Allison, Big Defensive Plays Highlight East Carolina Spring Game
April 16, 2005 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Junior wide receiver Aundrae Allison recorded 94 receiving yards on five catches, including a 30-yard scoring grab from Davon Drew late in the first quarter, to highlight East Carolina's annual spring game Saturday afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
In addition, safety Zach Baker added a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter and cornerback Travis Williams rambled 93 yards to paydirt after picking up a fumble with just 1:38 remaining to solidify East Carolina's 28-10 win over the Pirates.
In order to promote competition between the top and equal units of the depth chart, head coach Skip Holtz created East Carolina and Pirates squads in lieu of the traditional Purple-Gold lineups prior to the game. The East Carolina unit featured the program's first offensive unit and the remaining non-starters on defense while the Pirates fielded the top defensive unit and the second, third and fourth levels of the offensive two-deep.
Drew finished the contest completing 14-of-30 passes for 138 yards, including the TD toss to Allison, while running for 26 additional yards on 13 carries. East Carolina tailback Chris Johnson topped all rushers with 71 yards on 16 attempts.
Pirates' quarterback Kort Shankweiler threw for 177 yards on 14-of- 30 passing with one interception while backup Patrick Pinkney completed 12-of-21 for 59 yards while also suffering one interception. Pinkney led all Pirates' ground-gainers with 41 yards on just four carries, averaging 10.2 yards per attempt.
"Our spring is over and I am glad we were able to get this game in without any significant injuries," Holtz said. "As I was watching the game from upstairs, there were some great individual performances today. I thought Aundrae Allison did some good things today, Robert Tillman, Chris Johnson also had great individual performances, but at the same time, I find that we are a long way away from playing a game. We had too many turnovers and way too many penalties and I thought we just did a lot of things to shoot ourselves in the foot."
In all, both teams combined for five turnovers which led directly to three touchdowns. In addition to scoring returns by Baker and Williams, Edwin Burke contributed a one-yard scoring plunge for the Pirates' only touchdown after linebacker Richard Koonce recovered an East Carolina fumble at the one-yard line with 8:26 to play. Both teams were whistled a combined 14 times for 183 yards.
After Baker's interception return gave ECU a 14-0 lead, Shankweiler used a 43-yard pass to Burke on a third-and-13 play to set up Pirates' first score of the day - a 25-yard field goal by Michael Sunday at the 5:11 mark of the second quarter.
After a scoreless third quarter, East Carolina extended its cushion to 21-3 when Johnson capped a five-play, 50-yard drive with a two-yard scoring run with 8:26 to play. When Burke's plunge trimmed the deficit to 21-10, East Carolina answered with its final score when Baker forced a fumble after a Will Bland catch and Williams scooped up the loose ball on the seven-yard line and raced 93 yards for a 28-10 final.
Both teams combined for exactly 600 yards on 145 plays, an average of 4.1 yards per snap.
Robert Tillman added three catches (11 yards) for East Carolina while Philip Henry contributed six receptions for 55 yards to lead the Pirates.
Defensively, the Pirates' Jamar Flournoy and Koonce topped all tacklers with 10 stops while Jarrett Wiggins turned in eight. In addition to his fumble return, Williams finished the game with a team-high seven solo tackles, two for lost yardage, to lead East Carolina.
"Overall, I am pleased with the effort and attitude, and as long as they keep coming out here and working hard, we can take this film, learn from it and get better," Holtz added. "This wasn't a spring game that was set up for success on either side of the ball, being one offense versus one defense. We got a chance to get sixty or seventy scrimmage plays in on ones versus ones and that is invaluable to us to improve as a football team."
