Defense Dominates Second Scrimmage
August 17, 2002 | Football
The Pirates went through a two-quarter simulated game--about 75 minutes--at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on another hot, humid day in Greenville. It was the second and final scrimmage of the 2002 preseason for the Pirates, who open their regular season in two weeks at Duke.
"The defense dominated the scrimmage from beginning to end and that's good," Head Coach Steve Logan said. "But you never know what's good offense, bad offense, good defense or bad defense when you're playing against yourself. There were no explosion plays; they kept everything in front of them, were very fast to the ball, and created some turnovers. We've got work to do on offense. If you just take it for what it was and react to what you saw, we've got a lot of work to do on offense and we don't have much time left. We've got two weeks and we've got to start looking at Duke and see if we can recognize some of the schemes we think they may present us."
Senior defensive tackle Hosea James recovered a fumble in the end zone and junior cornerback Jason Fisher returned an interception for another score to lead the defensive effort. James also recorded a sack, one of eight on the afternoon for the ECU defense. Junior Christian Wasielewski broke through for a sack, another tackle for a loss, and a fumble recovery. In addition, junior defensive tackle Damane Duckett blocked Kevin Miller's 38-yard field goal attempt.
On offense, sophomore quarterbacks Paul Troth and Desmond Robinson saw the majority of the snaps, as expected. Robinson bounced back from a tough outing in the first scrimmage to complete 10 of 15 for 118 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown strike to Dominique Hatcher, while Troth was 4-of-12 for 42 yards and a touchdown. True freshmen Kort Shankweiler and James Pinkney also saw action under center.
Junior Art Brown, ECU's projected starting fullback, sat out the scrimmage as a precautionary measure after being shaken up after a blow to the head in practice on Friday. He is not expected to miss any of next week's regular practice sessions. In his absence, sophomore Marvin Townes led the ground game with 34 yards on 12 carries. Redshirt freshman Dashaun Stephens was the second-leading rusher with 27 carries on seven attempts.
Junior Marcus White had a team-high three catches for 56 yards.
"I saw some coordination on the perimeter of the offense--there were some nice throws and catches--but I think probably when we count the snaps up out here today there won't be more than 35-40 snaps, about a third of a football game. It's a little bit tough to judge, but my impression was that the defense dominated it and did it in pretty convincing fashion," Logan said.
The team will take tomorrow morning off before reviewing scrimmage film and taking to the field for one afternoon practice session. Three-a-days resume on Monday and fall semester classes start at ECU on Wednesday.
Scrimmage Statistics -- Saturday, August 17
Scoring
James fumble recovery in end zone (Miller kick)
Robinson 14 pass to Hatcher (Miller kick)
Stephens 1 run (Miller kick)
Troth 3 pass to Moye (no kick attempted)
Fisher 67 interception return (no kick attempted)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING -- Townes 12-34, Stephens 7-27, Hatcher 6-19, Pender 7-2.
PASSING -- Robinson 10-15-0 118, Troth 4-12-0 42, Pinkney 1-2-0 8, Shankweiler 1-4-1 5.
RECEIVING -- White 3-56, Moye 2-21, Rios 2-15, Bland 1-16, Hatcher 1-14, Peterkin 1-13, Copper 1-10, Morris 1-8, Bowling 1-8, Yates 1-6, Hourigan 1-5, Stephens 1-1.
