Highlights Notes Quotes
Photo gallery GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Art Brown rushed for 161 yards and accounted for four touchdowns to lead East Carolina past visiting Army, 59-24, in a Conference USA football game this afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
A Parents Weekend crowd of 38,111 watched as the Pirates jumped out to a 21-3 first quarter lead.
Outstanding return unit play gave the Pirates good field position all day as ECU had 11 possessions which began at midfield or better. The Pirates averaged 30.5 yards on four kickoff returns and Terrance Copper returned two punts for a total of 94 yards to keep a short field in front of the ECU offense virtually all day.
Quarterback Paul Troth completed 8-of-13 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns and did not suffer an interception. Meanwhile, Army suffered three interceptions and lost one fumble. ECU had two turnovers, both fumbles.
East Carolina improves to 2-3 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA play. The Pirates have an open date next weekend before hosting South Florida in a non-conference game on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m.
Following are highlights, notes, and quotes from today's game:
Game Highlights
An Army fumble on its opening drive gave the ball to the Pirates at the Army 31. Three plays later, Marvin Townes dove in from one yard out to give ECU a 7-0 lead with 13:26 left in the first quarter. The short drive was highlighted by a 25-yard gain by Townes on a screen pass from quarterback Paul Troth. Army responded with a 63-yard drive capped by a 29-yard field goal by Paul Stelzer. The drive was highlighted by a 36-yard rush by Carlton Jones. The field goal made it a 7-3 game at the 10:45 mark of the first quarter. Chris Moore picked off a Matt Silva pass at the Army 41 and returned it 16 yards to give the Pirates the ball at the Black Knight 25-yard line midway of the first quarter. From there, the Pirates ran the ball on six straight plays and took a 14-3 lead when Art Brown went in from one yard out. A 44-yard Matt Silva to Aaron Alexander pass moved Army inside the ECU 40 late in the first quarter, but the Pirate defense came up big on a fourth-and-one rush and forced the Black Knights to turn the ball over on downs. Christshawn Gilliam was credited with the first hit on Army's Carlton Jones on the fourth-down stop. A 49-yard touchdown pass from Paul Troth to Richard Alston capped the first quarter, giving the Pirates a 21-3 lead as time expired in the period. A fumble by ECU's Marvin Townes gave Army the ball at its own 19 early in the second quarter. The Black Knights were unable to capitalize on the turnover and were forced to punt shortly afterward. Terrance Copper electrified the crowd of 38,111 with his 76-yard punt return which gave the Pirates first-and-goal at the Army 7. Two plays later, Troth tossed to Art Brown for a three-yard touchdown strike to give ECU a 28-3 lead with 10:36 left before halftime. The Pirates' Kevin Miller missed a 50-yard field goal attempt midway of the second quarter when the ball bounced off the crossbar. Army got into the end zone for the first time with 4:08 left before halftime. Marcellus Chapman found Aris Comeaux in the end zone on a 15-yard halfback pass play to cut the ECU lead to 28-10. The Pirates struck back quickly, covering 46 yards in just two plays, and extended its lead to 35-10 when Art Brown scored on a 31-yard run with 3:24 left in the second. The drive was set up by a 45-yard kickoff return by Marvin Townes. Army's Aris Comeaux returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-17 with 56 seconds left before halftime. The Pirates tacked on a 46-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to up the score to 38-17. Jermarcus Veal recorded his first career interception when he caught a tipped pass of Army quarterback Zac Dahman at the Army 29 early in the third quarter. On the very next play, the Pirates turned the ball back over on a fumbled option pitch that was recovered by the Black Knights' Mike Sehzue at the Army 42. The Black Knights cut the ECU lead to 38-24 with 11:00 left in the third when Josh Holden scored on a one-yard dive. The score was set up by a 38-yard Dahman-to-Lamar Mason pass which put the ball at the ECU 1. Quarterback Desmond Robinson engineered a 12-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped by a one-yard TD run by Robinson. The touchdown made the score 45-24 with 6:06 left in the third. Art Brown scored on a 17-yard touchdown run to put the Pirates up, 52-24, with 12:38 left in the game. The short three-play scoring drive was set up by a shanked Army punt that went just 21 yards and gave ECU the ball at the Army 22. The Pirates capped the scoring when Chris Moore intercepted a Dahman pass and ran it back 41 yards for a touchdown. The final TD came with 4:22 left and accounted for the final 59-24 margin. It was Moore's second interception of the day.
