East Carolina tops Marshall in OT
BY Associated Press
Saturday, November 24, 2012
11/24/12 at 6:51 AM
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Shane Carden's 1-yard touchdown run in the second overtime Friday lifted East Carolina over Marshall 65-59 and kept the Pirates' Conference USA title hopes alive.
The Pirates (8-4, 7-1) will advance to play Tulsa for the league championship if Alabama-Birmingham beats Central Florida on Saturday.
Carden scored after three straight runs by Vintavious Cooper took the ball down to the Marshall 1.
East Carolina had stopped a Marshall possession earlier in the overtime when Chrishon Rose forced a fumble at the 11 by Essray Taliaferro and Derrell Johnson recovered it.
A 25-yard touchdown pass from Carden to Andrew Bodenheimer gave East Carolina a lead on the first play of overtime, but the Thundering Herd (5-7, 4-4) answered with a 4-yard Blake Frohnapfel scoring pass to Antavious Wilson after Taliaferro converted a fourth-and-1 with a 4-yard run.
Frohnapfel took over at quarterback for Marshall after Rakeem Cato suffered an injury to his lower left leg midway through the third quarter. He completed 12-of-15 passes for 101 yards and raced 51 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, the longest run allowed by East Carolina this season.
Carden drove the Pirates 76 yards in 11 plays to tie the game with four seconds left in regulation on a 6-yard pass to Danny Webster. The drive, which started with 1:55 left, included three completions to Justin Hardy, who caught a school-record 16 passes for 171 yards, fourth-best in East Carolina history. His 1,046 receiving yards for the season is also fourth-best in school history.
East carolina 65, marshall 59, 2OT
Associated Images:
East Carolina defenders take down Marshall's Essray Taliaferro on Friday in Greenville, N.C. ECU will play Tulsa for the C-USA Championship if UAB defeats Central Florida on Saturday. AILEEN DEVLIN/The Daily Reflector/AP
|
