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Pirates self destruct
GREENVILLE — East Carolina
succumbed Saturday to the same problem that plagued it last season as
Southern Mississippi took advantage of five Pirate turnovers en route to
a 33-7 victory.
Turnovers took their toll
on the Pirates right out of the chute, when a fumble by quarterback
James Pinkney two minutes into the game led to a Golden Eagles field
goal.
The Pirates' next drive,
in which they gained 49 quick yards, ended with Pinkney losing a fumble
on the Southern Miss 7-yard line.
East Carolina (1-3)
subsequently recovered a Southern Miss fumble and started another drive
that was also foiled by a lost fumble.
On the ensuing drive, the
Golden Eagles (2-1) became the first team to hold onto the ball through
the red zone when quarterback Dustin Almond hit Tavarres Williams for a
14-yard touchdown play.
The Pirates didn't post
their first points until 6:23 left in the first half, when a 74-yard
scoring drive ended with Chris Johnson's 1-yard hop into the end zone.
In the minutes before the
half, Southern Miss began pulling away. Darren McCaleb booted a field
goal to extend the lead to 13-7, and Almond connected on a 33-yard
touchdown pass to tight end Shawn Nelson 9 seconds before halftime to up
the advantage to 20-7.
In the third quarter,
Southern Miss racked up 10 points in the first eight minutes, including
the longest play of the game — a 74-yard touchdown pass from Almond to
Antwon Courington.
McCaleb kicked a 45-yard
first quarter field goal to open the scoring and added 21-yard and
32-yard field goals in the third quarter.
02/23/2007 10:54 AM
Copyright 2005 The
Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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