By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — East Carolina defensive end C.J. Wilson walked gingerly into the media room following Saturday’s 34-20 loss to N.C. State.
Wilson, a former standout at Northside High School, was knocked out of the game by what he called a “cheap shot” from N.C. State offensive tackle Jake Vermiglio. The incident happened during a 36-yard pass play from Daniel Evans to tight end Marcus Stone in the second half.
Wilson remained on the turf for a few minutes. He was then helped off the field, limping noticeably.
N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, who said he did not see the play, apologized for the incident.
Wilson, who made his fourth consecutive and 11th career start, is hoping he won’t miss much practice time.
The affable Wilson, who always thanks “God for my opportunity,” said the pain of losing to the Wolfpack hurt even more.
The sophomore standout, who leads the team with eight quarterback hurries and is tied for the team-lead with four QB sacks, said the Pirates (4-4, 3-1 C-USA) will immediately turn their attention to the UAB Blazers. UAB (2-5, 1-2) fell 49-10 to Houston on Saturday.
Wilson is hoping he’ll be ready for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Johnson moving up charts
ECU senior running back Chris Johnson continues to leave his mark on the record books.
Johnson finished Saturday’s game with 146 all-purpose yards. He had 63 yards rushing on 19 carries, including a 1-yard TD plunge, four receptions for 22 yards and 61 yards on two kickoff returns.
Johnson, who already owns the school record for all-purpose yards (5,650), kickoff return yards (2,417) and touchdown receptions by a running back (8), moved up a couple spots in two other categories. He is now sixth all-time in career receptions (112 for 1,081 yards), sixth all-time in scoring (198 points) and tenth all-time in rushing yards (2,152).
Packing them in
The fourth-largest crowd in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium history watched East Carolina battle N.C. State.
There were 43,527 fans in attendance.
Four of the top seven crowds in stadium history have come this season. There were 43,387 fans at the North Carolina game (34-31 win on Sept. 8), 43,041 fans at the Southern Miss game (28-21 loss on Sept. 15) and 42,777 fans at the UCF game (52-38 win on Oct. 6), making those the fifth, sixth and seventh largest crowds, respectively.