PURPLE! Home Game Edition 7

ISSUE NO. 7

home game edition east carolina

vs .

UCF

giving Thanks As the team, cheerleaders, and fans celebrate a 38-31 win over UCF, quarterback Dominique Davis takes a moment to reflect after his last home game. photo by jay clark

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game 7 - ECU vs. ucf - 2011

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Dancing with the starrrghs Pee Dee impresses members of the Marching Pirates color guard with his dance moves. photo by jay clark

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game 7 - ECU vs. ucf - 2011

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OR #15 Reese Wiggins purple! OFfensive player of the game With senior wide out Lance Lewis leaving early in the game on Saturday, a lot of the outside responsibility was left to sophomore Reese Wiggins. The Durham native responded with six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

The bulk of Wiggins’ yards came on his 84-yard touchdown grab that gave the Pirates the lead in the third quarter. Wiggins also scored from 10 yards out in the fourth quarter to put the Pirates up 31–24. He also holds the Pirates’ secondlongest play of the season: a 72-yard touchdown grab against USM.

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game 7 - ECU vs. ucf - 2011

football

knight riders

photo by jay clark

story by steven mcnulty

After being the scapegoat for many of the Pirates’ issues in 2010, the East Carolina defense came up big once again on Saturday.

The ECU defense combined a goal-line stand with a trio of third-and-short stops and a late interception to keep the hopes for a bowl game alive in 2011.

Quarterback Dominique Davis threw for four touchdowns on senior night and Damon Magazu intercepted a Blake Bortles pass with just more than a minute remaining in the game to move the Pirates to 5-6 on the season and 4-3 in Conference-USA play.

After winning the toss, the Knights elected to receive. Without hesitation UCF put together a 12-play 70-yard drive that resulted in a Jeff Godfrey 3-yard touchdown pass to Adam Nissley.

The Pirates responded with a three-and-out.

But going with the theme of the night, ECU’s defense would be there to save the Pirates. On 3rd and 5 senior Bradley Jacobs intercepted Jeff Godfrey’s pass, putting the Pirate offense back on the field.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, ECU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley drew up a Davis draw for a 28-yard gain. With an injury-riddled backfield, the Pirates looked to Davis, who had a career-high 62-yards rushing, and tight end turned running back Zico Pasut for help in the rushing attack. “[Running that much] was the game plan,” says Davis. “Zico and Torrance [Hunt] and [Michael] Dobson did a great job running and the offensive line did a great job opening up holes for me.”

Davis carried the ball three more times on the drive and a pair of Pasut rushes set the Pirates up inside the 10-yard line. On second down from 9 yards out, Davis found 6-foot-8-inch Justin Jones fading in end zone to tie the game at 7. east carolina university

pirate defense holds the line against UCF while offense earns record yards on the ground

The Pirates pushed the Knights back on the following drive after redshirt freshman Jeremy Grove sacked Godfrey on third down.

Grove finished the game with 11 tackles, and so far in 2011, leads the Pirates with 113 total takedowns. Since 2004, only Dustin Lineback had more with 119 in 2010.

A poor UCF punt set the Pirates up with the ball on the Knights 40-yard line and Riley continued to pull out all the stops for ECU. Freshman wide receiver Justin Hardy took the hand off from Davis on the reverse, but the high school quarterback looked to throw instead of run. Although Hardy’s attempt to Joe Womack fell incomplete, UCF’s Josh Robinson was called for pass interference, setting the Pirates up with the first down.

ECU would settle for a Michael Barbour 36-yard field goal as time expired in the first quarter.

The Pirate defense would again make a stand following the Barbour kick, forcing the Knights to punt.

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DB #11 Damon magazu purple! DEfensive player of the game Sophomore defensive back Damon Magazu has a knack for drama, and for the second consecutive year, has sealed a major Pirate victory with a late-game interception. In 2010 against in-state rival NC State, Magazu intercepted Russell Wilson in the end zone in overtime to seal the victory. Magazu also made a spectacular interception in the end zone against Virginia Tech earlier this year. Not only did the Charlotte product stop the Knights on fourth and goal, but he ended the game by picking off Blake Bortles deep inside Pirate territory against UCF.

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On 3rd and 17, Davis scrambled for 2 yards, but an unsportsmanlike conduct call on UCF’s Victor Gray gave the Pirates the first down. Torrance Hunt quickly responded with a 19-yard scamper to put the Pirates in the red zone. Davis again scrambled for a short gain, but another, this time very questionable, unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Knights set ECU up with a first down inside UCF’s 10-yard line.

On the ensuing play, Davis threw a beautiful outside shoulder pass to Hardy who reeled in his sixth touchdown catch of the season, putting the Pirates up 17-7.

Entering the game, UCF head coach George O’Leary said he would use both 2010 C-USA Freshman of the Year Godfrey and redshirt freshman Bortles at the quarterback position, planning to stick with the hot hand.

On Bortles first drive at the helm, he marched the Knights down the field.

Latavius Murray carried the ball deep into Pirate territory, and on 3rd and goal from the two Bortles found Josh Reese for the score. 17-14 Pirates.

Neither offense could get a whole lot going in the second quarter. Hardy dropped the Davis pass on third down that would have resulted in a first down and senior punter Ben Ryan followed up with a disappointing 34yard punt.

Starting with great field position, Bortles again brought the Knights back down into Pirate territory. On third down from 39-yards out, Nick Cattoi split the uprights to tie the game at 17 entering the half.

