The Gold squad got the better of the Purple team in Saturday’s annual Purple-Gold game in a 17-3 win in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
On offense, East Carolina’s two teams put 362 yards of offense together on 85 plays which was good for 4.3 yards per clip.
“The best thing coming out of today is no injuries so everybody is healthy going into the summer,” said ECU head coach Mike Houston, “That was the biggest thing I was worried about this week. Just very happy with so many things this spring, just making sure that we didn’t have anything here at the end that was a negative.”
“The kids had fun today. I think they would have likes a little more scoring on the offensive side but I think that shows when you start splitting things up they way they got split up right there - how much they need each other,” Houston stated.
“Great to have the fans here today. That was incredible. The fact we really weren’t having fans until this time last week and to have so many show up, that was so great. I told the kids that’s the biggest thing, we need to say thank you to that group for coming back and I look forward to the next time we’re in a game situation in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on September 11th with the home opener,” Houston said, “Hopefully there is 51,000 Pirates screaming and yelling in the stadium. Good ending to the spring and now get ready for final exams this week and take a quick break and get ready for summer training.”
Holton Ahlers led the Purple squad, going 15 of 17 for 133 yards including completing his first seven passes and leading an opening drive that led to a 40-yard Owen Daffer field goal. Alex Flinn completed 4 of 12 through the air for 39 yards and minus a couple of slightly overthrown balls, would have had much more.
“It was pretty good. I wish we could have got a little bit more drives but we knew going in that we were on a play limit,” Ahlers told PirateIllustrated.com, “I thought we did good, thought we competed. It was a little bit sloppy there for a little bit but spring - it’s kind of what it’s going to be playing with those young guys.”
“It’s a different program than when I got here. It’s a bowl program and it’s time to get them there,” said Ahlers.
Junior inside linebacker Xavier Smith saw action at linebacker on the Gold team and some at rush end on Saturday and he was pleased to pick up the win.
“It feels great. I think it feels better because I know it was a defensive game today having it be at 3 to 3 the whole game and having to come up late and score, so that felt good,” said Smith, “Obviously it feels good to win. Hopefully that’s a feeling that’s accustomed to us now and I’m really just proud of everyone collectively because going through the changes, you can just feel how different it is from here than the past and it’s just a good feeling to be able to see that change.”
Mason Garcia went 7-12 through the air for 96 yards and led the Gold team on a field goal producing drive while Ryan Stubblefield went 6 for 10 for 48 yards and showed some nifty moves escaping out of the backfield.
The running game was good for just 38 yards on 31 carries against a stiff ECU defense that has shown great improvement and familiarity with the scheme this spring. That could pay bid dividends this fall.
Under cloudy skies and cool conditions, the ECU defensive units combined for six sacks and seven tackles for a loss in a contest that was tied at 3-3 after three quarters of play.
Gold quarterback Mason Garcia found Cam Burnette for a 73-yard strike before finding freshman wideout Kerry King for the first of his two touchdown catches. Then Garcia’s four-yard pass to King broke a tie game before freshman Ryan Stubblefield got in the act finding King for an 8-yard strike in the back of the end zone for the final margin of victory.
"He has had a great spring. He has worked so hard and developed himself, and while he's always been able to run, it's his consistency catching the football that has been his biggest improvement," Houston said of King afterward."
“I think it started good. Obviously the Gold team beat the Purple so I’m not too happy about that but I think there were a lot of bright spots. Still some things we can work on but overall I thought it was a good day,” wide receiver Tyler Snead said.
“I think we’ve improved a lot. We started off really strong before we had to take a couple of days off for Covid,” Snead told PI, “Then I think we bounced back better so I think we improved a lot this spring.”
The positive chemistry of this ECU football team is clearly evident and Houston hopes that pays big dividends in the near future.
“When we came in, that’s what we said we wanted to create because that’s the key to success. Having unity, caring for each other, that camaraderie, that brotherhood, that is critical to winning teams and winning programs,” Houston told PirateIllustrated.com, “So we’ve worked very, very hard to try to create that and the kids have done just a great job of embracing that culture and trying to cultivate that culture inside of that locker room.”
