Bonesville: The Authoritative Independent Voice of East Carolina

News & Features from ECU, the AAC and Beyond

  • Home
  • News & Features
  • Recruiting
  • Photos
  • Audio
  • Roundup
  • Comments
  • Legacy Archives
  • • ECU 2021 BASEBALL SCHEDULE
  • • ECU 2021 BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
  • • ECU 2021 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates took advantage of unplanned off week

September 21, 2018 By Al Myatt Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

East Carolina World has had plenty of time to savor a 41-19 upset of North Carolina and the Pirate football team has had plenty of time to prepare for its American Athletic Conference opener at South Florida on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Those circumstances arose after ECU canceled its Sept. 15 game at Virginia Tech and traveled by bus to Orlando with the approach of Hurricane Florence.

The region is still reeling, but perhaps there will be a silver lining from the storm for the Pirates.

“When you consider the physicality of football, it’s always nice to get a little break,” said senior captain Cannon Gibbs, a linebacker who was in on three tackles against the Tar Heels. “At the same time, we would have liked to play last weekend. . . . There’s pros and cons to each perspective. We just take it for what it is. We’ve got our legs back under us and we’re just getting ready for USF.”

Value of victory

It remains to be seen if the last outcome will be a springboard for ECU (1-1) or a bungee jump from which the Pirates will recoil.

ECU coach Scottie Montgomery talked about the value of a victory in the aftermath of the triumph over UNC.

“It’s all about the locker room,” Montgomery said. “It’s rewarding the locker room. It’s very important that we start doing everything right — start practicing much better, working hard and becoming selfless. … I think it’s critically important that you win and you have big wins against opponents that you need to win against.

“That validates the hard work in the process, the building and the things the Pirate Club has helped us do feeding them. It validates a lot of things. It was really important to get that win.

“I thought we played a complete game. I thought we played really hard. I thought we could have played better. I thought we left two or three touchdowns out there on offense. We made a couple of mistakes on third down. Overall, I thought the difference in the way that we played was just how hard we played every single snap.”

Multiple quarterbacks

Two quarterbacks helped make the Pirates more productive offensively than in the 28-23 season-opening loss to North Carolina A&T. Montgomery was involved with a two-quarterback system when he was on the staff at Duke. Thomas Sirk was once part of such a tandem for the Blue Devils before his final collegiate season at ECU in 2017, when he split time with Gardner Minshew.

“We’re in a little bit better situation at quarterback than we were in Durham,” Montgomery said. “Holton Ahlers is not just a 20-yard-in guy. He can throw it. He can really, really throw it. . . . The best part of it is that it doesn’t affect us in the training of our backup quarterback, Kingsley Ifedi.

“So if there’s anything that happened to Reid (Herring), we’d still have the same system. It doesn’t violate our ability to have the same system in the way that we practice. It’s still really, really good. It’s allowing us to get all three of our guys better. We do have the ability to play multiple quarterbacks when the defense will allow us to.”

Darius Pinnix broke free for a 47-yard scoring run against UNC that extended the Pirates’ lead to 28-19. Ahlers scored from 21 yards out to push the advantage to 35-19. It was the second touchdown of the game for the true freshman from D.H. Conley.

Darrius Pinnix bowls over a UNC defender in ECU’s 41-19 win on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo by Al Myatt / >>>GAME GALLERY>>>)

Duo emerges

Ahlers and Pinnix did not play against A&T, which has now won 15 straight games over two seasons.

“We wanted to get Darius more work in the first half,” Montgomery said. “I should have done a better job of watching every single position and how much every single position was playing. He had the ability to play more based on the way I went into the game having our guys kind of already scripted out in what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get into scripting because if any injuries happen in scripting with any of the backs then you’ve got a problem, but we were able to do it. We changed some of our run schemes slightly. We were able to block much better in the offensive front. Darius was the beneficiary of that. Holton and Darius were the benefit of each other. It just so happened that they were going in there together.

“Because of Holton’s ability to pull it, we started getting safeties displaced. Once we started seeing safeties displaced I knew we needed to get the ball handed off, as long as we could live off a 600-pound double team, we could get behind it and we’d have a chance to go a long distance. I didn’t know we’d hit a home run like we hit there with Darius but he did a great job of pressing the line of scrimmage.”

ECU nemesis has departed

ECU no longer has to contend with run-throw Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers, now a halfback on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad.

The Bulls lead the series with the Pirates, 7-1, and Flowers was a difference-maker in the last three meetings.

In 2015, he threw a 67-yard scoring pass with 4:40 left to play in a 22-17 USF win in Greenville.

Flowers ran for 115 yards and threw for 250 with two TDs in a 38-22 victory in Tampa in 2016. After the Pirates had pulled within 24-22, he hit Adams for a 62-yard momentum-changing score.

In a 61-31 win in Greenville last year, Flowers had 93 of USF’s 390 rushing yards with one touchdown. He threw for 160 yards and two scores but the Bulls were able to rely primarily on their ground game.

“He was a remarkable player,” said Pirates defensive tackle Alex Turner.

USF lost some other skill personnel from a team that was 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the AAC, but Montgomery said that recruiting has provided a solid talent base in the Bulls’ 3-0 start.

“They’ve got a lot of talent at skill positions,” said the third-year Pirates coach. “We’re going to have to stop them in space.”

