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Pirates come up just short
By Nathan Summers, The Daily Reflector
Sunday, September 25, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The improbable chased East Carolina around the football field in West Virginia all day Saturday.
But the turnover-crazed Pirates could not defy probability in the fourth quarter, when West Virginia warded off two potential game-winning drives by the Pirates to sneak away with a 20-15 victory.
After settling for field goals all afternoon on offense, the ECU defense pitched a shutout in the second half and Pirate quarterback James Pinkney found Aundrae Allison in the end zone to pull ECU within five points with five minutes left to play.
The stalwart defense, which produced four turnovers for ECU, also held the Mountaineers' to a pedestrian 127 yards rushing for the entire game. The Pirates turned away WVU (4-0) twice in the final five minutes to allow Pinkney and the ECU offense a pair of chances to win the game.
"We're learning how to win," said first-year coach Skip Holtz, whose Pirates amassed 287 total yards to WVU's 307. "I've said all along this is a work in progress. Last week, it seemed like we had some things clicking on offense. This week, we really made great strides as a defense. One of these games, we're going to put them all together and be a really good football team."
Robert Lee's three field goals were all the Pirates' had to show for their efforts through three quarters, trailing 20-9 heading into the fourth. That was helped by the Mountaineers' three interceptions, one lost fumble, a couple of missed field goals and a missed extra point.
East Carolina (1-2) tried to pull within a field goal following Allison's fourth touchdown grab of the season, but Pinkney's 2-point conversion pass could not be handled by receiver Robert Tillman in the end zone.
Despite the solid effort, Holtz and several Pirates players said the mood in the locker room was characterized by silence after the game.
"We made too many mistakes to win today," Holtz said. "I told these players before the game it was going to be a close ball game, and we're going to be able to look back and say one or two plays were the difference in this game."
Pinkney tossed for 204 yards, an interception and a touchdown, despite getting rattled in the first half and sitting out an offensive series in lieu of backup Kort Shankweiler. Allison enjoyed another big game, making 10 catches for 123 yards.
The Pirates settled for 81 yards rushing in total, thanks to a handful of Mountaineer sacks, but tailback Chris Johnson turned in a strong 92-yard performance.
A 20-6 halftime score was perhaps a surprise to WVU's 57,295 fans, who watched their team roll up a 42-9 edge on ECU in the first half last season. But Pirates players weren't in the mood to compare one loss to another Saturday.
"It really does hurt because that was a really good team that we played against," said defensive end Marcus Hands, who had one of his team's three quarterback sacks. "That's what we want to do, win."
All of ECU's first-half efforts equaled three trips into West Virginia's red zone, and just six points.
Meanwhile, the WVU quarterback tandem of Adam Bednarik and Pat White each administered scoring drives.
The Mountaineers scored on their first drive when Bednarik connected with Darius Reynaud for a 15-yard score, capping a 6-play drive. Then, after the Pirates stalled on the first of a couple of chances to either tie the game or take the lead, WVU's Antonio Lewis returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
The WVU lead jumped to 20-3 when White capped an 11-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown strike to Brandon Myles.
ECU had plenty of chances to make things different along the way.
Erode Jean picked off Bednarik along the sideline in the first half and flipped the ball to safety Zach Baker, who took off with it to the WVU 32. Four plays later, the Pirates punted. On the ensuing Mountaineer drive, ECU defensive lineman Brandon Setzer stripped the ball away from Bednarik, giving his team a first-and-goal from the 5. Instead of a slam dunk touchdown, the Pirates again settled for a Lee field goal.
The quarterback tandem of Bednarik and White combined to throw for 15-of-20 accuracy and one touchdown apiece.
Nathan Summers can be reached at (252)329-9595, or at nsummers@coxnc.com.
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