ECU Postgame Notes
ECU senior outside linebacker John Williamson sat out today's game after suffering a broken arm during practice earlier in the week. He was replaced in the starting lineup by junior Vonta Leach.
Sophomore quarterback Desmond Robinson saw his first action of the season for ECU when he took over as signal caller for the Pirates' third possession of the game. Robinson spelled starter Paul Troth for one possession in the second half as well.
True freshmen Lorenza Pickett, Bryson Bowling, and Mickey McCoy both saw their first action of the season in the first quarter. Pickett got into the game on kickoff coverage while Bowling and McCoy both lined up as wide receivers.
With his 11 points scored today, senior place-kicker Kevin Miller moved past Carlester Crumpler into second place on the ECU career scoring chart. Miller now has 232 career points and trails all-time leader Jeff Heath by 19 points.
Terrance Copper's 76-yard punt return in the second quarter ranks as the seventh longest in school history. It was the longest by a Pirate since Keith Stokes brought a punt back 94 yards against Cincinnati on Nov. 13, 1999.
Art Brown's four touchdowns scored (three rushing, one receiving) are a career high. He entered the game ranked 58th in the nation in scoring and has scored in every game this season. The last Pirate to score four touchdowns in a game was Scott Harley, who accounted for six TDs against Ohio on Nov. 16, 1996.
Aris Comeaux's 84-yard punt return for a touchdown for Army in the second quarter was the first given up by the Pirates since Sept. 7, 2000 (vs. Virginia Tech).
ECU's 38 first-half points were the most in a half since the Pirates led Marshall, 38-8, in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.
Art Brown's 161 rushing yards marked the second 100-yard rushing game of his career. He had 185 yards earlier this season in a win over Tulane.
The Pirates are now 6-0 all-time vs. Army and have won each of the last five meetings by at least two touchdowns.
The 59 points scored were the most for the Pirates in a non-overtime game since winning 62-20 over Houston on Nov. 11, 2000.
The Pirates had 11 possessions start at midfield or closer in today's game and scored off six of those.
Postgame Quotes
East Carolina Head Coach Steve Logan
Opening Statement
"We did some things better this week compared to last week. But it wasn't West Virginia we were playing though; I didn't want that to be overlooked. We've got a lot of things to work on next week. The inexperience still jumps up at some times at the quarterback and linebacker positions."
"I was really proud of the effort today. The kids came out and played very hard. If you can get that done, the other areas you can work with."
On Upcoming Games
"League competition still is a novelty around here. We have two wins under our belt, but competition is really starting to stiffen. Game after game each one will be a test for our players."
"Playing through injuries has been a problem, but we are bringing in freshman with little experience at the linebacker and wide reciever postions"
On The Quarterback Situation
"All we are asking our quarterbacks to do is just operate, we don't want them to win the games but mainly keep from losing it. Paul [Troth] did some beautiful things, threw a couple of nice long balls. He's playing too hurried and he needs to slow the game down. It hasn't slowed down for him yet, but he's doing well. Desmond [Robinson] did fine. I was glad for him. The opportunity was right to get him in and he put us in the end zone one time. That helps everyone, it helps Desmond, it helps Paul, and it helps our locker room. "
On Field Position
"That's why there's 59 points on the board. You get a short field, you ought to have a lot of points. That was wonderful. Our defense created turnovers. As for scoring on defense, that's two weeks in a row and those are characteristics that you can't coach. If we become a unit that scores on defense, that'd be something that will help us down the stretch."