After each team stalled in the second half, the Pirates started with the ball on their own 13-yard line. Earlier in the first half, Reese Wiggins had a long touchdown called back after two offensive penalties. This time, however, Wiggins would not be denied as he split the defense and took the Davis pass 84 yards to the house.

“I knew they were going to come back to me,” says Hardy. “I didn’t think I did anything wrong and it kind of hurt running that far and putting my team up, only to have it called back.”

photo by jay clark

football

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long gone

The Wiggins catch was the longest by a Pirate since Mitchell Galloway in 1995. Wiggins also scored from 72 yards out against Southern Miss.

With the Pirates up a touchdown the Knights looked back to Godfrey yet again. The sophomore from Miami moved the offense into ECU territory. Godfrey’s screen pass was originally ruled a touchdown but was overturned, setting the Knights up with first and goal from the 2-yard line.

Three straight Godfrey sneaks proved worthless and the Knights lined up to go for it on fourth and goal from a yard out. But Dustin Magazu broke through for the Pirates and blew up the Rannell Hall run resulting in a turnover on downs.

The great stand by the Pirate defense wouldn’t be for much though. Davis turned around and gave the ball right back to the Knights by throwing a bad interception right into the arms of Lyle Dankenbring. Davis’ 16th interception of the year is tied with his season total for last year.

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Murray would rumble in from four yards out on the Knights first play, tying the contest at 24.

The fourth quarter would prove to be an exciting and memorable final quarter inside Dowdy-Ficklen for the seniors.

With around 10 minutes to play in the game, the Pirates again used a combination of Davis and Pasut to move down the field. Riley called a Davis draw and the quarterback scrambled for 18 yards down to the Knight’s 10-yard line. On second and goal, Davis again found Wiggins for the score.

The ECU defense forced the Knights to punt giving the offense the opportunity to run the clock out with just more than six minutes remaining in the contest. On the fifth play of the drive, Pasut coughed up the football, setting the Knights up on the Pirates 19-yard line.

One Bortles pass later and it was all tied at 31.

With the ball game tied, Davis and Pirates took back over possession. Davis completed two short passes to give the Pirates a first down. The completions moved Davis ahead of James Pinkney for first all-time in ECU history.

photo by jay clark

Sophomore running back Torrance Hunt ran 56 yards for the touchdown that sealed the win for the Pirates over UCF, 38-31.

game 7 - ECU vs. ucf - 2011

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photo by jay clark

Davis is also one touchdown behind David Garrard (60) for the most career Pirate touchdown passes.

Despite the Pirates prolific passing attack over the last two seasons, it was the ground game that gave ECU the lead on Saturday.

On first down on their own 44-yard line, Torrance Hunt exploded through the line and broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run.

The Pirates finished with a season high 186 yards rushing, and ECU has scored 12 rushing touchdowns in the last six games after scoring just three times on the ground in the first five contests.

Before the Pirate fans even had a chance to sit back down, Hall was splitting the ECU kickoff coverage and into open field.

Luckily for the Pirates, Ryan was there to hang onto Hall and make the tackle, but not without adding 15 more yards for grabbing the facemask. With just more than two minutes remaining, the Knights started on the ECU 14-yard line.

A rush for no gain and consecutive incomplete passes set the Knights up with a fourth down with the game on the line. In a flashback to the Pirates 2010 match-up with the NC State, Magazu jumped Bortles’ pass and picked it off to seal the victory for the Pirates.

It was Magazu’s fourth interception of 2011 and fifth of his career. All five have come in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

For the sixth straight game, the Pirate defense held their opponent under 200 yards passing, and with a win against Marshall in the season finale, the Pirates would be bowl eligible for the sixth consecutive season.

For Davis, Lance Lewis, Emanuel Davis, Jacobs, and several other seniors it was an emotional victory.

“Those kids love East Carolina,” says head coach Ruffin McNeill. “They love this place, love our fans, and love this city.”

It was an especially emotional victory for the quarterback, Davis.

“There’s not a better feeling then winning your last game here in this stadium,” says Davis. “This is a game I will remember for the rest of my life.”

u p ne x t:

MARS HALL nove m b e r 2 6 , 2 011 When the Pirates travel to Huntington, West Virginia to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd it will be, as Dominique Davis said it best, “for all the marbles.”

Both teams enter the game 5-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play. It takes six wins for a team to be bowl eligible.

The Pirates and Marshall have a lot in common this season. Both have had an up and down year that includes losses to Houston and Virginia Tech and victories over UAB, UCF, and Memphis.

Marshall, however, beat Southern Miss in the second week of the season.

A pair of quarterbacks leads the Thundering Herd. Freshman Rakeem Cato has thrown for eleven touchdowns while sophomore A. J. Graham has thrown for seven and rushed for three more.

Junior Aaron Dobson leads all Marshall receivers with eight touchdowns.

The Thundering Herd will be coming off a 23-22 victory over Memphis when they host the Pirates. The winning team is expected to go bowling. With it all coming down to one final week, head coach Ruffin McNeill “can’t wait.”

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fan-cam

BFFs Melissa McCulloch (left) and Ashley Gardner, both sophomores, embrace while celebrating a nice run by ECU’s Torrance Hunt. Hunt’s carry put ECU in great field position and led to a touchdown reception

by Justin Hardy a few plays later. photo by jay clark 12 PURPLE!

game 2 - ECU vs. virginia tech - 2011