Turnovers Costly as Pirates Drop Season Opener at Duke

Turnovers Costly as Pirates Drop Season Opener at Duke

08/31/2002

Box Score

Duke took advantage of two first-quarter ECU turnovers to jump out to a 10-0 lead. An ECU fumble on the team?s first offensive play of the game set up a 28-yard field goal by the Blue Devils? Brent Garber at the 9:35 mark. An interception at the Duke 47 enabled the Devils to drive 52 yards in eight plays, culminated by a four-yard touchdown run by quarterback Chris Dapolito to give Duke a 10-0 lead with 0:51 left in the first.

Duke dominated the first 23 minutes of the game, outgaining the Pirates 116 yards to 30 during that span and forcing three turnovers. ECU was held without a first down until the 7:02 mark of the second quarter.

Duke?s Brent Garber booted a 56-yard field goal with a steady wind at his back to make it 13-0 with 9:42 left in the second quarter. The kick was the second-longest in Duke history, one yard shy of the school record.

A 28-yard interception return for a touchdown by Duke?s Brendan Dewan gave the Blue Devils a 20-0 lead with 8:44 left in the second quarter. Three of Duke?s four first-half scores came on the heels of an ECU turnover.

The Pirates got on the board with 2:29 left in the first half when Art Brown bulled his way into the end zone from two yards out. The TD culminated a 13-play, 65-yard scoring drive that took 6:15 off the clock and cut the Duke lead to 20-7.

Kevin Miller?s 31-yard field goal as time expired in the first half cut the Duke lead to 20-10. It was Miller?s 12th consecutive successful field goal attempt. He was 13-of-13 from 41 yards or closer in 2001. Miller has not missed a field goal since Oct. 13, 2001 at Army.

Duke led 20-10 at the half, but the total offensive yardage was much closer with the Devils holding a 116-109 edge at intermission.

Although several true freshmen made the trip to Durham, only one ? defensive back Reicko Jones ? saw action in the game.

The Aug. 31 game date matched the earliest season opener ever for ECU. The Pirates also opened the 1999 season on Aug. 31, at Illinois.

Kevin Miller?s four points (one field goal, one extra point) moved him into fourth place on the ECU career scoring chart with 206 points. He passed Dave Alexander (204 points in 1963-65) and is 45 points shy of the school record, 251, set by Jeff Heath (1982-85).

With a 21-yard reception to start the third quarter, wide receiver Richard Alston extended his streak of games with at least one reception to 13. Alston, a former quarterback, has caught a pass in every game of his career in which he has lined up at receiver.

Linebacker Vonta Leach lined up on offense as a blocking back on a third-and-short situation in the third quarter.

Junior wide receiver Richard Hourigan made his first career reception in third quarter, a nine-yard toss from Paul Troth.

Troth completed his first career touchdown pass in the third quarter. His 37-yard pass to Torey Morris, standing in the end zone, cut the Duke lead to 20-16 with 1:16 to play in the quarter. Kevin Miller?s extra point attempt missed wide right.

ECU has now lost nine of its last 12 season openers and drops to 4-5 all-time vs. Duke.

With sophomore Paul Troth starting at quarterback, it marked the first time anyone other than David Garrard has been the starting signal-caller for ECU since Oct. 31, 1998.

The Pirates will face another in-state, ACC foe next Saturday when they travel to Wake Forest for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

Quotes: Head Coach Steve Logan

"Carl put together a fine young team. They play well, took advantage of our mistakes, took care of the ball, we didn't, and that was about the game."

"We weren't in a panic, we we're just trying to find out who and what we are this year. The rain, we didn't handle it very well. We need to throw the football, they did not need to. They pounded on us pretty good with their running game. They had an advantage on the field tonight, and to their credit they took advantage of it."

"We needed to throw and catch the football and the conditions were not conducive to that. We need to do a better job catching the ball no matter what."

"Late in the game they started pounding on us pretty good."

"Any time you don't have a running game it puts a lot of pressure on the QB."

