Verity's Kick Helps ECU Sack ODU, 37-35

Saturday, September 29

Greenville, N.C.

3:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

2-2

Old Dominion

1-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Old Dominion

ECU

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

September 29, 2018 | Football

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Final Stats (PDF) l ECU Notes (PDF) l Quotes (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – It was touch-and-go at times late for ECU, but a 38-yard field goal by Jake Verity with 1:16 remaining and a subsequent dominant effort by a defense that had shown off its dominance throughout the game enabled the Pirates to pull out a 37-35 victory over Old Dominion on Saturday on Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

ECU held statistical edges in virtually every category, spurred by a defense that came up with nine sacks, including three by Nate Harvey and two by Kendall Futrell. But two interceptions by the Monarchs, and nearly a third that would've ended the Pirates' game-winning drive, almost did ECU in. However, the Pirates were resilient with each shot they took as they improved to 2-2 entering an American Athletic Conference game at 12 noon next Saturday at Temple.

ODU, which entered the game with the momentum of a stunning 49-35 upset of Virginia Tech a week earlier, dropped to 1-4.

"This is probably our most gratifying win as a program," ECU Head Coach Scottie Montgomery said. "This was a big-time fourth-quarter victory. Defensively, we bent in a lot of situations, but we didn't break."

The Pirates had pulled to within 35-34 on a 4-yard pass from Reid Herring to Tahj Deans with 5:22 to play, but Verity's point-after attempt was blocked. After holding ODU to a three-and-out, ECU took over at its own 19 with 3:51 left.

Facing fourth-and-1 at the ECU 28 with 3:17 to go, Montgomery made what at the time was a very unpopular decision in the stadium to punt.

"As a head coach, you can't be afraid to be booed," he said. "You have to be able to stick to the play, and with three timeouts there, I knew we had time. There's a lot that you can do with stopping the clock. Our defense played really good most of the game, and I wanted to put it back in their hands.

"Then ODU threw the ball, which gave me another timeout. You have to make decisions based on research and history, and our fans were a lot happier at the end of the game."

After Alex Turner and Harvey sacked Blake LaRussa on third-and-10, the Monarchs had to punt it back to the Pirates, who took over at their own 33, this time with 2:10 to go.

Herring completed a 12-yard pass to Trevon Brown on first down, but three incompletions followed, making it fourth-and-10 from the ECU 45. Herring hit Tahj Deans to the ODU 39, and then on the next play to Deans, the Monarchs were called for pass interference, giving the Pirates first-and-10 at the 24.

The first pass was incomplete, and on second down there was a mix-up and Herring's pass down the left sideline was near no receiver. ODU free safety Justice Davila was closing in on it quickly at the 5 and appeared to come down with it. However, officials ruled the ball was juggled out of bounds, and the replay confirmed it.

"We had a busted play right there," Herring said. "The ball was in the air, and I was like, dang, I really hope the game doesn't end like that. I saw their safety running for the ball. It was almost like everything stopped. Thankfully he was out of bounds and bobbling it.

"We didn't stop fighting. The defense came up big. We stayed up, energized and came out with the W."

Two running plays moved the ball to the center of the field at the 21, where Verity, a junior who hasn't made a winning field goal late since a 22-yarder during his junior year of high school, put the ball inside the left upright.

"I don't want anyone to think this is my victory because we won as a unit, as a team, and I'd like to thank the line, the guys up front, my snapper Eric Lawson and Jonn Young, my holder," Verity said. "We all went out there and executed when we needed to."

ODU got the ball back at its 25 with 46 seconds left, and the defense smothered any comeback attempt. The game ended on an intentional grounding call on LaRussa who tried to get rid of the ball as the entire defensive line was on him back near the goal line.

The defense came up with nine sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and one interception, by Corey Seargent. Aaron Ramseur had seven tackles, with a sack and a tackle for loss. Turner had seven tackles, with 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss. Harvey had 3.5 tackles for loss in addition to his three sacks.

"I was very, very happy with what we were able to do up front," Montgomery said. "I joked around with our guys all week that the only way you can be a team that's known to create pressure is to be able to create more than six sacks. That's exactly what we did."

