ECU football comeback falls short against Navy

A year ago, Mason Garcia and Rahjai Harris were two of South Carolina’s leading high school football players.

Thrust into starting roles Saturday, the two East Carolina freshmen gave Pirates’ fans hope for the future.

The Pirates dropped their homecoming contest at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, 27-23 to American Athletic Conference foe Navy. But Garcia and Harris played well in a game that wasn’t really decided until the final play.

Starting quarterback Holton Ahlers and running back Darius Pinnix were among five Pirate players who were not on the sidelines Saturday, listed by school officials as out due to illness. According to numerous sources, at least Ahlers’ absence was due to COVID-19 protocols, including contract tracing.

Garcia, out of Myrtle Beach’s Carolina Forest High, accounted for 163 yards’ total offense and a touchdown, and Harris, of Duncan Byrnes High, rushed for 172 yards and a score.

Navy (3-2, 3-0), winning for the eighth time in nine tries against East Carolina, broke a 13-13 halftime deadlock and built a 27-13 lead on Jamale Carothers’ fourth-down touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter.

But the Pirates (1-3, 1-2) weren’t finished. They scored two plays later on an 80-yard run by Harris, then put together a long drive midway in the final quarter that ended with Jake Verity’s third field goal of the game.

Navy then did what it does best — control the ball and run out the clock. The Midshipmen started at their 25 with 6:33 left and moved to the East Carolina 40 before being forced to punt with 22 seconds left.

The Pirates reached midfield on the game’s final play with a series of laterals.

Here are five things we learned from ECU’s loss to Navy:

It’s 2020, so ...

Strange things can happen, like learning at the last minute that your quarterback (Ahlers), running back (Pinnix) and starting defensive end (Dennis Faison) can’t play.

East Carolina coach Mike Houston almost sounded prophetic earlier in the week when he said, “Anything on any given day can pop up, and you’ve got to be able to handle it and continue to move forward.”

That’s what the Pirates were forced to do Saturday.

Pirates played some “D”

Navy had averaged 66 points a game in its last three meetings with the Pirates, but East Carolina’s defense had some strong moments Saturday.

The Pirates forced a pair of turnovers in the first quarter, and they held Navy’s offense in check through parts of the game. Credit linebacker Xavier Smith, who had 14 tackles, and sophomore defensive tackle Rick D’Abreu, who had 10 tackles, including five solo stops.

ECU has another QB

Ahlers certainly remains the starting quarterback in Greenville, but Garcia played a solid game Saturday. He completed 10 of 20 passes for 104 yards and rushed 15 times for 63 yards. He had two big runs on the drive that resulted in the Pirates’ final field goal. He did not throw an interception, although the Pirates lost the ball once on a bad handoff involving Garcia and a running back.

South Carolina connection delivers

Coach Mike Houston and his staff earned praise in the offseason for their recruiting efforts in the Palmetto State. They landed two of the state’s top high school seniors, in Garcia and Harris. Harris, by the way, has now rushed for more than 100 yards in two straight games. He had 115 yards last week against South Florida, and his 172-yard effort Saturday was the most for an East Carolina freshman since Chris Johnson ran for 158 yards in 2004.

There’s time to recover

East Carolina will get some time to clear up any COVID issues. The Pirates are off next week and are scheduled to resume play with a Friday night game Oct. 30 at Tulsa. Navy is scheduled to be back in action next Saturday at home against Houston.

This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 3:54 PM with the headline "ECU football comeback falls short against Navy."