ECU's Late Rally Thwarted by UCF Hail Mary in 32-30 Loss

Thursday, December 4

Greenville, N.C.

7:30 PM

East Carolina University

8-4 , 5-3

UCF (EA/SD)

9-3 , 7-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
UCF	6	17	3	6	32
East Carolina	6	3	0	21	30

ECU's Late Rally Thwarted by UCF Hail Mary in 32-30 Loss

December 04, 2014 | Football

Box Score

Dec. 4, 2014

By Mike Grizzard,
ECUPirates.com

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Final Stats l ECU Notes l Post-Game Quotes l Highlights and Interviews

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The perfect script seemed to have been written.

A touchdown pass from Shane Carden to Justin Hardy - two of East Carolina's most decorated players - caps an improbable fourth-quarter comeback on senior night in front of a national ESPN audience.

The Pirates finish unbeaten at home and head off to a bowl game with their ninth victory.

Just three seconds stood between that dream ending and the nightmare that unfolded. When Justin Holman's 51-yard desperation pass sailed over the fingertips of two leaping Pirate defenders and settled into the hands of UCF wide receiver Breshad Perriman, elation turned to stunned disbelief and a 32-30 loss.

ECU, unable to run out the final 1:47, turned the ball over on downs at the Knights' 35 with 10 seconds left.

"I guess too perfect," Carden said of the prospect of ending his final game in Greenville with the 27th touchdown pass he has thrown to Hardy being the game-clincher. "We haven't had normal stories, so I guess it couldn't end that way."

Instead it ended in heartbreak for 21 seniors who began the evening with hugs and handshakes, cheers and tears during a pregame ceremony. To walk off with a loss after erasing a 26-9 deficit with 21 fourth-quarter points was difficult to swallow.

"It's hard man," said Carden, who came to life after three quiet quarters to lead three touchdown drives and put the Pirates up 30-26. "This is our last game in here. You've got an opportunity to win, especially this is your last game, there's going to be a lot of disappointment. There's going to be a lot of anger. It's going to be a tough one to get over. But we're going to have to. We've got one game left in the season. I want to give everything I've got in my last game."

Junior linebacker Zeek Bigger, who had 14 tackles, fought back tears at the thought of not delivering a win for the senior class. Bigger and senior Brandon Williams, who was around the ball all night and racked up 17 tackles, did their part in keeping the Knights out of the end zone - they attempted six field goals - and spearheading the fourth-quarter rally.

"I just wanted to win for theses seniors, people who showed me the ropes," Bigger said. "Next year they'll be gone. We wanted to go out here and succeed, and we fell short."

Head coach Ruffin McNeill said losses like Thursday night's emotional one never get easier.

"It's tough," he said. "Losses for me are always hard. The hurt for me is triple - as a player, a coach, an alum. But we have to bounce back. We're not through yet. We have a chance to play another game, and I'm looking forward to that."

Penalties (12 for 127 yards), turnovers (one fumble, two interceptions) and a stout UCF defense for much of the game nearly proved too big of a roadblock for the Pirates to overcome and prompted many in the crowd of 41,259 to head home early. But those who stuck around were treated to a rousing fourth quarter.

UCF led 26-9 after Shawn Moffitt's fourth field goal with 7:39 left in the third quarter. But Carden and the Pirates' offense finally found a spark. Carden threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to senior Cam Worthy to close it to 26-16, then found Marquez Grayson for a 14-yard score to make it 26-23 with still 10:33 to go.

ECU was unable to capitalize on a fumble forced by senior Detric Allen and recovered by Bigger, but got the ball back with 5:14 to go. Carden kept the drive alive with a 13-yard scramble on third-and-12 then tossed 22 yards to senior Breon Allen. Consecutive 13-yard passes to Hardy put the Pirates in the end zone and gave them their first lead since 6-3.

Williams, Bigger and the inspired defense then stuffed the Knights, and the Pirates appeared to have it clinched. But they left 10 seconds for UCF - and that was too much.

"The last play is something we work on every week," McNeill said. We work on how to bat (the pass) down. Again we've won games like that, and we've lost tough ones like that too."

The Pirates, now 8-4 with a bowl game left to play, had won eight consecutive home games and 12 of their last 13 at Dowdy-Ficklen. ECU also had knocked off 12-straight conference opponents dating back to 2011.

"An ending like that is always tough," said senior kicker Warren Harvey, who became the school's all-time leading scorer.

Harvey, a Greenville native, had a streak of 52 successful consecutive PAT kicks stopped in the first quarter when Thomas Niles got his left hand on the ball. But he drilled a 37-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving him 289 points for his career and eclipsing Ben Hartman's all-time record of 288. He will go into his final game with 292 points and also holds records for PAT kicks made (166) and attempted (169).

"It was definitely something I strived for from the very beginning," Harvey said. "I was actually good friends with Ben Hartman when he was able to break the record. He was a good mentor for me. I'm fortunate to have the teammates and coaches I do. To me this is not an individual record. It's a team record. I can't do my job without them."

Hardy and Carden kept adding to their long list of records in their final home game. Hardy, who became the NCAA (FBS) all-time leading receiver in the Pirates' previous home game against Tulane, pushed his career total to 376 with 12 catches on Thursday. The former walk-on from Vanceboro has pieced together an amazing streak of 48 consecutive games with at least two catches dating back to Sept. 3, 2011. He has amassed double-digit catches in 13 games and has 16 games with at least 100 yards receiving after his 140 yards.

Hardy became the Pirates' first receiver with multiple 100-reception seasons (he had 114 in 2013). He also set a single-season record of 1,334 yards receiving, surpassing the 1,284 he had as a junior.

Carden, who owns every major passing record in ECU history, completed 36 of 48 passes for 397 yards with three touchdowns and the two interceptions. He now has 14 career games with at least 350 yards passing and 20 with at least 300. His 16-yard pass to Davon Grayson vaulted him past 4,000 yards passing for the second straight season on the way to a single-season record of 4,309.

But none of that seemed to matter moments after Thursday's loss.

"I would have rather thrown for five yards and had the win," Carden said.