GREENVILLE — North Carolina A&T backup quarterback Kylil Carter threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Aggies spoiled the season opener for East Carolina with their 14th straight win.
A&T (2-0) was on the short end statistically, but emerged with a 28-23 edge on the scoreboard Sunday as the Pirates struggled in the red zone. ECU had turnovers or settled for field goals too often when it was deep in scoring territory.
“After the amount of preparation, it was definitely not the finish that we thought that we would have,” said Pirates coach Scottie Montgomery.
Momentum took a 180-degree turn late in the first quarter with ECU looking to expand a 3-0 lead after driving 68 yards to the Aggies’ 2-yard line.
Franklin McCain of the visitors had a 100-yard pick six that allowed A&T to take a 7-3 lead.
Montgomery said the turnover was uncharacteristic of Reid Herring, a redshirt sophomore who completed 37 of 65 passes for 309 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
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“We’ve never seen Reid throw across his body like that,” Montgomery said of the play that produced a potential 14-point swing.
The Pirates overcame that dose of adversity to lead 17-7 as Herring hit Blake Proehl for a 7-yard TD early in the second quarter and Deondre Farrier snared a 6-yard scoring toss with 6:50 left in the half.
A&T is 28-0 with Lamar Raynard starting at quarterback and he beat the clock with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Leslie Zachary with six seconds left in the half to draw the Aggies within 17-14 at the break.
ECU did not get into the end zone in the second half. Its red zone chances produced field goals of 35 and 22 yards by Verity as well as a lost fumble by Trace Christian after the Pirates had reached the A&T 2-yard line on their first drive of the second half.
ECU led 382-269 in total yards, 28-15 in first downs and 33:49-26:11 in time of possession.
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Zachary made a left-handed grab for a 5-yard score from Carter as the Aggies went ahead 21-20 just 29 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Verity provided a 23-21 Pirates advantage with 10:02 to go and A&T subsequently faced 3rd-and-14 at its 21 when Carter connected with Malik Wilson for 49 yards.
The play led to the winning score on a 17-yard pass from Carter to Elijah Bell with 7:05 remaining.
The Pirates did not pick up a first down on their next two possessions. Their final series started at the ECU 38 and moved as far as the A&T 31. Timadre Abram intercepted for the Aggies in the end zone as time expired on a 4th-and-12 from the A&T 37.
“I didn’t make enough plays,” Herring said. “I didn’t put the ball in the right spot a couple of times.”
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Kingsley Ifedi came in for one play in the final period after Herring was dinged. Ifedi completed his first college pass for five yards to Trevon Brown.
Terrell Green led the ECU receivers with 10 catches for 85 yards.
Nate Harvey had eight solo tackles including four for losses. The Pirates had 12 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
“Defense played better,” Montgomery said. “We thought we would see improvement there.”
ECU allowed 45.1 points per game, the highest figure in the Football Bowl Subdivision during a 3-9 season in 2017.
Desired gains in the run game were not manifested as the Aggies loaded the box.
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The game was scheduled for Saturday night but was postponed due to bad weather. A&T went to Fayetteville to spend the night and the Pirates traveled to Cary.
The change left ECU with a shorter week to prepare for a game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at home against North Carolina.
The focus shifted quickly to the Tar Heels (0-1).
“We’ve got our heads on UNC now,” Proehl said.
Captains and leaders worked on keeping the team together in the aftermath of a second straight season-opening loss to a Football Championship Subdivision power.
“Cannon Gibbs said this game is not going to define us,” Proehl said.
Mo has got to go. The two minute drill at the end trying to substitute players as the clock winds down. Not running the ball in goal line situations. Predictable offense, and a defense that can’t stop the run again. We may need to move out of D1 if we are going to stick with him and want to win games again.
It wasnt a coach substitution. Farrier came out of the game from heat exhaustion. Its a game. These are kids. The team is young. They faced a ton of adversity this weekend and didnt succeed to all the fans liking. Relax. unc is the focus now. And they dont look as good as A&T in my opinion. We can run on unc.
Losers have excuses, winners have a program.
We had a program and were on track to build a fantastic foundation with Ruffin McNeil – similar to what VT had with Beamer.
Instead we go for the flash in the pan young gun who at best was using ECU as a stepping stone to a bigger program. He is clearly over his head being in command. He’ll be lucky if he can get a pop Warner job at this point. Ruff wouldn’t been here until he retired.
Now we have a football team, not a program that is on life support for direction and leadership and a financial standing as an institution on verge of collapse.
I won’t donate another penny to this school until the leadership is completely overhauled – and that includes the chancellor.
I support my Pirates come rain, shine and losing. They played a very good team and lost. We could have won and perhaps we should have, but from what I have read, we can get better. I am counting on that. I will be there next week and pulling for the Pirates. GGOOO…..PIRATES!!!