the game. It certainly did.”
Practically every indicator pointed to a low-scoring slugfest, and both defenses met the challenge. ECU, now 12-0 under Harrell when allowing 20 points or less, including 5-0 this season, surrendered an early touchdown but then kept the Bulls (6-3, 2-3) out of the end zone again until the fourth quarter. The Pirates recorded 10 tackles for loss along with three sacks of quarterback Luke Kromenhoek, limited USF to just 1-of-10 conversions on third down and also stopped a key fourth-down try.
Kromenhoek, who had stops at Florida State and Mississippi State before transferring to USF, started in place of injured Michael Van Buren and completed 17 of 21 passes for 179 yards but was just 1-of-4 on third down. D.J. Crowther rushed for 111 yards on 17 carries before leaving with an injury in the fourth quarter.
Kromenhoek looked sharp early, moving USF 80 yards in six plays on their opening series and connecting with Brysin Rodgers on a 26-yard pass for a 7-0 lead. ECU threatened to answer before Amarion Fortenberry stripped the ball from Sides at the end of a 9-yard catch, turning the ball over at the USF 24.
Noah Perez got the Pirates on the board with 9:30 eft in the half, booting a 44-yard field goal on the first series after Williams replaced Griffis. USF extended its lead to 10-3 on a 30-yard field goal by Nico Gramatica with just 1:11 to go, but ECU responded in lightning-quick fashion to score in 40 seconds and tie it at 10-10. Williams teamed up with Sides three times on the drive, capped by a 15-yard touchdown strike.
That momentum carried over to the second half.
“We went right down the field with the two-minute drill,” Harrell said. “That’s something we practice a couple times a week and put a lot of emphasis on. … We were able to run down the field and tie that thing up. You know, if you just get a field goal, they’ve held you out of the box, and it’s a 10-6 ball game at half. That gives their defense a little confidence, a little momentum.”
Torin Brazell made sure ECU kept that edge when he tripped up Kromenhoek on a fourth-and-3 run from the ECU 29. The Pirates then pushed in front 17-10 on an 8-yard pass from Williams to Sides, USF, which has had a fourth-quarter lead in its first eight games this year, pulled even at 17-17 with 9:42 to play on a 1-yard run by Jason Collins Jr. The teams traded two punts each before ECU put together its winning drive, starting at its 14 with 1:42 to go. Williams converted a th8ird down with a short pass to Jason Dickerson before a 14-yard strike to Ray Ray Joseph Jr. A pass interference penalty and an 18-yard catch and run by Gray moved the ball to the 40. After a 3-yard pass to Gray, Harrell summoned Conrad to win it and get ECU within one win of being bowl eligible.
“We talk about life in the locker room all the time,” Harrell said. “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. … We had some ups and downs throughout the season. We had two overtime losses. We had a loss by three points. And we could easily turn it down and just kind of go into the next season and move on. But our guys keep fighting. They keep showing up. They’re resilient. We talk about our locker room. It takes everybody. It’s next-man-up mentality.”