The ECU football team is bowl-eligible after Saturday’s win over Charlotte.
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Photo and story by ECU Sports Information
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell hasn’t hidden his intentions for embracing Charlotte as a rival, including putting a countdown clock in the Pirates’ locker room. His message took root Saturday afternoon at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
After a first half in which essentially nothing went right, the Pirates rode a dominant defense and clawed back for a 17-16 win to even the series with their American Conference rivals in the western part of the state. The Pirates (6-4, 4-2) not only won their third-straight game following back-to-back overtime losses on the road but also earned bowl eligibility for the third consecutive year and improved their record to 9-2 in November under Harrell.
But reaching all those goals meant settling a score on Saturday. The 49ers (1-9, 1-5) dealt ECU a 55-24 loss the last time the teams met in Charlotte, a year after winning 10-7 in the first-ever meeting in Greenville. Harrell served as defensive coordinator on those teams, then picked up a 48-22 as head coach last year.
With a return to Charlotte on the schedule, he circled the date and preached that the Pirates needed to pack the same passion. It took some time on a sunny, crisp and breezy day, but ECU found enough fortitude to overcome four first-half turnovers, 10 penalties and an offense that never found its rhythm.
“Really talking about this game all year and the last thing that happened down here two years ago,” Harrell said. “I talked to the guy’s pre-game. I said it’s not just about today and it’s not just about this team; it’s about Pirate Nation. It’s about our program, where you guys have come in the last two years, what you guys have done in the last 11 months and then really what you guys have done over the last two months.
“You know there was a point in time where we had suffered two overtime losses on the road, two tough games and people were kind of like, ‘I don’t know,’ and you guys have been resilient. They fought their tails off, won three in a row, get win number six, bowl eligible and just proud of our young men.”
A smothering defense that limited Charlotte to 22 total yards allowed ECU to methodically climb out of a 16-7 halftime deficit and improve to 13-0 under Harrell when allowing 20 points or less. ECU trailed from the 11:04 mark of the second quarter until 8:42 remaining in the game when Noah Perez sneaked a 43-yard kick over the crossbar for a 17-16 lead, then sealed it with DJ Johnson Jr’s interception with 1:50 to go.
ECU allowed just 22 total yards after halftime, stuffing the 49ers for minus-17 yards rushing while forcing four three-and-outs and stopping one fourth-down gamble. Charlotte finished with 200 total yards.
“We understand that first half was a fluke,” Johnson said. “That wasn’t really us. That’s not our standard. You know, I mean, we didn’t play to the standard. But we all came to the locker room as leaders, player led. … We are held to a higher standard than that, and we came out second half guns blazing.”
The Pirates stopped themselves much of the first half, putting the ball on the ground five times and losing two fumbles. Quarterback Emory Williams also threw a pair of interceptions while completing 12 of 22 passes for 90 yards. Charlotte only turned those takeaways into six points – a pair of field goals by Alden Bui. One of those came near the end of the half after Dylon Womack scooped up a fumble and sprinted 78 yards for an apparent score, but a block in the back some 10 yards behind the play erased the touchdown.
Opponents have now cashed in just five touchdowns and two field goals off 19 ECU turnovers.
The Pirates’ only first-half score came on a 7-yard run by Ashton Gray on the first play of the second quarter. Gray, carrying the load with TJ Engleman Jr. out with an injury, also scored on a 1-yard run in the second half and finished with 88 yards rushing on a career-high 24 carries. He also had a team-high four catches for 20 yards.
Charlotte got a career-best 50-yard field goal from Bui after a muffed punt by Kyler Pearson in the first quarter, then added 13 second-quarter points on an 11-yard pass from Conner Harrell to Jaden Barnes and field goals of 23 and 37 Buie. The three first-quarter points marks the eight time this season ECU has allowed three points or less in the opening period. In the last six games, ECU has allowed only 12 first downs and 258 total yards in the first quarter.
But no one went to halftime in a good mood.
“We knew it was a lot of self-inflicted wounds,’ said Crews Law, who had a team-high nine tackles. “Thankfully that’s an easy thing to just correct, so we did a lot better in the second half. But coming to the locker room it was guys just lifting other guys up. We could have easily spiraled, pointing fingers. That’s not what we did. We responded and we were able to come out and get it done in the second half.”
Harrell said the coaches didn’t have to say much at halftime.
ECU’s defense, which finished with 15 tackles for loss and five sacks, made an immediate statement in the third quarter with a three-and-out. The Pirates then put together an 11-play, 72-yard drive on the strength of the legs of Gray, Williams and Michael Allen to close to within 16-14. Charlotte contributed to the drive with a pass interference penalty and personal foul.
Perez put ECU up 17-16 with his 43-yarder with 8:42 to go but pushed a 31-yard attempt wide right with 2:12 left. Johnson ended Charlotte’s last gasp, snatching the ball out of the air after Kamaurri McKinley broke up a pass intended for tight end Brody Dawyou.
“We work on that drill every Monday in practice, you know, tip drill,” Johnson said. “As we say, got to get those. It just shows that all play with one accord. Great job by Kamaurri McKinley, reading that play on cover three, coming in hitting the tight end and giving me an easy interception to make.”