Sunday, August 31, 2014

East Carolina blasts North Carolina Central Eagles in Opener

GREENVILLE, North Carolina -- There were few surprises inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on a stuffy Saturday opening night, and little magic from the visiting North Carolina Central football team despite it sparking an upset-worthy first few minutes.

The Eagles swooped and scored on a first quarter fumble by host East Carolina, but the Pirates didn’t allow another point in their 52-7 thrashing of NCCU in the teams’ first-ever meeting.

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The physical mismatches between the Pirates (1-0) and the Eagles (0-1) became increasingly more exaggerated as the game wore on, and an ECU team with great expectations delivered the drama-free drubbing that was expected.

“I think the only expectations we need to worry about are the ones we have,” said fifth-year ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill, whose team moves on to play at South Carolina this Saturday and at Virginia Tech the following week. “My expectations were met tonight by our kids because I know how hard first games are.

“I think everybody thought we were going to have some magical beginning,” McNeill said of the team’s slow start. “I want my guys to play their best game in their last game.”

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