Saturday, East Carolina was able to have their first parent weekend in two years. The Pirates hosted the Buccaneers of Charleston Sothern. The game was closer than expected, but none the less the Pirates grabbed their second win in a row.
It was a slow start for the Pirates as the Bucs jumped out to an early 14-0 lead. The Turning point was on the Bucs third possession when they stalled out on the Pirate 12 and Sam Baddush missed a 29-yard field goal. Two plays later, Keaton Mitchell went 74 yards to the house to put the Pirates on the board. The rest of the first half was all Pirates as they rattled off 24 in a row to take a 24-14 lead into the locker room.
There wasn’t much offense from either side in the third quarter, as the only score was a Ja’Quan McMillian pick six. The Bucs offense got going early in the fourth quarter as Jack Chambers capped off a ten play 81-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run to trim the lead to ten. Late in the fourth the Bucs had a chance to make it a one score game but Malik Fleming blocked a Nathaniel Toole field goal. This missed field goal did in fact come back to haunt the Buccaneers. As they added at touchdown late. One the Bucs final possession the Pirate defense stood tall and held on to win 31-28.
When it was all said and done, the story seemed to be how well the Buccaneers offense played as quarterback Jack Chambers threw for 409 yards, and the team ran for 131 as a unit. After the game Pirates coach Mike Houston spoke about his opponent and stated “very impressed with the way they played tonight. They have a chance if they can build on that to really have a great year.” The highlights for the pirates were big plays which was great, but unfortunately didn’t put a full game together and had to rely on those big plays to win. Next week ECU opens conference play up in Rowdy-Dowdy against 1-3 Tulane.