Terrell Stanley and Trevon Brown lead ECU to 4th win of season

GREENVILLE, NC (ECU) — Everything about Saturday’s game in sun-splashed Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium added up to a scoreboard-popping shootout.

Apparently someone forgot to inform Montese Overton, Zeek Bigger, Josh Hawkins and the rest of East Carolina’s defense.

Sparked by Hawkins’ scintillating 100-yard interception return on the game’s opening series, the Pirates took the wind out of the high-scoring Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a 30-17 American Athletic Conference and homecoming victory. Allowing a season-low 17 points (ECU gave up 20 against Towson) was impressive enough against a team averaging 36.6 points and 568.0 yards per game but doesn’t come close to telling the story.

Tulsa was shutout for three quarters for the first time since Aug. 29, 2013, and the final seven points came with just 30 seconds to play.

“We were trying our best to get that goose egg,” Hawkins said. “But I’m just proud of the defense that we got that win.”

Winning with defense was especially sweet for Bigger, a senior linebacker. He said all the talk about offense leading up to the game served as a bit of inspiration for him and his defensive mates.

“We take a lot of things personal,” said Bigger, who finished with a team-high 13 tackles. “We want to come out and show what kind of defense we are and who we are and what we’re made of. Today we came out and did just what we wanted to do.”

But is wasn’t until the 14th play on the opening drive that Tulsa hit a roadblock. Junior quarterback Dane Evans directed the Golden Hurricane (3-3, 0-2 AAC) down the field with relative ease. But on second-and-6 from the ECU 12, his pass to the front right corner of the endzone was picked off by Hawkins, who avoided a feeble tackle attempt by Evans and followed a convoy to the opposite end zone 100 yards away.

“I saw the quarterback about to throw it, so I just made a play on the ball,” Hawkins said of his ninth career interception. “My defensive line and linebackers, they were out there blocking for me. They made it happen for me.”

Once he got his hands on the ball, the former running back at Winston-Salem Glenn turned to his offensive skills on the way to his first collegiate touchdown.

“I just saw bodies flying everywhere,” he said. “I saw guys blocking, I saw guys falling. I just started running as fast as I could.”

The pick-six was the sixth for the Pirates in their last five games against Tulsa. DaShaun Amos, who had a career-high six tackles Saturday, also had a 100-yard interception return in 2013 against Tulsa.

“He (Amos) told me I was going to be in the record books,” Hawkins said.

“We always say somebody’s got to make a play when the time’s needed, and that was a good play at the time that we needed it,” said Overton, who had seven tackles including a sack of Evans at the Tulsa 4-yard-line with 2:08 play, essentially snuffing out the Hurricane’s final hope.

“That was very huge,” junior defensive end Fred Presley said. “We appreciate him doing that.”

“It was just a great play at the right time,” Bigger said. “He was at the right place at the right time, where he’s supposed to be. It happened, and we took off blocking for him, and he took it to the house.”

For Tulsa, which put up 38 points in a loss to Oklahoma and had not scored less than 24 points this season, the interception was a crushing blow.

“It affected us no doubt,” Tulsa coach Phillip Montgomery said. “We had a great drive going there. The biggest thing we need to do is we can’t let that affect the rest of the football game. That almost put us in a deep coma until the fourth when we finally got a couple of things going. The biggest part of that is we’ve got to learn from it and move on and come back the next series and make things happen.”

But the Hurricane could not. After gaining 69 yards on its first drive, Tulsa would punt on eight of its next 10 possessions including six three-and-out series. Another series ended in a fumble and the other on downs. Only two of those possession amassed more than 18 yards (34 and 45).

By the time Tulsa pieced together fourth-quarter drives of 81 and 88 yards for a touchdown and field goal, ECU (4-3, 2-1 AAC) had the game well in hand, and much of the crowd of 43,065 was off to enjoy the rest of its afternoon.

“Great team win, great win,” sixth-year head coach Ruffin McNeill said. “Very happy for the kids and for my staff. Great win. Very happy to get that one.”

Especially since the Pirates’ offense sputtered a bit against a usually vulnerable Tulsa defense. ECU once again relied on its two-quarterback system – Blake Kemp started this week, then was relieved by James Summers – but only generated two drives of more than 31 yards. But the Pirates forced a season-high three turnovers, converting two of those into 14 points, and Davis Plowman responded by booting a career-high three field goals.

The Pirates’ 142 rushing yards and 382 total yards were the fewest by a Tulsa opponent this season. The Golden Hurricane also registered 14 tackles for loss.

Kemp, who misfired on his first three passes, finished 8 of 12 for 78 yards. Summers played the entire second half, completing 11 of 16 passes for 127 yards and one touchdown – 12-yard flip to Chris Hairston and slipping out of the grasp of a Tulsa defender.

Summers also rushed for 44 yards on 12 carries. He scored on a six-yard run with 1:24 to go to put ECU up 30-10.

Hairston led ECU’s ground game with 82 yards on 18 carries. His TD catch that gave ECU a 17-0 lead in the second quarter was the first of his career.

Evans finished just 19 of 40 for 288 yards. He was sacked four times and harassed the entire day.

“Get to the quarterback is the name of the game,” Bigger said. “We have a lot of fun then and nobody won’t be able to catch the ball.

“We were pressuring all day. That’s what we’re made of. We’re a fast team, a physical team.”

The Pirates can add confident to that heading into a Thursday night home game against undefeated Temple, which upset the Pirates last year in Philadelphia.

And a short week means quickly turning the attention away from Saturday’s accomplishment.

“It will be normal from now until (Sunday), and then it will become different,” McNeill said. “But tomorrow, guys get away from it – enjoy this. Wins are hard in this business. I was proud of the kids, and this team is still developing.

“That’s why poise and confidence is what I appreciate the most. And a non-panic about this team and staff that I appreciate the most. And an ability to overcome adversity and stay with the game plan, and they’ll keep getting better each week.

“That’s all I ask them,” McNeill said. “Great win, Beat a team that was seventh in the country in total offense. Proud of each man in that locker room there.”

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Note: Terrell Stanley had 6 tackles. Trevon Brown had 4 receptions.

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