Pirates take control of East Division

Ben Hartman struck again.

ECU's junior kicker boomed a 27-yard field goal on the Pirates' first possession of overtime to defeat Conference USA East division rival Marshall, 19-16, in front of a homecoming crowd of 43,515; the seventh largest ever in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium history.

Hartman also made field goals from 31, 51 and 21 yards in the game, but failed to win the game for the Pirates in regulation when he missed a 42-yarder wide left as time expired.

"It should have been over at the end of four quarters but I missed one and luckily the defense makes a stand and they miss a field goal in overtime, and we win the game," Hartman said.

Hartman isn't a stranger to this situation. His game-winner came on the heels of making a 39-yarder to beat UCF last weekend in overtime. The deciding field goal against the Thundering Herd was also the kicker's fourth career game winner.

"Anybody that competes [knows] you always want the ball at end of the game to be the deciding factor," Hartman said.

Prior to kickoff, ECU introduced a new-look for their mascot, PeeDee. But once the Pirates hit the gridiron, they resorted back to their effective game plan that proved to at times overbear the Thundering Herd.

"[This was] a great win for the program," ECU coach Skip Holtz said. "…This was a big game as far as what we are trying to do in the big picture of things and I was just really proud of the way the players hung in there; it was a great team win."

With the win, ECU has lifted a huge monkey off its back. The Pirates now sit in the driver's seat of the East division. The position is not unfamiliar territory for the Pirates, who the last two years have blown a chance at competing in the C-USA title game with late season losses to Rice (2006) and Marshall last year.

But with the victory against the Thundering Herd, the Pirates have what can technically be described as a two-game lead. ECU now owns one more C-USA victory than Marshall, as well as the tiebreaker between the two.

Defense was the story of the day for ECU, as the Pirates were able to hold the Thundering Herd to 286 yards of total offense. On each of Marshall's first two drives, ECU freshman cornerback Emanuel Davis picked off the Herd's freshman quarterback Mark Cann.

"Our mindset this week was to just go out there and play one play at a time and just get the job done. Those two big plays at the beginning of the game just gave us momentum and just carried us throughout," Davis said.

Did it ever.

Holtz said Saturday's game was the defense's best performance of the season. The Pirates held Cann to 13-of- 29 passing for 137 and two touchdowns, along with his early interceptions. Marshall ran for 167 yards on the ground behind 36 carries.

For a while it seemed like the Thundering Herd would be denied of a touchdown, but they opened up the second half with a 10-play scoring drive that concluded with a Cann 7-yard strike to junior tight end Cody Slate, cutting the ECU lead to 13-9. The Herd's point after attempt failed.

Cann and Slate hooked up again on a 34-yard touchdown with 1:21 left in regulation to tie the game up at 16, which would be the score at the end of regulation. The Thundering Herd's score came after an ECU punt of 15 yards.

The ECU offense on the other hand was efficient and got the job done once again, this time with senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney leading the Pirates the whole game. Pinkney threw for 287 yards and one touchdown on 26-of-37 passing. Pinkney's lone touchdown came with 12 seconds remaining in the first half, on a 5-yard fade pass to senior tight end Davon Drew which gave ECU a 13-3 lead going into halftime.

"It was all about execution," said Pinkney. "When you trust in a receiver, and the receiver trusts in your quarterback, it's all about making plays for each other. We did that [on that play] and it was a big score for us."

While Holtz was pleased by Pinkney's performance, he still is looking for some consistency among the offense.

"I thought Patrick played a great football game," Holtz said. "He threw some great passes hanging in there, but I would like to have an offensive performance where we put a running game and a passing game together to where we can do some things and turn and score some points."

Sophomore Norman Whitley was the leading rusher for the Pirates with 72 yards on the ground on 23 attempts, as well as the leading receiver.

ECU now must prove it can handle sitting at the top of the East division, as it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss. next week to take on bitter C-USA rival Southern Miss.

"No team is going to take us lightly," Pinkney said. "We just have to take it one week at a time."

The bullseye is placed once again on ECU, not for being the one-time giant killer as it was to start the season, but for sitting on top of C-USA's East Division and creeping towards a conference title game berth. The Pirates surely have a difficult task on their hands-but history has never been so close.

This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com