Tearz49ers Presents: Coach Drake In The Tar Heel State

[Deegeezy]

Damn...tough loss.

That 24-yard field goal with six minutes to go came back to bite. Had it be a minute later, you probably would have gone for it. Difficult call to make there.

Oh well, on to East Carolina.

[Tearz49ers]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deegeezy

Damn...tough loss. That 24-yard field goal with six minutes to go came back to bite. Had it be a minute later, you probably would have gone for it. Difficult call to make there. Oh well, on to East Carolina.

Extremely tough, almost gut-wrenching that it came down to a mistake we had made twice already. Realistically that field goal killed us, but the thinking was take the three and we will get another chance, which essentially we did I guess, looking back I wish I had gone for it, even if it was 4th and 9.

[Tearz49ers]

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2018 SEASON PREVIEW.....2018 ROSTER.....2018 SCHEDULE.....


WEEK TWO

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EAST CAROLINA PIRATES (0-0, 0-0) AT. NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (0-1, 0-0)

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CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina -- North Carolina coach Manny Drake saw almost everything he needed from his players in Saturday's 20-16 win over in-state rivals East Carolina after a dispiriting season-opening loss to California last weekend.

Although it wasn't perfect by any means, in fact, it was pretty much a smash and grab job in the end when junior running back Antionio Williams took the ball into the endzone with 0:09 seconds left on the clock for the game winner, but that sure as hell didn't stop North Carolina mascot Rameses for celebrating like hed just seen his team win the championship.

"We saw each and every player knuckle down in practice this week and show a real determination to make this work." Drake told reporters after the game. "We didn't come out of the gates last week like we wanted to and we are still a long way off from where we want to be, but there were things we did right today and credit to this group of kids who came up trumps at the end of this tough matchup."

Nathan Elliott's fumbling problem which looked alarming last weekend seemingly proved to be a quick fix, and by no means was he not tested with the Pirates defense sacking the junior no less than three times in the game, one of those sacks from Kendall Futrell would have easily have seen the ball come lose last week but today Elliott stayed strong in the pocket and didn't have a single turnover.

In fact, Elliott continued to boss it through the air throwing for 253-yards and a touchdown pass to Beau Corrales in the first quarter. Along with that Elliott had a 72% (21-of-29) completion percentage at the end of the game.

"It was close that's for sure," Elliott, who won MVP honors for his performance today said after the game "At times, it was a back and forth type of game, where at any point a single moment could snatch it from the other team, thankfully that moment came for us and not them."

North Carolina's defense welcomed true freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers into collegiate football in a pretty devistating way; Jason Stowbridge, who recorded a sack on the Pirates quarterback on the very first play of the game would record two of six team sacks on the quarterback but that still didn't seem to deter the 6'3, 236lbs freshman who still had a decent game throwing for 192-yards and a touchdown.

There was one dampening moment in the win for North Carolina though, sophomore defensive end Tomon Fox left the game in the second quarter with an injury, replaced by fellow sophomore Tyrone Hopper. Reports coming out of campus is that Fox will miss the next six weeks at least with a fracture of the tibia.

"I think we need to respond like that and pick it up as a team," UNC linebacker Cole Holcomb said. "Make a choice to do that. It starts with me, it starts with the leaders on this team, we did that today but there are plenty of challenges ahead of us."

Game winner Antonio Williams again wasn't having the best of games before he took the ball over into the endzone. Williams had just 57-yards on the ground after last weeks 56-yards, there may be questions about whether or not sophomore Jordan Brown may see more carries nest week against UCF, but for now, the junior can walk around campus knowing his touchdown sealed the win for the Tar Heels today.

Next week the Tar Heels (1-1, 0-0) remain at home when they welcome #17 UCF into Chapel Hill. The Knights come into the game off the back of a 34-3 win on Akron which extended UCF's winning streak to fourteen consecutive games.

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[djp73]

sounds like an incredible game man, nice win!

[Deegeezy]

Good win but ugh...a little closer than I would have hoped.

[Tearz49ers]

Quote: Originally Posted by djp73

sounds like an incredible game man, nice win!

It was close till the end, that's what made it thrilling to play.. maybe a little too close though.

Quote: Originally Posted by Deegeezy

Good win but ugh...a little closer than I would have hoped.

Definitely, but theres a lot of crucial holes in this team, I dont think were blowing anyone out for the next year or so that's for sure.

[Tearz49ers]

[Tearz49ers]

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North Carolina | Tomon Fox out for a minimun of six weeks.

Chapel Hill, NC -- It was pretty evident that when sophomore defensive end Tomon Fox was carted off the field of play in Saturday's win over East Carolina that there was some serious concern on all the faces involved with the Tar Heels program.

Those concerns were confirmed today with the news that everyone pretty much expected after some bleak scenes on Saturday's highlight screens that Fox did, in fact, break his Tibia bone in his left leg and will miss at least the next six weeks, but head coach Manny Drake expects it to be a fair bit more than that.

"It's very disheartening for the young kid, that's for sure," Drake said today. "We knew right away that this wasn't just a shin splint, you could clearly see on Saturday that there was a break and it was just a matter of getting it confirmed. Six weeks alone, maybe more for the break to heal, then there is the rehab, it seems such a short time to be off your feet but that's enough time for the muscle around the bone to wear away a little, we expect him to miss maybe this season now."

Fellow sophomore Tyrone Hopper came into the game on Saturday and many expect him to step up in Fox's absence, but other than Malik Carney it leaves the Tar Heels with inexperienced outside pass rushers. Hopper only recorded 8 tackles and 1 sack in limited play as a true freshman.

Tomon Fox becomes the fourth Tar Heels player to be sidelined going into the game against UCF this weekend, with Myles Wolfok, William Banes and Jake Lawlor all currently out injured.

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