"We just never got a turnover. We really need to get a turnover to balance that out. Never got it, and that was about the game."

Damane Duckett

"We've been practicing all week in the rain and I figured that we'd probably be adjusted. It hasn't been raining this hard all week in practice, but we should have adjusted better in the rain."

"A loss is a loss, it doesn't matter who it comes from."

"A lot of people take away from Duke, but they're a good football team. I think that they can get it done in the ACC this year."

Duke 23, ECU 16

NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- EAST CAROLINA 0 10 6 0 16 DUKE 10 10 0 3 23 FINAL SCORING SUMMARY 1ST QUARTER: DUKE - FG, BRENT GARBER 28 YD, 5:25. DUKE 3-0 DUKE - TD, CHRIS DAPOLITO 4 YD RUN (BRENT GARBER KICK), 14:09. DUKE 10-0 2ND QUARTER: DUKE - FG, BRENT GARBER 56 YD, 5:18. DUKE 13-0 DUKE - TD, BRENDAN DEWAN 28 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (BRENT GARBER KICK), 6:16. DUKE 20-0 EAST CAROLINA - TD, ART BROWN 2 YD RUN (KEVIN MILLER KICK), 12:31. DUKE 20-7 EAST CAROLINA - FG, KEVIN MILLER 31 YD, 15:00. DUKE 20-10 3RD QUARTER: EAST CAROLINA - TD, TOREY MORRIS 33 YD PASS FROM PAUL TROTH (PAT FAILED), 3:47. DUKE 20-16 4TH QUARTER: DUKE - FG, BRENT GARBER 41 YD, 11:56. DUKE 23-16

NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- EAST CAROLINA 0 10 6 0 16 DUKE 10 10 0 3 23 FINAL DUKE-FG, B Garber 28 YD 5:25 1st Qtr DUKE-TD, C Dapolito 4 YD RUN (B Garber KICK) 14:09 1st Qtr DUKE-FG, B Garber 56 YD 5:18 2nd Qtr DUKE-TD, B Dewan 28 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (B Garber KICK) 6:16 2nd Qtr EAST CAROLINA-TD, A Brown 2 YD RUN (K Miller KICK) 12:31 2nd Qtr EAST CAROLINA-FG, K Miller 31 YD 15:00 2nd Qtr EAST CAROLINA-TD, T Morris 33 YD PASS FROM P Troth (PAT FAILED) 3:47 3rd Qtr DUKE-FG, B Garber 41 YD 11:56 4th Qtr EAST CAROL DUKE First downs 14 14 Rushed-yards 27-25 49-155 Passing yards 130 86 Sacked-yards lost 1-8 2-15 Return yards 0 62 Passes 13-34-3 10-20-0 Punts 5-43 6-38.7 Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-0 Penalties-yards 5-40 8-78 Time of possession 23:31 36:29 Individual Statistics RUSHING: EAST CAROLINA-Art Brown 20-46, Marvin Townes 1-1, Richard Alston 1-MINUS 3, Paul Troth 5-MINUS 19. DUKE-Alexander Wade 24-109, Chris Dapolito 10-27, Chris Douglas 10-26, Khary Sharpe 2-5, Senterrio Landrum 1-2, - Team 1-MINUS 3, Adam Smith 1-MINUS 11. PASSING: EAST CAROLINA-Paul Troth 13-31-130- 3, Richard Alston 0-1-0- 0, - Team 0-2-0- 0. DUKE-Adam Smith 5-11-52- 0. Chris Dapolito 5-9-34- 0. RECEIVING: EAST CAROLINA-Torey Morris 3-49, Art Brown 7-43, Richard Alston 1-21, Tutu Moye 1-9, Richard Hourigan 1-8. DUKE-Andy Roland 1-29, Senterrio Landrum 3-25, Reggie Love 3-17, Darryl Scott 1-6, Chris Douglas 1-5, Khary Sharpe 1-4.

Duke 23, ECU 16

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