BEEF ‘O’BRADY’S BOWL

Cooper, Pirates bust free in 4th

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Vintavious Cooper took over the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in the fourth quarter in a performance reminiscent of a former East Carolina running back.

Just don’t bring up that comparison to Cooper.

Cooper, a senior, rushed for a career-best 198 yards and scored two touchdowns, leading the Pirates to a 37-20 victory over Ohio on Monday.

Cooper became the first East Carolina player to win a MVP award in a bowl game since Tennessee Titans star Chris Johnson ran for 223 yards against Boise State in the 2007 Hawaii Bowl.

“It’s a great accomplishment and I have to really give it up to the guys up front and all the work they did,” Cooper said. “When I found out I was close to 100 yards after the first quarter I told them and they got excited about it.

“I would never compare myself to Chris Johnson because I really admire CJ and I look up to CJ. He’s done so much for me. I’m just happy my name is next to his in any way.”

The first of Cooper’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns, a 31-yard run with under 10 minutes remaining, gave the Pirates (10-3) the lead for good.

East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden threw for 273 yards and one TD and also scored on a pass reception.

“All season we’ve been about playing big in the fourth quarter and this was going to be a game that we needed to grind out and fight to win,” Carden said.

Cam Worthy caught an early 5-yard scoring pass from Carden, and then took a lateral and threw 14 yards back to Carden for a fourth-quarter TD that made it 31-20. Cooper put the game out of reach with a 22-yard run off left tackle for his second TD.

Tyler Tettleton and Derrius Vick threw scoring passes for Ohio (7-6), which overcame an early two-touchdown deficit to lead 20-17 in front before an announced crowd of 20,053 at Tropicana Field.

Breon Allen also scored on a 2-yard run for East Carolina, which won six of its final seven games to finish with the program’s second-highest victory total.

Carden set the school record for single-season yards passing with a 13-yard throw to Isaiah Jones on the drive ended with Allen’s TD, making it 14-0. He completed 29 of 45 passes and boosted his season total to 4,139 yards, surpassing Dominique Davis’ record total.

Cooper ran for 90 yards in the opening quarter, becoming the third running back in East Carolina history to rush for 1,000 in consecutive seasons.

Justin Hardy finished with 9 catches, giving him 114 receptions for a single-season record of 1,284 yards.

Ohio battled back as Tettleton and Vick each threw a touchdown pass in a five-minute span to make it 14-14 early in the second quarter.

Donte Foster finished with 6 catches for 160 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown, earning most valuable player honors for Ohio. Tettleton was 21 of 40 for 228 yards, 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.

Sports, Pages 20 on 12/24/2013

Upcoming Events