ECU football dominates Temple for first win in Greenville over the Owls since the mid-90′s

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Almost a shutout, ECU football with a dominant 45-3 performance against Temple on Saturday night at Dowdy-Ficklen stadium. Doing something against the Owls they hadn’t done in almost 2 decades.

Hall of Fame game for the Pirates. ECU started slow but woke up quickly. Ryan jones had 102 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead first half.

Keaton Mitchell ran for 146 yards and added two touchdowns. The longest being a 57-yard scamper with Holton Ahlers playing lead blocker. They stretched it out to 35-0

The defense stout all game. Great play after great play. Elijah Morris had his first career solo sack in the game. He made 3 tackles, 2 for a loss.

In the 4th quarter great catch by D.H. Conley grad CJ Johnson. He had 40 yards in the game. It set up Ahlers for the run. Holton had 224 yards from scrimmage, passing and running, accounting for 4 touchdowns. ECU rolls to victory 45-3. Their first win in Greenville over Temple since October, 1995 according to the press release. The Pirates beat the Owls for the 2nd straight season to get to 5-4.

“This is the first win at home over Temple since I think 96. Some of the older kids talked about how badly Temple beat them their freshman and sophomore years. Just embarassing perfomances,” says ECU head coach Mike Houston, “To see our group of older kids go out there and play that way against that program, at home. Just a really impressive performance by those kids.”

“My freshman year we went to Philly and we were the team first quarter it was done,” says ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers, “To be in Dowdy tonight, and have that score, not play the whole fourth quarter, is a super blessing.”

The Pirates head to Memphis next week looking for their 3rd straight conference win, 3 wins in a row. A win there would put them to 6. The traditional bowl eligible number.

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