When informed the Pirates had nine sacks, Harvey's first words were that he and the defense want more the next time. It was ECU's high sack total since it had nine against Florida International in 2013.

"It's real fun out there," Harvey said. "Just running around and playing fast feels real good. (defensive coordinator David Blackwell) just believes in us. He told us to go get (LaRussa) and we did."

For the first time this season, ECU gave up points in the third quarter. The Pirates led 21-20 at halftime, but Herring's second interception of the game, an overthrow that was picked off by Davila, gave the Monarchs the ball at the ECU 39 after a 22-yard return. Four plays later, ODU scored on a 15-yard run by Kesean Strong.

At that point Holton Ahlers was put in at quarterback and he led an ECU scoring drive. On second-and-9 from the ODU 49, Ahlers faked a handoff to Scott and found an opening around the left end. He went the distance for the score, putting ECU up 28-27 with 9:16 left in the third.

It stayed that way until ODU quickly took advantage of good field position after a punt by Young, taking over at the ECU 49. On the first play, LaRussa hit Isaiah Harper for a touchdown pass, and he then hit Keion White with the two-point conversion with 9:18 to play.

"Offensively, we stopped ourselves a couple of times and I thought we had to find a way to win," Montgomery said. "Reid was good at points in time. We hit a rut and brought Kingsley Ifedi in and he made some plays for us. We brought Holton in and he made a couple of huge plays. Then we had to go back to Reid. We were happy that he didn't get down and was able to step up for us."

"I just had to stay focused in case they called my number again," Herring said. "I didn't execute that well. They took me out, put Ahlers in, he scored on that big run. When I got my chance to get back in, I just tried to do my best to make plays and win the game."

ECU outgained ODU 492-271, including 179-21 rushing. Herring finished 24-for-42 for 309 yards and three touchdowns to go with two interceptions. Ahlers was the leading rusher, with eight runs for 72 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Scott rushed 15 times for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Brown was the top receiver with four catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.

"We believe in every part of our football club," Montgomery said. "I have a lot of faith and trust in different facets of our time. I don't ride the emotional roller-coaster because of our guys."

The Pirates played well in the first half, but led only 21-20 thanks in part to an interception deep in Monarchs territory that was returned to the ECU 5 and giving ODU great field position on two other drives which ended in a pair of field goals.

The Pirates moved the ball seemingly at will on their first four possessions and came away with three touchdowns — a 4-yard run by Anthony Scott to end their first drive, a 46-yard pass from Herring to Brown on the second possession, and a 12-yard pass from Herring to Deondre Farrier on the fourth possession.

After being stopped three-and-out on the game's opening possession, ODU answered Scott's touchdown with a score of their own. Aided by a penalty for pass interference and one for defensive holding, the Monarchs stayed off the ground and got the score on a 20-yard pass from LaRussa to Travis Fulgham, ending a quick four-play drive.

ECU came right back with Brown's score, which was set up by his highlight-reel one-handed grab on the left sideline with one foot in at the ODU 46 on the previous play.

"I just came out of the route, and at first I thought Reid threw it too far," Brown said. "Usually, I don't even try to catch it. This time, I thought, man, I'll try to catch it anyway. I just came out and saw it was too far. I practice that in warm-ups. I practice catching with one hand, just because in a tough situation like that I know I can trust my hands."

The Pirates held the Monarchs again, with Harvey getting the first of his two first-half sacks. ECU then pushed into ODU territory, but on third-and-7 from the 32 Herring's pass to Hussein Howe in the middle of the field near the 25 went in and out of Howe's hands and was picked off by Sean Carter, who took it all the way back to the ECU 5.

Four plays later, the Monarchs tied it at 14 on a 1-yard run by Jeremy Cox.

The Pirates again answered with Farrier's catch in the left front corner of the end zone to go up 21-14.

From there, however, ECU was unable to move the ball. Its last three possessions were a pair of three-and-outs and the end of the half. Young punted twice, with the Monarchs getting good field position both times at their own 45 and 42. They capped the possessions with field goals of 23 and 28 yards by Nick Rice.

By Joe Corley