East Carolina Sinks North Carolina’s Ship 41-19

The North Carolina Tar Heels dropped their second game of the season to East Carolina 41-19 Saturday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

East Carolina quarterback Reid Herring lead the way for the Pirates, going 19-of-32 with 290 yards passing and a touchdown. ECU’s other quarterback, Holton Alhers, accounted for two rushing touchdowns.

UNC had some momentum midway through the second quarter until Jr. Tar Heel running back Antonio Williams got ejected from the game for targeting with 5:32 left in the half. Williams still finished the game as Carolina’s leading rusher with 96 yards off of six carriers.

The Tar Heels found success on the early downs in drives, but only scored one touchdown off a 12-yard run by Jr. running back Jordan Brown with 13:18 left in the second quarter. When asked about the offense stalling in scoring territory, Brown credited the Pirate’s defense.

“Umm…I just credit their defense. They buckled down and stopped us. We weren’t able to get in the end zone. We had to settle for Field Goals”.

The score was 21-19 at halftime, however, the ECU defense held Carolina scoreless in the second half and put up 20 points of their own.

UNC Head Coach Larry Fedora said, “In the second half, we just didn’t get anything going”. Senior safety J.K. Britt echoed how the loss of safety Myles Dorn due to injury and defensive end Malik Carney due to suspension affected the Carolina defense. .

“You can definitely sense it…They know some things…and just the leadership you get from Malik Carney and Dorn”.

ECU bounces back from their opening loss and travels to Virginia Tech next Saturday.

After a deflating loss and an 0-2 start to the season, North Carolina (0-2, 0-0 ACC) hosts UCF for their home opener next Saturday. UCF has won 14 straight games dating back to last season.

Britt’s biggest takeaway from the game…“We have to execute.”

(Picture courtesy of The Republic)