ECU Squeaks Past ODU 37-35 on Jake Verity's 38-Yard Field Goal
Jake Verity's 38-yard field goal with just 46 seconds to play proved to be the game winner in a 37-35 ECU victory over ODU Saturday in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
ECU(2-2) found themselves in a see-saw battle with the Monarchs for much of the game. The Pirates took a 21-20 lead into the locker room at intermission on touchdowns from Trevon Brown, Anthony Scott and Deondre Farrier. A pair of Nick Rice ODU field goals cut the lead to one at halftime. No team ever held more than a seven point lead throughout the game.
Reid Herring passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns for ECU but a pair of interceptions got him lifted in the second half in favor of freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers who came on to run for 63 yards including a 49-yard touchdown that put ECU up by a point midway through the third quarter at 28-27.
But ODU wouldn't go away. Blake Larussa's 49-yard strike to Isaiah Harper put the Monarchs back out in front by a touchdown with 9:18 to play.
The Pirates scored twice late in the game when Herring returned to the game to find wide receiver Tahj Deans on a 4-yard touchdown, but the extra point was blocked leaving ECU one point shy.
ECU got the ball back late in the game and the Pirates were unable to get a first down from deep in their own territory. Scottie Montgomery opted to punt with four minutes to play to the disappointment of the fans hoping that with three timeouts available his defense could get a late stop.
The Pirates were able to stop the Monarchs on defense and an ODU interception attempt on the ensuing drive was ruled bobbled on the sideline at the ECU 30-yard line on what would have effectively ended the game for ODU. The Pirates were then able to advance the football to the ODU 25-yard line where Verity connected on the 38-yard field goal to seal the victory for ECU.
“Big time field goal. I knew that if we got ourselves down there I had a lot of confidence in Jake. When we were down there, 4th and 1, my high school coach told me a long time ago when I was playing that every now and then as a head coach you can’t be afraid to get booed," said Montgomery, "I knew what type of defense we had."
"With three timeouts, I wanted to give them a chance to get a stop. We go down the field on offense, the rest is history. This is by far my favorite ECU victory so far because it was a fourth-quarter victory," Montgomery stated, "Our kids learned a lot about each other tonight. We had to lean on the defense, we had to lean on the offense and we had to lean on special teams.”
Verity talked about the game winning field goal in the locker room after the game.
"I don't want anyone to think this is my victory because we won as a unit and as a team," Verity said, "I'd like to thank the line, those big guys up front, my snapper Eric Lawson, Jonn Young my holder and we all went out there and executed when we needed to."
Herring described being lifted and then returning to engineer the final drive of the game under center for ECU.
"I just had to stay focused just case they called my number again. I didn't execute that well, they took me out and put twelve in (Holton Ahlers) and he scored on that big run," said Herring, "Then they thought I should go back in the game so I did my best and tried to make plays to help our team win."
Herring has been battling an ankle injury all week from the USF game last Saturday. He didn't practice until Wednesday and didn't have his best stuff Saturday night. But in the end, the Raleigh product was given the chance to turn the game around after sitting a couple of series on the bench.
"I never had something like that happen before. I felt like everything was taken away from me, they gave me another chance and we went back out there, we executed and we won," Herring stated, "My emotions came upon me - a great feeling to go back out there and help get the win after everything that happened throughout the game."
ECU came up big on defense with nine sacks all told and seven tackles each from linebacker Aaron Ramseur and defensive lineman Alex Turner.
Larussa connected on 21 of 36 passes for 250 yards, a pair of touchdowns and one interception for ODU. Big Jeremy Cox rushed for 57 net yards but Larussa took 53 yards of negative yardage and the Monarchs were held to just 21 yards on the ground overall.
Ahlers was solid at quarterback in ECU's run package gaining 63 yards for the day with a touchdown while running back Anthony Scott was credited with 62 yards and a touchdown.
Tahj Deans led the ECU receiver corp with five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown. Trevon Brown was sensational with four catches including a touchdown and a brilliant one hand grab on the sideline that kept a scoring drive alive. Deondre Farrier added four catches of his own for 40 yards and Blake Proehl had probably his best game yet with three catches for 70 yards including one for 37 yards that proved big in the second half for the Pirates.
The 2-2 Pirates return to AAC play when they hit the road next Saturday to take on Temple in Philadelphia. Stay tuned for continuing coverage of Temple Week here on PirateIllustrated.com.
