GREENVILLE — Dave Hart stood on the East Carolina sideline in the final moments of a 41-19 win over North Carolina at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday afternoon, well aware that the Pirates had made a 180-degree turnaround from a stunning 28-23 loss to North Carolina A&T six days earlier.
“That’s the nature of college football,” said Hart, a former athletic director at ECU, Florida State and Tennessee who currently serves as special athletic advisor to Dr. Cecil Staton, ECU chancellor. “It’s a week to week proposition.”
Practically every area that produced problems against the Aggies saw marked improvement in ECU’s third straight win over the Tar Heels, this one witnessed by 39,238 and an audience on ESPNU.
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The running game that faltered in the opener produced 220 yards against UNC. The defense, which allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Aggies, shut out the Heels in the second half.
True freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers and sophomore running back Darius Pinnix had no touches in the Sunday stunner, but had three touchdowns between them as the Pirates evened their record at 1-1.
The struggles in the red zone in week one subsided as Anthony Scott had a 6-yard run and Ahlers went in from a yard out for ECU’s first two touchdowns.
“It kind of correlated to what we had in practice this week,” said Pirates coach Scottie Montgomery. “It was a really tough week of practice. … Unfortunately, we didn’t open the door the right way (vs. A&T), but I knew who we were throughout last week. … We always kind of knew who we were. We had a great day of work on Tuesday and they came out and performed well today.”
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ECU went ahead to stay at 21-16 on a 22-yard pass from Reid Herring to Trevon Brown with 1:15 left in the first half.
“I’m just proud that we played hard,” Montgomery said. “I thought we outplayed them. I thought we played harder than they did. … That’s working the body. That’s exactly what those guys did today.”
Pinnix broke free with a 48-yard scoring run down the right side as the Pirates extended their lead to 28-19 with 10:19 left in the third quarter.
“Credit to the offensive line,” Pinnix said. “They were amazing. Outstanding. They open gaps like that all the time. I saw it and I just hit it.”
Garrett McGhin moved from right tackle to left tackle with an injury to D’Ante Smith and Matt Morgan came in at right tackle.
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Montgomery said some schematic adjustments helped open up some aspects of the running game as ECU averaged 4.5 yards per carry.
Herring completed 19 of 32 passes for 290 yards with one score and no interceptions. Ahlers came in during some red zone situations and primarily ran the ball. Ahlers broke free for a 21-yard touchdown run on a 4th-and-1 for a 35-19 lead with 14:23 remaining.
Montgomery remembered something Duke coach David Cutcliffe had said before opting to go on fourth down.
“He said ‘Live in your hopes and not your fears,'” Montgomery recalled. “It came to me right there. I feel like we’ve got a great short-yardage run game. I just wanted to live in our hopes and not our fears.”
In contrast, the Pirates stymied the Tar Heels twice on 4th-and-ones in the fourth quarter.
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ECU was playing without starting cornerback Colby Gore, who was taken to the hospital to be examined for a possible concussion in the second quarter. UNC’s Antonio Williams was ejected for a helmet-to-helmet hit.
“We prayed over Colby right there,” Montgomery said. ” … Hopefully, he’ll be fine.”
Montgomery said the atmosphere in the locker room at halftime gave him confidence that the Pirates would play well in the third and fourth quarters despite a 42-yard field goal by UNC’s Freeman Jones as the first half ended. Those were the last points for the visitors, who fell to 0-2.
Jake Verity drilled field goals of 44 and 25 yards for ECU’s last two scores. The boots were icing on the cake after a disappointing and frustrating outcome against the Aggies.
The Pirates put a face on the contention that teams improve more between the first and second game than at any other time during a season.
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Trevon Brown had four catches for 90 yards with the go-ahead score and also contributed significantly in a 70-41 win over UNC in 2014, the last time the programs met prior to Saturday’s matchup.
“When they come here, I feel like it’s Chapel Hill vs. Greenville,” said Brown, who wanted to enroll initially at UNC. “Greenville won tonight.”
Herring’s parents, Scott and Susan, went to UNC.
“They had on purple and gold today,” said the sophomore quarterback. “It was kind of a big game for me personally, but it feels good to get that win. It was very exciting.”
Montgomery was asked if he was relieved to win. He responded by saying he was focused on next week’s game at Virginia Tech.
All to credit to Coach and his Pirates for answering the bell under “must win” circumstances. Pirates ability to run and play stout defense were the most promising signs.