Pirates stifle Pack in second half, secure bowl bid with 21-16 win

East Carolina has won seven of the last 11 games it's played against NC State

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our ECU Correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum recaps the East Carolina Pirates 21-16 win over in-state rival NC State on Saturday.

Two years ago at this time, East Carolina had just suffered a humiliating 52-14 loss at the hands of NC State in what was the final game of the John Thompson experiment (less than two years doesn’t classify as an era). The former Pirates’ coach had been terminated a couple weeks prior to that game, which wasn’t as close as the final score. ECU was totally outplayed and overmatched in that meeting. The gap between the two programs seemed to be constantly widening.

The Wolfpack and Pirates make their entrances just prior to the opening kickoff on Saturday night in Raleigh, NC.

My, how the tables have turned. In the time since that embarrassing loss at the hands of the Wolfpack in Charlotte, Skip Holtz has steered the Pirates’ ship back to respectability and beyond.

After the 2004 match-up, it would have been tough to fathom the transformation that Holtz, his staff and the Pirate players have executed. However, this time around ECU (7-5, 5-3) not only competed, but it garnered a critical 21-16 victory over its rival.

The Pirates, who needed a victory to ensure they would receive one of Conference USA’s bowl slots, captured the momentum just before halftime when James Pinkney connected with Aundrae Allison for an electrifying 53-yard touchdown with only four seconds remaining.

East Carolina had horrible starting field position for much of the first half. It started at or inside its on 13-yard line on each of its first three possessions.

Other key plays in the drive included a huge 44-yard completion from Pinkney to Steven Rogers on a second and 19 play at the ECU 29. Pinkney scrambled to the right before lofting the ball to Rogers who made an acrobatic on the Wolfpack 27-yard line.

The East Carolina hands team prepares to recover the game-clinching onsides kick.  ECU improved to 7-5 with their 21-16 win over NC State.

The very next play would see Amato’s club become its own worst enemy, again. The Wolfpack had tackled Pirate running back Dominique Lindsay for a two-yard loss, but then the NCSU defender slung Lindsay down well after the whistle had blown and the Pirates received a first down at the NC State 14.

East Carolina has been much better on third downs this season and they came up big again when Pinkney found Kevin Roach to convert a critical third and 15 play. Roach made a tremendous move to the inside and then tight-roped the sideline to get the first down by less than the length of the football.

With 34 seconds left in the first half, NCSU capped a 12-play, 66-yard drive with a 34-yard John Deraney field goal.

Deraney squibbed the ensuing kickoff and Jay Sonnhalter returned it 14 yards to the Pirates’ 40-yard line. With two timeouts and good field position, ECU sought to get in field goal range. After Pinkney found Lindsay for seven yards, the Pirates used their second timeout of the half.

With 15 seconds to go, ECU needed to get at least ten or 15 more yards to give Robert Lee an attempt to tie the game. Pinkney dropped, looked right, and threw it on a line to Aundrae Allison, who was in the hole. It looked as if the pass may be intercepted, but the NC State defender missed the football and Allison. The gamble resulted in a 53-yard, tide turning touchdown for the Pirates.

East Carolina would capitalize on the momentum and carry it into the second half of play.

The second half was primarily about three things: dominating Pirates’ defense, running game and Ryan Dougherty.

The ECU defense set the tone for the entire half by forcing the Wolfpack to go three-and-out on its first drive of the third quarter. NCSU, which was constantly pinned deep in its own territory due to the tremendous effort of Pirate punter Ryan Dougherty, only managed to pick up one first down in the half until its final drive.

In the field position game, Dougherty punted seven times and six of those were downed inside the Wolfpack 20-yard line.

Offensively, East Carolina’s youthful offensive line improved as the game wore on. The Pirates played four freshmen up front, but were able to give senior Brandon Fractious some running room. Fractious, a speedy and shifty back, didn’t need much. He carried the football 17 times for 92 yards in the game, the majority of which were in the second half.

ECU had an opportunity to make it a two score game early in the fourth quarter, but played it conservatively on third-and-five at the NC State seven-yard line. Following a two-yard run by fullback Kort Shankweiler, Robert Lee pushed his 23-yard field goal wide right and it remained 14-10.

Fractious scored on a 12-yard run with 2:37 to play that turned out to be the clinching score for the Pirates.

The Wolfpack scored, but with only 19 seconds remaining and only one timeout, their hopes were doomed when East Carolina recovered the onsides kick.

James Pinkney finished his final regular season game as a Pirate with a 14-of-29, 220-yard, two-touchdown performance.

This one was about the East Carolina defense though. They limited the NC State offense to 293 yards of offense, which included only 107 on the ground.