|
Game
Slants
Friday, November 23, 2012
By Denny O'Brien |
 |
Youth served on Senior Day
By
Denny O'Brien
©2012 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
[View
the Mobile Alpha version of this page.]
View box score and statistics on ecupirates.com
Read game recap on ecupirates.com
GREENVILLE — Officially, East
Carolina’s home game against Marshall was designated to honor the program’s
17 departing seniors. Apparently Shane Carden and Justin Hardy weren’t
informed of the occasion.
In the Pirates’
unbelievable 65-59 double overtime victory Friday,
it was the Pirates’ sophomore passing tandem who stole the show. They turned
a showcase for ECU’s seniors into an all-out future preview, closing an 8-4
regular season that set the stage for bigger success down the road.
“Twenty-three out of the 29
guys we play on offense are underclassmen,” Pirates Coach Ruffin McNeill
said. “Twenty-three out of the 29 that we rotate in on defense are
underclassmen.
“Forty-four out of the 53
special teams players are underclassmen. So, it’s a good group that’s coming
back (next year) who have experienced some things.”
They experienced a lot in
Friday’s win over Marshall, including the highest scoring game in Conference
USA history. They also experienced the ebb and flow of a game in which the
Pirates looked dominant early, helpless towards the middle and resilient
late.
And they refused to follow the
script a young team should follow when an oversized lead evaporates. Instead
of folding, it pulled together and pulled off an improbable win.
Much of that can be attributed
to Carden, who passed for 439 yards and three scores while rushing for three
more. He was complemented perfectly by Hardy, who grabbed 16 passes for 171
yards, including a trio of critical receptions on the Pirates’
overtime-forcing drive.
It was his 19-yard reception
on 4th and 10 that kept the Pirates’ C-USA title quest alive. Another
19-year old reception — an acrobatic one amid heavy contact — will be
discussed by fans for years.
But Carden and Hardy were not
alone.
There was Jabril Soloman, a
true freshman receiver, who hauled in a 59-yard strike to open the Pirates’
scoring and finished with three catches for 86 yards. Danny Webster, a
sophomore, grabbed four passes for 31 yards and a leaping touchdown catch
that forced overtime.
Then there was junior Derrell
Johnson, the defensive standout in a game that lacked much of it. He tallied
14 tackles, two and a half sacks, and pounced on the fumble forced by
sophomore Chrishon Rose in the second overtime.
Not to be outshined was Terry
Williams, a 327-pound sophomore, who single-handedly destroyed Marshall’s
punt protection, blocking a kick that gave ECU the ball on the Marshall 18
and set up the Pirates’ fourth score.
That East Carolina built 28-7
and 35-14 leads only to see them evaporate provided confirmation that the
Pirates’ roster is loaded with both talent and youth. The more this team
matures, the less likely we’ll see big leads erode.
And the more convincing
performances we’ll see from a group that has already produced several of
them.
“We didn’t get as many wins as
we wanted this year,” Webster said. “We still feel like we could have
definitely won a few more games this year.
“Looking at it, knowing that
people are coming back with all this chemistry, next year could be special.
This might be the best chemistry I’ve ever seen in an organized sport my
entire life. There is no ‘me’, it’s all about ‘we’.”
The collective ‘we’ to which
Webster alluded includes only 17 seniors, many whom were a part of some
significant milestones at ECU. There was a Conference USA title, three bowl
bids, and countless noteworthy victories over the last four years.
But given where East Carolina
received the majority of its contributions in Friday’s thriller, perhaps
bigger rewards are ahead. The youth movement has paved a bright future for
the Pirates.
View box score and statistics on ecupirates.com
Read game recap on ecupirates.com
Send
a message to Denny O'Brien.
Dig into Denny
O'Brien's Bonesville archives.
11/24/2012 01:45:34 AM |
