CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte 49ers escaped Greenville last season with a 10-7 win over the East Carolina Pirates in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
In the shocking round-two inside Richardson Stadium on Saturday, the Niners (3-3, 2-0 AAC) throttled the Pirates (3-3, 1-1 AAC) in a 55-24 blowout, marking the highest-scoring output of the Biff Poggi era.
“Today was the first time I’ve thought, since I’ve been here, that we’ve played a complete 60 minutes,” Charlotte’s second-year coach said after the game. “I don’t take any pride in it — I put the glory to the players and coaches.”
The Niners ran over ECU at will — racking up 513 total yards of offense — as they achieved their first 2-0 start in conference play in program history
Behind the efforts of Niner quarterback Deshawn Purdie (206 passing yards, one rushing touchdown) and running backs Hahsaun Wilson (164 yards, three touchdowns) and Cartevious Norton (88 yards, two touchdowns), Charlotte tied its program record for the most rushing scores in a game.
“I think it was about the intensity and the will to run it whenever we want, even if you know we’re going to run it,” Wilson said. “We have the backs to do it, the line to do it, we just had to pull it together.”
Charlotte’s running game was able to take advantage of the lead that its passing game generated throughout the first half, due in part to an efficient and effective performance from Purdie.
“A defense gets disinterested in the run game once you get passes going,” Norton said. “Then it’s pick your poison — we were throwing the ball and running the ball, and you can’t stop both. You can only choose one.”
Charlotte wasted no time getting points on the board, scoring on its opening drive as Norton found the end zone with an 11-yard dash to the sideline.
Following a quick ECU three-and-out, the Niners marched down the field again on their second drive of the day and Purdie ran the ball in himself to go up 14-0 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
In one of the few Pirate splash plays of the day, quarterback Jake Garcia connected with wide receiver Chase Sowell for a 48-yard play, leading up to a 13-yard touchdown pass up the middle to Tyler Savage as ECU trimmed Charlotte’s lead to 14-10.
The Niners soon got the ball back again as Garcia tossed his 12th interception of the season into the arms of Charlotte’s Elijah Culp, and the duo of Wilson and Norton soon struck again with two more rushing touchdowns.
Trailing by 21 in a catastrophic first half, ECU coach Mike Houston opted to replace Garcia under center with second-string quarterback Katin Houser, who went on to complete just 11 of 28 pass attempts for 84 yards.
Three minutes into the third quarter, ECU scored a touchdown on a 48-yard run by London Montgomery to narrow Charlotte’s lead to 31-17; the Niners then added three more points before Wilson’s second and third rushing touchdowns of the night put the Niners up 48-17.
The Pirates’ defense fell flat across the board, allowing 55 points to a Charlotte team that had not scored more than 27 all season.
“Not the way we want to play. I apologize to our fans,” ECU coach Mike Houston said after the game. “That’s not what I expected us to do today. That’s not the standard for us. I’m the head coach and I’m responsible for our performance. That’s not what we want it to be.”
Charlotte and ECU will each have bye weeks before traveling to Navy (5-0, 3-0 AAC) and Army (5-0, 4-0 AAC), respectively.
