ECU picked up a much needed 41-19 victory over North Carolina Saturday afternoon in Greenville and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Pirates entered the game having won just six games in their last 25 outings. Scottie Montgomery's team scored points in every quarter and played a stingy brand of defense that hasn’t been seen from an ECU team in several years.
ECU safety Davondre Robinson led the Pirate defense with nine tackles to go along with eight from linebacker Aaron Ramseur. ECU held the Tar Heel offense scoreless in the second half.
“Very important game,” said Scottie Montgomery, “It feels good to beat the Tar Heels. I’m proud of our football team and ready to go on to the next one.”
“We challenged them to win the line of scrimmage, told them it was going to be a fight and that’s exactly what it was,” said Montgomery, “You know, it’s a resilient group, great football players, and Pirate Club and Pirate Nation has been doing everything for them. We were able to bounce back in the short week with no excuses.”
UNC’s only lead of the game came two minutes into the game when the Tar Heels connected on a 32-yard Freeman Jones field goal, one of his four on the day, to give the Tar Heels an early 3-0 lead.
“Zero points in the 2nd half. Great drives in the 2nd half. Great decisions," said Montgomery, "We took care of the football and our guys played harder than they did.”
Quarterback Reid Herring threw for 290 passing yards on Saturday including a 22-yard strike to prime receiver Trevon Brown with 1:15 to go before halftime that had the Pirates out in front 21-19 at the break. That was as close as UNC would get against an energized Pirate team that looked determined to pick up a win.
“I’m very excited and very pumped. It’s a great feeling,” Herring told PirateIllustrated.com afterward, “Our crowd was really into it. I had a lot of energy, there was a lot of energy in the locker room after the game and it feels great to get that win.”
ECU(1-1) also got solid play from freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers who ran for a pair of touchdowns in their ground package. Anthony Scott led three Pirate running backs with 73 rushing yards and a touchdown. Darius Pinnix got in the act with 65 yards on just five carries that included a 48-yard touchdown run that put the Pirates up by nine points in the third quarter and Hussein Howe added 50 yards on 15 carries.
All told, ECU rolled up 510 yards of total offense and controlled the clock with ten minutes more in time of possession. North Carolina had 395 yards of total offense including 219 passing yards from quarterback Nathan Elliot and 96 yards rushing from tailback Antonio Williams to go along with 59 yards and a touchdown from Jordan Brown.
ECU hits the road for the first time next week when the Pirates travel to Blacksburg to take on their second straight ACC opponent in Virginia Tech.
PI POST GAME: SCOTTIE MONTGOMERY
