Pirates share conference lead after Homecoming shutout of UCF

[ObliviousLAX]

 

ECU football: Pirates share conference lead after Homecoming shutout of UCF

 

By Edward Teach - Sports Writer

 

Greenville, NC

 

As the calendar flips to September, there’s a wind blowing through the campus of East Carolina University. This gentle breeze brings feelings of hope and excitement. Fall is the season of change for many. One last beach trip before packing away the shorts and flip flops and getting the long sleeve shirts and winter coats out of storage. The trees begin to go dormant, their leaves gaining colors of orange, yellow, red, and brown, before falling to the ground and being swept away.

 

No one knows change more than the ECU Pirates this year. After running all of last year and the first two games of 2022 as a head coach by committee, the Pirates have found stability in one of their own. ObliviousLAX, an alumnus of ECU, took the reins days before the week one matchup vs in-state rival NC State. The Pirates lost that game by a slim margin. It’s also the last game they’ve lost.

 

Led by their QB Stephen Rivero, the Pirates have hauled in the leaders in the AAC. The senior scrambler racked up 322 all purpose yards and 3 total TDs on Thursday afternoon. When asked about the impact of a single head coach, Rivero was quoted as saying, “Yeah, I think it’s a great thing to walk in and know who’s in charge that week. Before it was always a different style of game plan or a different set of preferred reads. Now, coach LAX has the plan set up for me before Monday workouts even start.”

 

Rivero evades two UCF defenders on a 70 yard run late in the 1st quarter at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

 

Rivero has also caught the eye of the national media. After starting the season on the outside looking in, Rivero was up to 22nd on the Heisman Watch List - and that’s before his performance against the Knights. “Stephen’s a great player, I’m glad he’s taken the playbook and done the most with it” stated LAX when asked about his rising star QB. “He looked a little out of sorts, hell the whole team did, before I came in. They missed a bowl by a game last season, I’m sure some of the juniors on the team weren’t too happy with how this season started.

 

“Homecoming is always a special game. You really want to win it for all the alumni coming back into town as well as the current students. Dowdy-Ficklen is a scary place to play when all 50,000 seats are full of purple and gold.”

 

Those seats were full, and then some, on Thursday. An announced attendance of 50,753 watched the Pirates stifle a very stout UCF team. A defense that only had two takeaways coming into the game managed to pick off Knights QB Johnathan LaVine twice and force two fumbles by RB Steven Huerter.

 

ECU Safety Brian Hardy steps up prepares to lay a hit on UCF RB Steven Huerter late in Thursday’s game

 

“As exciting as it is to win as dominantly as we did, we know there are still things to work on. The team knows they face a good Cincy team next week on the road. My job is to get their minds focused on it. You've got to be able to go 1-0 every week in this conference.”

 

The Pirates will travel to Cincinnati, OH next week to take on the 3-3 Bearcats.