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Virginia squashes second-half rally by Pirates

By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector

Saturday, October 11, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Both teams that competed inside Virginia’s Scott Stadium Saturday left with matching 3-3 records, but one limped out while the other one strutted.

Virginia added to last week’s 31-0 thumping of Maryland by dominating visiting East Carolina early, weathering ECU’s rally attempt and successfully sitting on its lead en route to a 35-20 win. The Pirates could not climb out of the hole they began digging late in the first quarter, which by halftime proved too deep.

By then, the Cavaliers had already rolled up a 28-6 lead, and the same troubles the Pirates tried to leave behind after losing to Houston two weeks ago were still chasing them in front of UVa.’s crowd of 52,398.

Backed by two long touchdowns and 199 yards of total offense from Virginia running back Cedric Peerman, the Cavaliers rode their early lead to the finish line. They squashed a second half ECU rally by forcing a Patrick Pinkney fumble in the fourth quarter and cashing in an insurance touchdown on a fake field goal.

“They want to be good and they’re playing hard, but we just continue to make the mistakes we can’t make,” ECU head coach Skip Holtz said of his players. “In the fourth quarter, Virginia made the plays they had to make, came off the edge and got to Patrick a couple times for a couple sacks. The tide started to turn a little bit more and the comeback fell short. We didn’t get it done today.”

Pinkney, the Pirates’ senior passer, was hunted down by Virginia’s defense all day. While amassing 196 yards passing — including a scrambling, high-arcing touchdown pass to Brandon Simmons in the fourth quarter that pulled the Pirates’ deficit to 28-20 — he was sacked six times by unrelenting Cavs’ pressure.

In the fourth quarter, Matt Conrath’s sack on Pinkney jarred the ball loose and it proved fatal. UVa. recovered and ultimately scored when, on fourth down, the Cavs tricked their way into the end zone one last time.

Tight end John Phillips acted like he was running off the field for a substitution before stopping, running into the end zone and catching the 12-yard touchdown that stifled any further ECU comeback.

Sophomore Jonathan Williams, in his first day carrying the load for the Pirates, led the offense with 95 rush yards and a third quarter touchdown on 19 carries. Wide receiver Dwayne Harris, meanwhile, had a career day with six catches for 128 yards.

“They were very competitive,” Williams said of the Virginia defense. “We just jumped on them too late. That’s what got us.”

The loss marked the third straight for East Carolina, which opened the season 3-0 and surged to No. 14 in the national rankings. With non-conference play finished, the Pirates (3-3 overall, 1-1 Conference USA) now face the remainder of their league slate, beginning next week with a home date against Memphis.

“Our goal is still to go 1-0 each week,” Pinkney said. “A conference championship is still one of our goals, so we still have to take them one at a time.”

Peerman ran roughshod over the Pirates during a decisive first half which saw the Cavaliers respond with four unanswered touchdowns.

After ECU settled for Ben Hartman’s field goals of 45 and 35 yards to put the Pirates in the lead, Peerman took control.

First, he charged around the right end on the last play of the first quarter, eluded linebacker Nick Johnson and safeties Leon Best and Van Eskridge and strolled 79 yards down the right sideline to put the Cavs in the lead, 7-6.

Two drives later, Peerman erupted again on the first play from scrimmage, steering into open space past Eskridge and linebacker Pierre Bell for a 60-yard score and a 14-6 lead.

With the Pirates reeling, UVa. struck for touchdowns on each of its next two drives. Tailback Mikell Simpson capped a six-play, 61-yard drive when he rambled in from five yards out, and quarterback Marc Verica (216 yds., TD) shook his two early interceptions when he lofted a 30-yard touchdown pass to a streaking Kevin Ogletree to make it 28-6.

“Virginia is playing really good football right now, and they showed that last week when Maryland came into town,” Holtz said. “They really relied on their offensive line and their running game, and tried to take the quarterback out and make him invisible. They took the ball out of (Verica’s) hands and went to the running game and we couldn’t stop them.”

In the second half, Williams capped the Pirates’ initial drive with a 1-yard score, and after shaking an almost certain sack, Pinkney’s jump shot toward the end zone found a waiting Simmons to pull the Pirates within eight points with 13:58 left in the game.

But the linebacker trio of Antonio Appleby, Jon Copper and Clint Sintim was overpowering, accounting for 27 tackles and three sacks.

Nathan Summers can be reached at nsummers@coxnc.com, or at (252)329-9595.