BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Behind a touchdown by redshirt junior quarterback Grayson McCall in the second quarter, Coastal Carolina took a 14-10 lead only to see the East Carolina Pirates fight back and pull away for a 53-29 win at the 16th TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.
 
The matchup was the first between the two Carolina schools on the gridiron.
 
The loss ended the Chanticleers' season at 9-4 overall, while with the win, ECU finished at 8-5 on the year.
 
Offensively, the Chants were plagued by three lost fumbles, while on the defensive end it was big plays that haunted the Men in Teal in the loss.
 
ECU totaled 486 yards of total offense to the Chanticleers' 337, which was comprised of 125 yards on the ground and 212 through the air.
 
Coastal was 3-of-4 in the red zone for the contest, however, the Pirates were a perfect 7-of-7 inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
 
McCall, who left the game midway through the second quarter with an injury, was 10-of-12 for 67 yards through the air and added 12 yards and a score on the ground. Fellow redshirt junior quarterback Jarrett Guest was 6-of-11 for 136 yards and a touchdown.
 
Graduate transfer wide receiver Sam Pinckney had a team-high four catches for 79 yards in the game, giving him 996 total receiving yards on the season. Wideout Tyson Mobley added four catches for 12 yards, while tight end TJ Ivy Jr. had a career night with two catches for 29 yards. Tyler Roberts added a 47-yard touchdown reception, the longest of his career.
 
On the ground, the trio of Reese White (11 att., 57 yards, TD), Braydon Bennett (4 att., 29 yards), and CJ Beasley (5 att., 13 cards, TD) combined to rush for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
 
ECU was led by veteran quarterback Holton Ahlers, as the Bowl MVP set a Birmingham Bowl record with five touchdown passes and six total touchdowns. The lefty was 26-for-38 for 300 yards and five touchdowns in the passing game and added seven carries for 48 yards and a score in the win.
 
The Pirates had 10 different players record a reception on the night, led by C.J. Johnson with seven catches for 83 yards and a touchdown and Isaiah Winstead with six grabs for 72 yards and two scores.
 
Running back Keaton Mitchell again eclipsed the 100-yards mark, as he carried the ball a game-high 24 times for 127 yards and a touchdown.
 
Defensively, the Chants had several young players see significant snaps for the first time in their careers, as freshman Matthew McDoom led the team with a career-high eight tackles, including six solo stops, in his first career start.
 
Safety Tobias Fletcher, who was forced to play every down due to an injury to Tavyn Jackson midway through the first half, had a career-high seven tackles, a 1.0 tackle-for-loss, and two pass breakups, while linebacker Shane Bruce and safety Charles Arnold Jr. both finished with six tackles each.
 
The ECU defense, which was able to recover three CCU fumbles, was led by the duo of Gerard Stringer and Damel Hickman with seven tackles apiece, while three more Pirates in Taylor Jackson, Jeremy Lewis, and Chad Stephens all had six total stops in the win.
 
ECU opened the game by driving all the way down to the CCU 10-yard line. Looking to punch the ball into the end zone, the Chants' defense came up big with a sack by Ja'Quon Griffin on a second-and-10 play to drive the Pirates back to the 20-yard line and force the home team to settle for a 28-yard field goal with 10:52 to go in the opening quarter of play.
 
Following an eight-play Coastal Carolina offensive drive that was abruptly ended by a personal foul call on a third-and-seven and forced a CCU punt, the Pirates offense continued to get big chunks of yards, using a 46-yard rush by Mitchell to start the drive and a 27-yard touchdown pass from Ahlers to Winstead to cap it and extend the ECU lead to 10-0 with 3:47 in the first quarter.
 
McCall and the Chants refused to throw in the towel and instead took it right at the ECU defense, as the redshirt junior quarterback was 4-for-4 on the ensuing offensive series, which included a 25-yard flea-flicker to Ivy Jr. down to the ECU one-yard line. Two plays later, White found pay dirt on the option pitch to the left to put the Men in Teal on the scoreboard with 14:38 on the game clock in the second quarter.
 
