Pirates Run Over By West Virginia, 37-17

Pirates Run Over By West Virginia, 37-17

09/28/2002

Box Score

Highlights

Notes

Postgame Quotes

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia used a dominating ground attack led by Avon Cobourne's 260 yards rushing as the Mountaineers defeated visiting East Carolina, 37-17, Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.

The Mountaineers, who improve to 3-1, gained 536 of their 569 yards of total offense on the ground.

ECU, which falls to 1-3, got a solid performance from sophomore quarterback Paul Troth, who completed 23-of-33 passes for 207 yards, but only managed 65 yards rushing.

Following are highlights, notes, and postgame quotes from Saturday's game.

Highlights

The Pirates stunned the crowd of 54,497 by bringing the Mountaineers' opening drive to a screetching halt when ECU's Kelly Hardy picked up an Avon Cobourne fumble at the ECU 20 and brought it back 80 yards for a touchdown. The score gave the Pirates a 7-0 lead with 11:39 left in the first quarter.

Following their early score, the Pirates tried to surprise West Virginia with an onsides kick. The ball was nearly recovered by a Pirate defender but rolled out of bounds at the WVU 48 before ECU could gain possession.

The Mountaineers responded on the very next play as Cobourne found a huge opening up the middle and ran 52 yards for a touchdown. The extra point attempt missed wide right, leaving ECU with a 7-6 lead at the 11:25 mark of the first quarter.

The Mountaineers took advantage of an ECU turnover to take the lead. The Pirates' Terrance Copper mishandled a punt return and the ball bounded into the end zone where it was recovered by WVU's Arthur Harrison. The score gave the Mountaineers a 13-7 lead at the first quarter's 3:15 mark.

West Virginia made it 20-7 in the second quarter when quarterback Rasheed Marshall scored from one yard out. Marshall fumbled on the dive play, but recovered his own miscue on top of the goal line. Cobourne was the catalyst of the 71-yard drive as he accounted for 64 yards on two long runs from scrimmage.

A 15-yard face mask penalty against ECU on a punt return gave the Mountaineers the ball at the ECU 33. Six plays later, WVU made it 27-7 when Cobourne scored on a seven-yard run with 42 seconds left before halftime.

The Pirates successfully executed a fake punt on their first possession of the second half. On fourth-and-three, Christshawn Gilliam took the snap and ran 37 yards to put the ball at the WVU 37. The Pirates later turned the ball over on downs as the drive stalled at the WVU 18.

East Carolina got the first score of the second half when Art Brown got into the end zone on a 12-yard run to make it 27-14 with 6:51 left in the third quarter. The touchdown capped a seven-play, 60-yard drive.

WVU responded with a 73-yard touchdown run by Quincy Wilson to go up 34-14 with 5:45 left in the third.

Kevin Miller kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 34-17 with 14:11 left in the game. The field goal capped a 70-yard, 11-play drive that was highlighted by a 41-yard pass from Troth to Torey Morris.