Troth, Townes Among Standouts in Second Spring Scrimmage
March 29, 2003 | Football
The Pirates ran nearly 150 situational plays in just over two hours. Among the scenarios covered were kickoff coverage and return, punt coverage and return, field goals, goal-line offense and defense, red zone offense, and two-minute drills.
"Our ones [first-team units] had a good day on both sides," ECU's first-year head coach John Thompson said. "There's a lot of things we have to clean up and a lot of penalties that need to be addressed. We're not satisfied, but I am impressed with our effort and our enthusiasm. We've had a hard two weeks of practice and it's been a physical spring. There was a lot of hitting; I don't think there was any softness out here today."
The passing of junior quarterback Paul Troth and the running of junior tailback Marvin Townes highlighted the morning's offense. Troth completed 16 of 24 passes, including each of his first nine attempts, for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Townes carried 15 times for 88 yards and scored once. Senior Dominique Hatcher also got a bulk of the carries, rushing 15 times for 50 yards.
Senior fullback Vonta Leach had the longest play of the day as he ran over the defense and broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run.
Senior Terrance Copper led the receiving corps with seven catches for 44 yards and two touchdowns.
The Pirate offense put the ball in the end zone eight times.
The defense, meanwhile, make big plays of its own. The first-team unit held on a goal-line stand after ECU's first-team offense was given the ball first-and-goal at the 4. Senior linebacker Christian Wasielewski, who has yet to play in a college game at ECU, recorded two tackles for losses. Sophomore safety Mickey McCoy, who has played at wide receiver last fall, came up with an interception and a sack. Sophomore linebacker Richard Koonce caused and recovered a fumble and also had a sack. Junior linebacker Eric Butler added an interception.
On special teams, redshirt freshman Ryan Dougherty averaged 46 yards on four punts. Juniors Chris Baglio and Cameron Broadwell took turns on kicking duties with each making both of their extra point attempts.
About 300 fans were scattered about the stands to watch the scrimmage.
The Pirates will take the next two days off and will return to the practice field on Tuesday, April 1. ECU will conclude its spring practice two weeks from today on Saturday, April 12, with its Purple/Gold Spring Game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Townes 15-88, Leach 9-53, Hatcher 15-50, Robinson 6-30, Brown 10-29, Stephens 6-14, Pender 3-8, Pinkney 1-4.
PASSING -- Troth 16-24-1 144, Robinson 5-13-1 62, Pinkney 4-7-0 42.
RECEIVING -- Copper 7-44, Townes 4-23, Bland 3-42, Rios 2-34, Hayden 2-23, Fox 1-25, Hourigan 1-15, Peterkin 1-14, Sunday 1-12, Roach 1-9, Kaplar 1-7, Brown 1-0.
