CHARLOTTE — East Carolina became bowl eligible for the third straight season with a 17-16 American Conference win over Charlotte at Jerry Richardson Stadium on Saturday.
The Pirates (6-4, 4-2 American) trailed 16-7 at halftime after committing four turnovers in the first 30 minutes.
ECU held the hosts scoreless after intermission and finished with 15 tackles for losses.
Ashton Davis had 24 carries for 88 yards and scored both of the Pirates’ touchdowns.
Gray’s 1-yard scoring run with 8:51 left in the third quarter got ECU within 16-14. The 49ers (1-9, 1-5 American) had three penalties for 31 yards on the 11-play, 72-yard drive.
A 43-yard field goal by Noah Perez with 8:42 to go gave the Pirates a 17-16 lead.
Perez was wide right on a 31-yard attempt from the left hash with 2:12 remaining. Charlotte took over at its 20 with no timeouts left.
ECU sealed the outcome with an interception by D.J. Johnson Jr. on a pass tipped by teammate Kamaurri McKinley.
“It was sloppy as heck in the first half,” said Pirates coach Blake Harrell on the ECU radio network. “We had some guys challenging each other at halftime.
“The players were disappointed in themselves and really knew they could step their games up. The defense was lights out in the second half.”
Charlotte managed just 22 yards of total offense in the second half. The Pirates led 290-200 in total yards for the game.
Emory Williams started and played the whole game at quarterback for ECU after Mitch Griffis sustained a concussion in last week’s 20-17 win over South Florida in Greenville.
Williams completed 17 of 33 for 126 yards with two interceptions. Tyler Johnson had three catches for 32 yards and Jason Dickerson had three receptions for 31 yards.
Williams had 12 keepers for 39 yards. Michael Allen ran eight times for 30 yards.
The Pirates also lost possessions on a fumble and a muffed punt in the first half.
The 49ers took a 3-0 lead on a 50-yard field goal by Aiden Bui with 3:18 left in the first quarter.
A 7-yard TD run by Gray gave the visitors in black a 7-3 lead just seven seconds into the second quarter. An interception by Jordan Miles set up the initial scoring series at the Charlotte 39. Williams completed a 17-yard pass to Dickerson to get the drive going.
Charlotte regained the lead at 10-7 on an 11-yard scoring toss from Conner Harrell to Jaden Barnes. Bui added to the lead with field goals of 27 and 37 yards.
Linebacker Crews Law was in on nine tackles to lead the Pirates.
“We came out and finally found some juice (after halftime),” Law said. ” … The thing that was really different in the second half was energy. We were flying to the ball. The D-line was playing in the backfield.”
ECU has not been bowl eligible for three straight seasons since 2012-2014.
Next up, the Pirates will take a 3-game winning streak to Army (5-4, 4-2 American), which will be coming off an open date. The contest will start on Saturday at noon and will be shown on the CBS Sports Network.
Worst played game of the year. Poor coaching on offensive side today as all year! QB play horrible!!! Defense won this game today . Find a new OC and build for future if at all possible in today’s money rich environment.Nothing left in this season except some sort of bowl game .
Hard to watch the Pirates fall !!