The defense came up big for the Chants on the Pirates' next offense possession, as the "Black Swarm" defense forced a turnover on downs to give the ball back to the offense with 11:38 to go before the halftime break.
 
With the momentum on the Chants' side, McCall again took control of the "Teal Team 6" offense, driving the visitors 68 yards in just seven plays with McCall himself capping the drive with a head-over-heels touchdown run to push CCU in front 14-10 with 8:52 to go in the opening half.
 
However, the touchdown run would prove to hurt Coastal, as the three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year had to leave the game due to an upper-body injury.
 
With that, the Chants' lead did not last long, as the Pirates answered with a six-play, 53-yard scoring drive highlighted by a 35-yard pass and catch by Ahlers to Johnson and an 11-yard touchdown reception by Winstead with 6:37 to go in the second quarter to put ECU back in front at 17-14.
 
With McCall out, the offense stalled with a three-and-out on the next series, and the momentum shifted back to the Pirates who used a one-yard score from Mitchell to cap a seven-play, 63-yard drive to push the ECU lead back out to double-digits at 24-14 heading into the halftime intermission.
 
Looking to regain the momentum in the second half, Coastal took the opening kickoff and returned it 17 yards to the Coastal 21-yard line. However, on the first offensive play of the third quarter, the Chants fumbled the ball to give it back to ECU on the 27-yard line with 14:20 to go in the third quarter.
 
The fumble was a precursor to what the third quarter would hold, as ECU scored twice in the quarter on two CCU fumbles, including on an Ahlers two-yard pass to Johnson with 11:13 left in the quarter.
 
Down 31-14, the Chants answered with a score of their own in just three plays, as back-to-back runs by White, including a 27-yard sprint down the right sideline, set up a 47-yard pass from Guest to Tyler Roberts in the middle of the field to put Coastal down 10 at 31-21 with 9:46 to go before the start of the fourth quarter.
 
However, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Pirates, as ECU forced another Coastal fumble, which led to another Pirates' touchdown, and then forced a CCU punt to take the ball over again on offense to start the fourth quarter.
 
With the 38-21 lead, the Pirates took advantage of another CCU unsportsmanlike penalty to drive inside the Coastal 20-yard line and found the end zone on a 15-yard pass from Ahlers to Johnson to push the lead out to 45-21 with 13:45 to go in the game.
 
After Coastal's offense turned the ball over on downs, the CCU defense gave up one first down before making a stop on a third-and-11 play to force the Pirates to punt from their own 24-yard line.
 
On the punt attempt, special team's player Jameson Tucker came in off the left edge and blocked the punt off the foot of the ECU punter to give the ball to the offense on the ECU 12-yard line.
 
Four players later, the offense punched the ball in on a two-yard carry from Beasley to put the Chants on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter with 6:07 to go in the game.
 
On the two-point conversion, true freshman quarterback Bryce Archie raced into the end zone, taking an ECU defender with him, to put the score at 45-29 with just over six minutes left in the contest.
 
ECU was able to recover the onside kick and then put an exclamation point on the win with a one-yard touchdown pass from Ahlers to Shane Calhoun with 2:14 to go in the contest. The successful two-point conversion pushed the Pirates' lead to 53-29.
 
 
Notes

• The loss ended the Chanticleers' season at 9-4 overall on the year.
• CCU drops to 1-2 all-time in FBS postseason bowl games.
• Coastal's loss puts the Chants at 0-1 all-time versus East Carolina on the gridiron.
• The defeat to the Pirates marks the first time the Chanticleers have lost three straight games since 2019.
• With the loss, CCU moves to 1-2 all-time in neutral site games, all three games coming in bowl play.
• TJ Ivy Jr. made his first career catch as a Chanticleer in the first quarter.
• Ivy Jr. had a career-high two receptions for 29 yards in the contest.
• Matthew McDoom had a career-high eight tackles in his first career start.
• Tobias Fletcher finished with a career-high seven tackles and two pass breakups.
• Hoover, Ala., native, Corey Warren had a career-high two tackles in his hometown.
• Jameson Tucker recorded his first-ever blocked kick, as he blocked a punt in the fourth quarter.

 
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