It was a good day for New Hanover High School alum Trevon Brown as the sophomore made the most of his return to the East Carolina football team, while the Pirates overcame an early deficit to pull out a 35-28 win over Virginia Tech.
ECU (2-2), coming off consecutive road losses to Florida and Navy, secured its fifth consecutive win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent and put up its highest point total in the 20-game series with the Hokies. It also gave ECU wins over Virginia Tech (2-2) in consecutive seasons and its first win over the Hokies at Dowdy-Ficklen since 1992.
With Virginia Tech leading 14-7, the Pirates tied the game with Blake Kemp flipping an 11-yard pass to Brown, who had a team-high four catches for 44 yards in his return after sitting out the first three games because of violating the campus code of conduct.
“Trevon’s a playmaker,” said junior wide receiver Isaiah Jones. “You have to respect his game. Having him back helped tremendously. When you see 88 on the field, you have to respect that man.”
Coming off an emotional win over Alabama the week prior, No. 3 Ole Miss defeated Vanderbilt 27-16 and junior transfer Terry Caldwell (Hoggard) made four tackles in the result.
Redshirt freshman Coult Culler (Laney) made his first career tackle for N.C. State as the Wolfpack ran all over South Alabama 63-13.
Wingate claimed a 17-0 win over host Catawba in a defensive struggle on a rainy Saturday night at Shuford Stadium and Kirkland Field.
Weather limited quarterback play as Catawba’s Mike Sheehan (Wilmington, N.C./Laney HS) went 14-of-37 for 98 yards. Sheehan also carried the ball 10 times for 43 yards, while Gary Williams (South Brunswick) caught two passes for 28 yards.
Ian Bergmann (Laney) had one tackle for Wingate, who improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Catawba Indians fell to 2-2 and 1-1.
Frank Keller (Ashley) also made his second consecutive start at left guard for Presbyterian College, but The Blue Hose fell to Chattanooga 21-0.
