Liberty Rallies Past East Carolina In Second Half

Saturday, September 21

Lynchburg, Va.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

2-2 , 0-0

Liberty

4-0 , 2-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

East Carolina

Liberty

September 22, 2024 | Football

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LYNCHBURG, Va. – A long night doesn't begin to describe East Carolina's first-ever visit to Liberty.

The Pirates showed no ill effects from a storm delay of four-and-a-half hours Saturday evening, dominating for one quarter before seeing a double-digit lead slip away for the second-straight week in a 35-24 loss.

The Flames, which extended streaks to 16 straight regular-season victories and 11 consecutive home wins, rallied from a 17-0 deficit, outscoring ECU 28-7 in the second half to improve to 4-0 for the second straight year and the third time in five years.

The Pirates (2-2) jumped to a 16-0 lead last week against in-state rival Appalachian State before falling 21-19.

Liberty's comeback in a game that kicked off at 6:02 p.m. and ended at 2 a.m. came on the strength of converting 13 of 17 third downs, including all four of Kaidon Salter's touchdown passes. The Flames won despite Salter's first interception of the year and a fumble, as well as a rash of penalties that included five personal fouls.

ECU, which entered with 12 turnovers in three games, took care of the ball until a fumble and interception on the final two possessions. The Pirates' defense, without star defensive back Shavon Revel Jr. due to a season-ending ACL tear in practice this week, also could not come up with a key stop as Liberty scored on its last five possessions.

The clinching touchdown came after Salter maneuvered through three Pirate defenders to convert a fourth-and-2 from the ECU 38 with 2:24 to play.

"We had, once again, every chance to win that ballgame, and we didn't make the plays, and you have to," ECU head coach Mike Houston said. "We couldn't get off the field on third down well enough in the second half, and then had a missed tackle on that fourth-down play where we had him hit in the backfield. We've got to make those plays to win those ballgames."

The Pirates made all the plays early in seizing the momentum. With a mix of quarterback Jake Garcia and running back Rahjai Harris, ECU found its offensive rhythm and racked up 134 yards in the first quarter but managed just 197 the rest of the way.

Garcia finished 20 of 36 for 204 yards and also rushed for 28 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

Liberty, meanwhile, sputtered to just 24 first-quarter yards but still surpassed 400 yards of total offense for the fourth straight game, finishing with 414. Quinton Cooley gave the Flames a 100-yard rusher for the fourth straight game with 105 yards on 19 carries, punctuated by a 21-yard touchdown run with 2:00 to play.

The Pirates surrendered an average of 73 yards rushing through the first three games.

The two teams played just 85 seconds, each going three-and-out before a line of thunderstorms rolled through the Lynchburg area and delayed play. A Williams Stadium sellout crowd of dwindled considerably but still packed some energy as the clock ticked well past midnight.

ECU silenced the remaining faithful Flames followers early with a first quarter that could not have scripted better, getting major contributions from all three phases. ECU's offense converted three third downs and found the end zone twice. The defense not only held Liberty to 24 yards (including minus-1 yards rushing) but forced a fumble at the Flames' 1 to set up a touchdown.

Punter Luke Larsen pinned Liberty at the 1 prior to the fumble, and Brock Spalding delivered a 33-yard punt return to set up the Pirates' third score, a 35-yard field goal by Andrew Conrad and a 17-0 lead with 11:52 in the second period.

Garcia's 42-yard pass on ECU's second play after the long delay sparked the first scoring drive. The Flames appeared to have ECU stopped twice, but an unsportsmanlike penalty on a third-down tackle gave the Pirates a new set of downs from the 4, then Garcia escaped the grasp of T.J. Bush and scrambled for an eight-yard score.

Marlon Gunn Jr. scored on a 1-yard run one play after D.J. Johnson recovered a muffed handoff, giving ECU a 14-0 lead.

Conrad's 35-yard field goal made it 17-0, but ECU failed to cash in on an interception and 34-yard return by Isaiah Brown-Murray, and the momentum shifted.

With the Pirates at the 7 following a late-hit penalty, a false start on first down, a 5-yard run and two incompletions preceded a Conrad miss of a 25-yard field goal.

Liberty then pieced together its only sustained drive of the half, mixing the running of Cooley and the passing of Salter to drive 80 yards in 12 plays, converting three third downs along the way. Salter connected with Elijah Canion on a 14-yard pass for the score on a third-and-10 play with 2:53 left in the half.

All five of Liberty's drives would cover at least 69 yards and nine or more plays.

Liberty took its first lead at 21-17 on the second of Reese Smith's three touchdown passes. The Pirates regained the lead at 24-21 on a two-yard run by Harris with 41 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Flames answered with the go-ahead score to Smith and then sealed it.

"In the game there's always going to be momentum swings, just like we had all the momentum," Houston said. "You've got to find a way to get the momentum back. And I did feel like we got the momentum back. We got the lead going into the fourth quarter, and then it became a back-and-forth game between two really good teams. We weren't able to stick the ball in the end zone with a long drive, ended up turning it over, and didn't do a good job of getting them stopped. Again, we had the opportunities. We just didn't make the plays."