ECU Airs It Out In First Preseason Scrimmage
August 17, 2004 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. ?? James Pinkney connected on 21-of-33 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns during East Carolina's first situational scrimmage of the preseason on Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Tuesday afternoon. Four Pirate quarterbacks combined for 575 yards with seven touchdowns on 39-of-69 pass attempts.
"This was our best day," stated head coach John Thompson. "Our offense got down the field, made some big plays on fourth down and did some nice things on the goal line. Our defense made some stops and I felt like early in the game the first team defense dominated. They really did some good things. It was back and fourth, but I was really pleased."
Will Bland was the top pass catcher with five receptions for 136 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Johnson caught three passes for 90 yards and a score, while Shawn Levesque had six for 74 yards. Fullback Jermarcus Veal caught three passes out of the backfield and two of those were touchdown receptions. Fifteen players recorded at least one reception with 11 of them catching multiple balls. Nine different receivers had at least 25 yards in receptions with six getting into the end zone.
Quarterback Desmond Robinson also played well, connecting on 10-0f-18 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
Perhaps the most exciting play of the day cmae late in the afternoon when Patrick Dosh connected with Michael Hickman for a 60-yard scoring dash down the sideline.
Johnson was the top ball carrier on the afternoon, rushing 13 times for 34 yards. Art Brown had eight tots for 21 yards and a touchdown. Both players also had a touchdown reception.
The defense continued to show improvement. Linebacker Chris Moore led the team with nine tackles, while another linebacker, Durwin Lamb, recorded eight stops. As a unit, the defense tallied 10 sacks, including two each by Zach Baker and Richard Koonce. Baker also came up with the lone interception of the afternoon.
The Pirates practice at 8:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Cliff Moore Practice Facility. The next scrimmage is scheduled for Aug. 21.
Situational Scrimmage Statistics
Passing
J. Pinkney 33-21-1 296 4 TD; Robinson 10-18-0 140; P. Pinkney 6-13-0 74; Bowling 1-1-0 67; Dosh 2-4-0 65; Hickman 1-1-0 27
Rushing
Brown 8-21; Johnson 13-34; Shankweiler 1-4; Veal 1-2; P. Pinkney 2-(-)6; Dosh 1-(-8); Robinson 4-(-)15; Burke 4-(-)15; J. Pinkney (3-(-)15.
Receiving
Bland 5-136; Johnson 3-90; Levesque 6-74; Brown 2-70; Bowling 4-65; Hickman 1-60; Fox 4-43; Howard 3-33; Crowell 1-28; Veal 3-19; Coffman 1-16; Shankweiler 2-14; P. Pinkney 1-12; Rogers 3-12; Harris 2-7.
Leading Tacklers
Moore - 9; Lamb - 8; Koonce - 7; Hodges - 6; E. Butler - 6; Parker - 6.
Miscellaneous Defense
Interceptions - 1 (Baker); Sacks - 10 (Baker 2, Koonce 2, Slate, Horner, Lamb, Pickett, El-Amim; Hunt); Pass Deflections - 16 (Whitehead 2, Dickerson 2, McQueen 2, Koonce 2, Bradley 2; E. Butler, Hodges, Jean, Ross, Walls, Marrow.
