The Gold team got the better of the Purple in this year's annual ECU spring football game Saturday afternoon under mostly cloudy and cool conditions at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Big 6-0, 220 pound running back Trace Christian out of Longwood, Florida ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns to highlight the Gold team's 21-14 win over the Purple in the annual ECU spring football game Saturday afternoon.
"There was a lot of competition. You never get to see your team split right down the middle like it was. That's why it was so tightly played. We got to see some good play from both sides," ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery said.
"Big hits on defense, Trevon Brown made some great catches and I thought Trace Christian ran the ball effectively when he was in there and did a good job. A really, really good chance to see our guys get a chance to compete against each other."
Reid Herring looked good at quarterback for the Gold squad connecting on 12 of 20 for 191 yards to lead his team under center with 14 first downs. His team put up 352 yards of total offense.
"I felt pretty good. We mixed the guys up and had two different teams that we drafted. We ran the ball pretty well, we had some big plays in the passing game. Everybody looked good, it felt good to be out there. A lot of energy so I was fine with that," Reid Herring told PirateIllustrated.com afterward, "I'm really understanding the progressions more. That comes easier to me with all the reps I've had the past two years. It's been fun coming out and working hard every day. We're looking good."
Meanwhile local D.H. Conley product Holton Ahlers made his presence known going 12 for 18 for 205 yards through the air with ten first downs and Kingley Ifedi completed four of his six passes for 90 yards and he scored a touchdown on the ground for the Purple team. Ifedi was credited with three first downs. The Purple team had 314 yards of total offense.
Ahlers picked up the offensive newcomer award while Nolan Johnson was the defensive newcomer recipient. Defensive back Colby Gore took home defensive and special teams MVP honors this spring. Offensive lineman Cortez Herrin was the offensive MVP.
Deondre Farrier got most improved on the offense while linebacker Bruce Bivins took home defensive honors for most improved. Both should be standout players this fall.
Louisburg transfer linebacker Cole Nigro's thirty yard first quarter fumble return put the Purple team up front by a touchdown. Caleb Pratt knocked through the extra point.
Big running back Trace Christian got the Gold team on the scoreboard with his one yard touchdown run and then scored again from four yards out to make it 14-7.
In the third quarter, Charlotte quarterback product Kingley Ifedi's two yard touchdown run tied the game at 14-14. He was tagged down under spring game QB rules on the prior play which was a longer run which would have likely been a touchdown.
Christian found the end zone for the third time in the game on a 22-yard scamper that proved to be the game winner for the gold team to make it 21-17.
Trevon Brown led all ECU receivers with nine catches for 169 yards while Duce Fuller hauled down five for 114 for the Purple team.
"It was just fun being out here with the boys for the last time. They depend on me to go make big plays and the gold team knew it so they tried to double-team me all through spring," Brown said after the game.
The Gold was led by Mydreon Vines and Terrell Green who both pulled down four pass receptions apiece while Anthony Watley caught a pair of passes in his own right.
Overall offensive coordinator Tony Petersen was pleased with the progress of his bunch.
"The number thing is I don't think anyone got hurt. We had a good time, the kids had a great time. Spring was great," said Petersen, "We took care of the ball. 88 made a bunch of plays today, all three quarterbacks made a bunch of plays, we ran the ball well without looking at it on film."
Defensively Raequan Purvis was credited with six stops to go along with five from Bruce Bivens who also had a pair of tackles in the backfield for the Purple group. Chance Purvis and Michael Swift added five each and Swift had one tackle for a loss to go along with a quarterback sack.
For the gold team defensively, Colby Gore tallied six tackles to go along with five from local product Kendall Futrell 5 who was credited with three tackles for a loss. Nate Harvey 4 and Marcus Holton, Jr. had four tackles apiece.
"They've really done a nice job. At the end I think the purple team got worn down a little bit on defense. We have been throughout the spring a hard defense to run on. There have been times where the offense has had a hard time running on us and that starts schematically," said new defensive coordinator David Blackwell, "Any great defense is always good up front. We've got to grow our defense, grow our defensive line and develop a little bit of depth but I'm very pleased coming out of spring from where we are day one."
