GREENVILLE — Appalachian State recovered an onside kick attempt by East Carolina with 21 seconds left to seal a 27-24 win at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday.
The Pirates (0-2) were in catch-up mode for most of the game due to a missed 33-yard field goal after driving 60 yards on the first possession of the game and a turnover later in the first quarter that allowed the Mountaineers to score a touchdown with a short field.
App quarterback Malachi Singleton went into the end zone on a 4-yard keeper that put the visitors ahead to stay at 10-7 with 14:17 left in the half.
ECU had the initial lead at 7-0 on a 2-yard TD run by Michael Allen with 4:11 left in the first quarter. App got a 41-yard field goal from James London with 44 seconds remaining in the first.
The score by Singleton, a transfer from Purdue, completed a 4-play series after the Mountaineers got the ball at the ECU 12 following a strip sack by Caleb Sandstrom that was recovered by Aaron Clark.
ASU won its fourth straight over the Pirates for a 23-12 lead in the series. ECU has not beaten the Mountaineers since App moved to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2014.
The visitors went up two scores, 17-7, on a 10-yard rush by Jaquari Lewis with 8:44 to go in the half. That completed a seven-play drive that spanned 83 yards.
The Pirates pulled within 17-10 on a 33-yard field goal by Noah Perez with 1:21 left in the half.
The Mountaineers went 80 yards in seven plays after taking the second half kickoff to boost the lead to 24-10 on a 13-yard carry by Treyaun Webb with 12:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Mitch Griffis connected with Jason Dickerson on a 61-yard TD pass on a 2nd-and-20 as ECU cut the margin to 24-17 with 10:36 left in the third.
Appalachian made it a two-score game again with a 37-yard field goal by London with 3:57 to play for a 27-17 lead.
After the scoring reception by Dickerson, the next four Pirate possessions ended with four punts and an interception.
Griffis found Ja’Keith Hamilton for a 7-yard TD with 21 seconds left to close within 27-24, but the Pirates were unable to get the onside attempt.
The numbers were much better for the Pirates than in a 48-10 season-opening loss at Alabama. ECU had 187 rushing yards, compared to a net of two yards against the Crimson Tide.
Ashton Gray had 16 rushes for 99 yards for ECU. Griffis completed 21 of 37 for 230 yards with two TDs and one pick. Jeremiah Melvin caught seven passes for 94 yards.
The Pirates had a 417-396 lead in total yards after managing just 162 yards in Week One.
Singleton completed 20 of 28 for 267 yards with no TDs and no picks. ASU (2-0) did not have a turnover.
ECU coach Blake Harrell cited the need for immediate improvement going into a contest at Old Dominion (1-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Harrell thanked the crowd via the Pirate radio network for their support. There were 40,074 on hand for ECU’s first home game of 2026.
“We’ve got to do our part,” Harrell said of the team. “We did some good things today. We ran for 187, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to finish drives. We had some self-inflicted wounds in there, too.
“We drive the ball down the field. Can’t punch the first drive in. We miss a field goal. That’s like a huge momentum swing for them.
“Every time we take two steps forward, it’s like we take three steps back. … Our mental toughness has got to improve.”
Harrell referenced turnovers and penalties as costly factors.
“We’ve got to get those things fixed and fixed in a hurry,” he said.
Given the number of times App State shot themselves in the foot with mistake after mistake, the Pirates would never have been as close as the final indicated. Time after time App State ran the same play through a gaping hole left by an out of position linebacker. When someone was there, chances are they were arm-tackling. Of some consolation, the Pirate interior line did a decent job on the Mountaineers. Overall, the Pirate defense appeared to be out-schemed most of the day.
The Pirate offense was much more productive this week. However, an injury to the starting center quickly slowed the offense to a crawl. The sudden inability to make blocks was painfully obvious. A suspect defense cannot survive the offense’s inability to stay on the field.
It’s clear that the tremendous roster turnover, coupled with new coordinators on both sides of the ball, will require more time to gel into a cohesive team. The Pirates may be hard pressed to get to bowl eligibility unless the improvement begins now.
That was very hard to watch.
When you play a rival at home with whom you’re evenly matched, and the rival commits a whopping 13 penalties, as Ap State did, you should certainly win, but ECU seemed to be almost trying to match its opponents in costly penalties.
Both ECU lines were bested overall; I thought that that was decisive more than anything else; the ECU secondary having no answers whatsoever comes in a close second.
I’ve seen online complaining about Griffis, but other than him giving up that costly strip sack, and the 1 int, I thought he played OK, and wasn’t well protected. The ECU running game showed promise, but it needs more help upfront.
Did I say that was hard to watch?