Tonight, the Bearcats (7-2, 4-1 AAC) hosted Eastern Carolina University (6-3, 3-2 AAC) for their annual Nipp at Night game as they looked to make it 32 straight at Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats would look to keep the momentum rolling as the battle for the AAC Championship was still up for grabs as we head down the final stretch of the season. The Bearcats would see some stars come back to Nippert Stadium tonight as former Bearcats Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Desmond Ridder and Joel Dublanko were in attendance for tonight’s game vs ECU.
Eastern Carolina would strike first as their defense continued to bring the pressure early as they would get to Ben Bryant for a safety as the Pirates would take an early 2-0 lead with 9:30 remaining in the first quarter. The Bearcats defense would look to get a huge stop after the turnover, but the Pirates would start the drive with a huge 24 yard run by Keaton Mitchell. However, The Bearcats defense would prevail and hold them to just a field goal after the Pirates were looking to move the ball down the field until a huge holding penalty moved them out of the redzone. The Pirates would capitalize off the turnover as they now had an early 5-0 lead over the Bearcats with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Bearcats would waste no time making up for the early turnover as Jadon Thompson would respond with a huge 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give the Bearcats a 7-5 lead with three minutes remaining. Thompson a very shifty guy escaped a couple off tackles and bounced outside and it was a foot race from there to the endzone, but the Bearcats would get that splash play they were looking for after another slow start offensively. The Bearcats would take a 7-5 lead heading to the second quarter as it wasn’t an ideal start as ECU dominated the time of possession in the first quarter. The Pirates held the ball for roughly 11 minutes in the first quarter following the sack on Bryant, as the Pirates held the Bearcats to just three drives which resulted in a Thompson kickoff return touchdown, a safety and punt.
The Pirates would looked to regain their lead, but Andrew Conrad would miss the 45-yard field goal and the Bearcats gained momentum. The Bearcats would do just that as Bryant would look to air it out after missing Tyler Scott down the sideline, he would bounce right back the very next play and hit Tre Tucker for the wide receiver screen where he would take it 55 yards to the house to give the Bearcats a 14-5 lead with 11:34 remaining in the second quarter. That catch, was Tucker’s longest touchdown reception of his career as well.
The Bearcats went on a 14-0 run. However, Pirates quarterback Holton Ahlers took a huge hit and looked to be in a lot of pain favoring his right shoulder and would be seen going straight to the medical tent following the Pirates drive. The Bearcats would give the ball right back to the Pirates after Bryant tried to force one downfield to Will Pauling resulting in an easy interception. After a brief stint in the medical tent, Ahlers was back out to lead the Pirates after the Bryant interception.
The Bearcats would force a three and out as the defense continued to dominate at the point of attack early. Bryant and the Bearcats would get settled in as Bryant would connect to Tyler Scott for a 76 yard touchdown reception to give the Bearcats a 21-5 lead. Scott now has 14 career touchdowns and all 14 have been longer than 20 yards. The Pirates would respond right back though after the Bearcats went on a 21-0 run, this time Ahlers would connect with C.J. Johnson for a 72 yard touchdown to make this a 21-12 game with just under six minutes remaining in the first half.
Ryan Coe would connect from 37 yards to give the Bearcats a 24-12 lead with just under two minutes left in the first half. The Bearcats would take a 24-12 lead heading into the break behind a huge second quarter for the Bearcats behind a 21-0 run. Ben Bryant would start 7-of-16 with 174 yards and two touchdowns where he started to connect on some deep balls, but Bryant was very inconsistent to start this one and it showed in the first half.
Scott and Tucker combined for 134 yards of offense and two touchdowns as the talented wide receiver group quickly turned this into a track meet here at Nippert Stadium and it really started with a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jadon Thompson. Ty Van Fossen really anchored the Bearcats defense as he led the team with six tackles and a tackle for loss in the first half as the “Black Cat” defense continued to dominant the point of attack as they limited Keaton Mitchell to just 34 yards on the ground in the first half.
The Pirates would come out firing in the second half as they would see their drive get extended after a huge stop by Ja’von Hicks that forced a fourth down would be wiped away after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Justin Wodtly gave the Pirates a new set of downs in the red zone. The Pirates would capitalize on the penalty as Mitchell would pound one in from four yards out to cut the Bearcats lead to 5, as the Pirates now trailed 24-19.
The Pirates were looking to drive down the field after two consecutive three and outs by the Bearcats offense to start the second half, but it all started with a huge play as Ahlers would air one out to Mitchell on a wheel route and Bryon Threats would lay a huge hit that would knock Mitchell out of this game and was quickly ruled targeting, a huge loss for the Bearcats defense. Ahlers and the Pirates would respond right away where Ahlers would connect with Jaylen Johnson for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Pirates a 25-24 lead following a failed 2-point conversion.
The Bearcats would retake the lead following a 21 yard field goal from Ryan Coe as the Bearcats would now lead 27-25 with 9:42 remaining in this game.
The Bearcats defense would prevail as they continued to get stops late in the game including a huge stop on 4th down by Taj Ward to lock this one up for the Bearcats after Eastern Carolina was looking to drive late in the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats snuck away as they would hold on to win 27-25 over the Pirates, but it all started with the play of the special teams as Jadon Thompsons’s 100 yard kickoff return really sparked the momentum as they went on a 21-0 run and that would be the vocal point of this game was that run there in the second quarter.
The offense looked great at times, but it was very quiet as Bryant struggled at times, but he prevailed and led the Bearcats to a 27-25 victory over the Pirates to improve to 8-2 on the season, 5-1 in AAC play. The Bearcats saw another 100 yard game from junior wide receiver Tyler Scott who finished with seven catches for 140 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s never easy, I just think our ability to find ways to win, play together, do whatever it takes. This is what us looks like, it might not be what everyone wants because you hear them booing at times because they want something different, but the reality is, this is what us looks like, and us is still pretty darn good,” said Fickell following the Bearcats 27-25 victory over ECU.
The Bearcats will be back in action next week as they travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Temple as they look to make another late run en route to their third straight American Athletic Championship.
