East Central University put a loud exclamation point on what has been one of the school's most successful football seasons with a 38-21 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. The two teams matched up in the fifth annual Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl in Corsicana, Texas.
ECU, playing in its seventh bowl game in history, won for the first time since 1960, beating Henderson State in the Rice Bowl, 35-7. The nine wins are the most for the Tigers since the 1993 season when the team won 10 on its way to the NAIA Championship.
"We started fast and took care of business," Head Coach Kris McCullough said. "I couldn't be happier for our university and our great alumni to be part of a historic season and see how far we have come."
ECU dominated the game with a 17-0 first quarter and built its margin to 31 points with a 38-7 lead midway through the third. Kingsville scored a pair of late touchdowns to close the margin to 38-21.
Miles Davis had his best game of the season, finishing with 127 yards on 23 carries and scoring three touchdowns. His scores came from 36, 14, and five yards.
The Tigers opened the scoring when Elijah Thibodeaux blocked a Kingsville punt and recovered it at the 14-yard line. Davis then scored on the next play to put ECU up 7-0 with less than two minutes played.
ECU then capitalized on Kingsville's punting woes again. The Javelina punter, from his own nine-yard line, shanked the ball, and it went out on their own 36-yard line. Like the previous score, Davis took a handoff and darted 36 yards to the endzone putting ECU up 14-0 with 6:04 to play in the first.
The Tigers scored again before the quarter closed, taking over again in Kingsville territory. A pair of first downs yielded a 25-yard field goal by Alexis Lopez with 1:43 remaining.
Kingsville answered with a touchdown of their own before ECU put the outcome out of reach by running off 21 unanswered points. Nemier Herod was first with a one-yard run, followed by Miles' third touchdown on a five-yard score. ECU's last score came on a 23-yard pass from Kenny Hrncir to Jake Berrey. The score put ECU up 38-7 and effectively ended the game early.
ECU kept the ball on the ground for much of the game, grinding out 208 yards on 50 attempts. Herod had the second most carries with 16 and fished with 40 yards.
Hrncir passed little, but when he did, he was effective. He completed just eight passes in 14 attempts for 147 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, ECU wrapped the Javelinas up and put the clamps on what had been a strong offense all year. The Tigers limited TAMUK to just 255 yards, 100 fewer than they gained on their own.
Devon Roush again was the team's top tackler with 10. He had 2.5 tackles for a loss and assisted on a quarterback sack. Other leaders included Orlando Brown, who had six, and Damas Green, who had two quarterback sacks.
"I'm just so proud of this family," McCullough said. "The buy-in to our culture really showed today. We dominated in all three phases."
"I can't thank our seniors enough. We have come such a long way, and to finish their careers off this way, I'm so thankful and happy. Now let's go get sized for our rings."
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