"We've got a long way to go and we don't have to play a game today. What we've got to do between now and August is go back and look at the film and learn and we should be ahead of where we are right now in August. We're making a big jump defensively from spring to fall just understanding what we're trying to do."
Postgame Interviews
FINAL STATISTICS (Courtesy of ECU Media Relations)
Gold 21 Purple 14
SCORING: PURPLE – Cole Nigro 30-yard fumble return (Caleb Pratt kick) – 7-0, 1st quarter
GOLD – Trace Christian 1-yard run (Jake Verity kick) – 7-7, 2nd quarter GOLD – Christian 4-yard run (Verity kick) – 7-14, 2nd quarter
PURPLE – Kingsley Ifedi 2-yard run (Pratt kick) – 14-14, 3rd quarter
GOLD – Christian 22-yard run (Verity kick) – 14-21, 4th quarter
RUSHING
PURPLE: Hussein Howe (14-26), Jeff Onyegbule (1-1), Kingsley Ifedi (3-<-3>, 1 TD), Holton Ahlers (6-<-5>); Totals - 24-19 (0.8 ypr), 1 TD.
GOLD: Trace Christian (15-97, 3 TD), Keyshawn Canady (9-36), Cam Coleman (3-13), Reid Herring (5-10); Totals - 32-156 (4.9 ypr), 3 TD.
PASSING
PURPLE: Holton Ahlers (18-12-0, 205 yards), Kingsley Ifedi (6-4-0, 90); Totals - 24-16-0, 295 yards
GOLD: Reid Herring (20-12-0, 191 yards, Caiden Norman (1-1-0, 5 yards); Totals - 21-13-0, 196 yards
RECEIVING
PURPLE: Trevon Brown (9-169), Duce Fuller (5-114), Cam Marshmon (1-6), Jeff Onyegbule (1-6); Totals - 16-295
GOLD: Mydreon Vines (4-65), Terrell Green (4-51), Anthony Watley (2-57), Jonathan Johnson (1-19), Deondre Farrier (1-5), Cam Coleman (1-<-1>); Totals - 13-196
TACKLES
PURPLE: Raequan Purvis 6, Bruce Bivens 5 (2 TFL/-4), Chance Purvis 5, Michael Swift 5 (TFL, sack/-5), Daniel Charles 4 (TFLs/-2), Rowe Mellott 4 (PD), Davondre Robinson 4, Devon Sutton 4 (TFL/-1, FF), Delvontae Harris 3, Tony Baird 2, Cole Nigro 2 (FR), Corey Seargent 2, Da’Andre Beverly 1
GOLD: Colby Gore 6, Kendall Futrell 5 (3 TFL/-12), Nate Harvey 4 (TFL/-2), Marcus Holton, Jr. 4, Kenyon Taylor 3, Myles Berry 2 (2 TFL, sack/7, PD, FR), Chandon Hickerson 2 (TFL/-3), Nolan Johnson 2, Chandler Medeiros 2 (TFL/-1), Jalen Price 2 (TFL/-1), Warren Saba 2, Ray Tillman 2 (PD), Jayshon Cornelius 1, Dedrick Hawkins 1, Shaun James 1 (TFL, sack/-7), Aaron Ramseur 1
TOTAL OFFENSE/TOTAL DEFENSE PURPLE: 48-314 (6.5 ypp); GOLD: 53-352 (6.6 ypp)
TURNOVERS PURPLE: 1 (1 fumble lost); GOLD: 1 (1 fumble lost)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS PURPLE: 3-9 (33.3%) – Holton Ahlers (2-7), Kingsley Ifedi (1-2) GOLD: 5-10 (50.0%) – Reid Herring (5-9), Caiden Norman (0-1)
PENALTIES PURPLE: 2 (2/offense, 0/defense); GOLD: 2 (0/offense, 2/defense)
QUARTERBACK FIRST DOWN/SCORING CHART
PURPLE: Holton Ahlers - 10 first downs, 0 TD, 0 FG; Kingsley Ifedi - 3 first downs, 1 TD, 0 FG
GOLD: Reid Herring - 14 first downs, 3 TD, 0 FG; Caiden Norman - 0 first downs, 0 TD, 0 FG