ECU watched the Bulls’ 25-19 win at Illinois on Saturday as a team.

Run game

The Pirates ran for 220 yards in week two after managing just 68 yards in the season opener.

“One of the big differences with Coach [Don] Mahoney (first-year offensive line coach) since he got here is staying on the downs (defensive down linemen),” said tackle Garrett McGhin. “We really did that against Carolina and we did a great job communicating. Five pennies were working as one nickel. We were all on the same page. Everybody was doing their job, working to the second level and taking care of the down linemen.”

McGhin has some extra motivation this week. His cousin, Jonathan McGhin, played for the Bulls. The Pirates senior got some interest but no offer from USF when he was being recruited.

Similar schedule

ECU has maintained its routine as much as possible in Orlando.

“We’re very focused,” Herring said. “The difference is we’re sleeping in a different room. We’ve got a lot of the same stuff going on at the same time of day. We’re very prepared and we’re looking forward to this Saturday.

“We’re definitely all ready. I feel like we missed it a little bit last week.”

STROTHER OPTS FOR CHANCE TO BE ‘HOMETOWN HERO’
PIRATES IN TUNE WITH SITUATION BACK HOME
TECH’S TIN EAR HARD TO EXPLAIN
VIEW ECU’S 2018 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Filed Under: News & Features

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent News & Features

Baseball News
Pirates take series

Baseball News
ECU dealt first defeat

Baseball News
ECU prevails over Eagles in first road game

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates prep for challenging start in 2021

Baseball News
Pirates use long ball to down Duke

Football Recruiting Report
Banner recruits keep American on the rise

Basketball News
Postponements continue to mount in AAC hoops

Baseball News
Pirates complete sweep

Baseball News
Norby paces Pirates to series win

Baseball News
Pirates edge Rams, 3-2, in 10 innings

More News & Features

ECU Schedules

  • ECU 2021 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2020-21 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2021 Baseball Schedule

ECU Recruiting

  • Football Recruiting Class of 2021
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2020
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2019
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2018
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2017
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2021-22
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2020-21
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2019-20
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2018-19
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2017-18
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2016-17
Tweets by bonesville

Past Football Schedules

  • ECU 2020 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2019 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2018 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2017 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2016 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2015 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2014 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2013 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2012 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2011 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2010 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2009 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2008 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2007 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2006 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2005 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2004 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2003 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2002 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2001 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2000 Football Schedule
  • Historical Schedules

Past Basketball Schedules

  • ECU 2019-20 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2018-19 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2017-18 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2016-17 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2000-2015 Basketball Archives

Past Baseball Schedules

  • ECU 2020 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2019 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2018 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2017 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2016 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2015 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2001-2014 Baseball Archives

Recruiting Class Profiles

Football Recruiting Report
Banner recruits keep American on the rise

ECU Recruiting Evaluation, Part 2
Defensive report card: Pirates lure experience

ECU Recruiting Evaluation, Part 1
Offensive report card: Skill positions reinforced

ECU Football Recruiting - Early Evaluation
Pirates fortify secondary

Football Recruiting
Pirates land lineman with ‘nasty attitude’

Football Recruiting
Former TCU linebacker sets new path at ECU

Football Recruiting
Florida produces another quarterback gem for ECU

Football Recruiting
Legacy of ECU’s receivers helped sell Keigley

Football Recruiting
Pirates reaping dividends from Tri-City focus

Football Recruiting
Close relationship with ECU staff swayed Temple

Football Recruiting
Timely recruiting helped Pirates land Wright

Football Recruiting
COVID-19 opens door to FBS for Jason Shuford

Football Recruiting
ECU secondary secures Bama grad transfer Knott

Football Recruiting
ECU wins battle for coveted safety Clyatt

Football Recruiting
Grad transfer Chase rekindles ties with ECU

Recruiting Evaluation: Class of 2020 Defense
Defensive class caps off sterling recruiting effort

Recruiting Evaluation: Class of 2020 Offense
Gifted QBs, RBs headline offensive signees

Football Recruiting
Garrison’s route to ECU anything but typical

Early signing class evaluation
Pirates on the rise in recruiting wars

Football Recruiting
Healing prep star Hudson on track to sign early

Football Recruiting
Coveted QB recruit Garcia headed to Shrine Bowl

Football Recruiting
Help is on the way for ECU running game

Football Recruiting
Tackle took trek from ballboy to superstar

Football Recruiting
Crump brings ‘shut-down corner’ skills to ECU

Football Recruiting
ECU emerged from the pack to land McIver

Recent Web Roundups

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Thursday, February 25, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Wednesday, February 18, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Saturday, February 13, 2021

Writer Archives

  • Bonesville Staff
  • Brian Bailey
  • Sammy Batten
  • Bethany Bradsher
  • Brett Friedlander
  • Al Myatt
  • NFF
  • Greg Vacek
  • Danny Whitford

Recent Web Roundups

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Thursday, February 25, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Wednesday, February 18, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Saturday, February 13, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Friday, February 12, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Thursday, February 11, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

GREG VACEK'S DAILY WEB ROUNDUP
Monday, February 8, 2021

More Web Roundups

Copyright © 2021 Bonesville.net · Website by Seaport Webworks. · Log in · Privacy Policy