THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410090196
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Quarterback Kenny Crump hit Sharano Woodley with a four-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds to play to lift Elizabeth City State to a 40-36 come-from-behind win over Virginia Union in CIAA football action Saturday.
Trailing 36-33 with 2:39 to play, the Vikings drove from their own 14. The big gainer was a 39-yard pass from Crump to Malcolm Mackey down to the Virginia Union 11. Runs by Aaron Murchison and Crump brough the Vikings down to the 4. On a third-down play, ECSU head coach George Moody called an option play for Crump, who rolled and spotted Woodley wide open in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.
``I used that formation because they were stacking up for the run,'' Moody said. ``Time was running out and I gave Crump an option to run or pass.''
Virginia Union had taken a 36-27 lead in the fourth quarter on a 19-yard touchdown run by Warner Jones with 14:20 to play and a 13-yard touchdown strike from Donald Ruffin to Ronald Stevens with 8:46 to play.
ECSU closed the gap on a 57-yard drive, scoring with 6:00 to play. An 11-yard run by Malcolm Mackey and a 16-yard by Murchison set up Crump's 4-yard touchdown scramble. The conversion run failed and Union held on to a 36-33 lead.
Crump also scored on 1-yard and 9-yard runs in the first quarter.
It looked as though the ECSU defense would not be able to contain the Union passing game in the second half. Ruffin came out with a new look and went 13-for-18 for 144 yards in the last two quarters. He finished the game with 278 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown pass to Stacy Graves.
Moody, however, wasn't as worried about the Viking defense as he was the offense, which has sputtered at times this season.
``I told them all week that if they put 21 points on the board we should win the game,'' Moody said. ``I noticed from the game films that they weren't too mobile, so we ran a lot of sweeps on them.''
With 5:40 to play in the half, Dwayne Rouff recovered a fumble by Murchison. But on the next play ECSU's Clifton Autry pounced on a fumble by Bobby Phillips. The Vikings went on to score on Mackey's 9-yard run to go up, 27-12.
Murchison rushed for 168 yards on 29 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown run.
The Vikings avenged a 67-0 trouncing by the Panthers last season. by CNB