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Sacks, 'judgment call' foil Pirates
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
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Bonesville Magazine
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PAT DYE: Short on Tenure, Long on Impact
INSIDE PIRATE FOOTBALL
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Florida Pipeline
NCHSAA & ECU: Smooth Sailing Again
HIGH HOPES FOR HOOPS
STEVE BALLARD:
New Leader Takes Charge
SCOTT COWEN: Busting Down the Door
KEITH LECLAIR on ECU's Field of Dreams
BETH GRANT: Actress Still a Pirate
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GREENVILLE Gino Guidugli
threw two touchdown passes and Cincinnati took advantage of a
questionable running into the punter penalty to beat East Carolina 24-19
Saturday night.
Butler Benton ran for 127
yards and Richard Hall added 98 against the worst run defense in
Division I-A.
Hannibal Thomas and Brent
Celek caught Guidugli's TD tosses, and Cincinnati (2-2, 1-0 Conference
USA) finished with six sacks as it held the Pirates to 203 total yards.
Of course, that penalty
helped, too.
Late in the third quarter,
after East Carolina closed to 24-19, the Bearcats faced fourth-and-12
from their own 36. Punter Brian Steel had to move far to his left to
take the snap, and Tommie Bradley charged through the line and blocked
the punt while knocking down Steel.
Referee Edward Kierce
immediately threw his flag, while East Carolina's Zach Baker recovered
the ball and raced down to the 7. But Kierce called Bradley for running
into Steel not roughing, which would have been an automatic first down
and Cincinnati got another chance to punt.
This time, Steel got it
away, and the Pirates took over on their own 30.
A Conference USA observer
in the press box said it was a judgment call, and he couldn't explain
why Kierce made it. He listed that play as one to ask the officials
about after the game.
Little good that did the
Pirates (0-3, 0-1). They have now lost 16 of their past 17 games
including 14 of 15 under Coach John Thompson and they travel to No. 24
Louisville next week.
Pinkney finished 10-for-25
for 192 yards and two touchdowns for East Carolina, and Damarcus Fox
caught five passes for 161 yards, both career highs.
Fullback Jermarcus Veal
caught the other Pinkney TD pass, the first of Veal's career.
At least the Pirates were
a bit more stingy on defense than they had been in two prior games. They
allowed 372 yards, well below their average coming in of about 603.
02/23/2007 10:53 AM
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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