GREENVILLE — Every once and a while the sun poked through the gray sky hovering over Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday providing a matching atmosphere for a Purple and Gold game that featured only occasional bright spots throughout the near 100 plays of East Carolina’s final scrimmage of the spring practice period.
Pirates head coach Ruffin McNeill pitted his first, second and third team offenses and defenses against one another and in the end the Pirates’ offense tallied three touchdowns on 16 possessions, while the defense accrued 13 stops, five sacks, an interception and a handful of battered passes.
Returning starting QB Shane Carden went 14-22 for 137 yards and threw his only TD of the game when he hummed a 22-yard pass to Lance Ray on a post pattern to complete a 70-yard drive on the game’s first possession.
The offense would score it’s second TD of the game later in the first quarter when Cody Keith (12-20, 104) guided his unit on a 70-yard dive that was capped off by a 1-yard run by Cory Hunter.
Hunter led all rushers with 61 yards on 15 carries, but overall the ECU run game was disappointing as it tallied 59 yards on 35 attempts.
Danny Webster continued to show he can be a dangerous weapon in the passing game as the 5-10 junior led all wideouts with eight receptions for 93 yards.
The Pirates’ offense dropped in productivity after the first quarter and would not reach the end zone again until the last play of the game.
“I loved the start,” ECU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said. “I thought our mentality dropped a little bit after the first few touchdowns. I wasn’t happy with that.”
The defense seemed to get stronger as the game went on and was led by ILB Kyle Tudor who recorded a game-high 10 tackles, while OLB Gabe Woullard racked up seven stops and a sack, ILB Jeremy Grove had seven stops and two tackles for a loss and OLB Maurice Falls tallied a team-best two sacks.
Defensive back Domonique Lennon, a 6-2, 205-pound sophomore, saw his stock continue to rise as he wrapped up his impressive spring session with six tackles.
The two scores on the game’s first three drives drew ire from first-year defensive coordinator Rick Smith who ripped the first unit for its sluggish start.
“The first two series the ones where awful. They didn’t tackle, they didn’t contain and they weren’t ready to play,” Smith said. “… It’s not my job to crawl in a kid’s head and get him ready to play. That’s his job, however he does it, get your but ready to play.
“I’ll coach you, I’ll tell you how to lineup and what to do when the ball is snapped but you got to get yourself ready to play mentally and if you don’t you’re not going to play. … They talk about winning a championship, well then they better have their (butts) ready to play.”
They were ready in the second half “after they got their butt chewed” and responded with a Chip Thompson interception on the first possession of the third quarter and did not allow a score until the final drive of the fourth when freshman QB Kirk Benkert (6-13, 75) hit Antonio Cannon for a 30-yard touchdown.