Last-second Hail Mary touchdown by UCF sinks ECU

Central Florida wide receiver Breshad Perriman pulled in a 51-yard touchdown pass from Justin Holman as time expired to give the Knights a 32-30 victory over East Carolina University in both teams’ regular-season finale.

With five seconds left on the clock, UCF (9-3, 7-1) lined up at its own 49 and snapped the ball to Holman, who uncorked a 51-yard bomb to the 6-foot-3, 214-pound Perriman, who beat three ECU defenders to the ball to help the Knights clinch a share of the American Athletic Conference championship.

The touchdown left the ECU sideline in shock, as only moments earlier the Pirates appeared to be on their way to sending off their 21 seniors with a win for the ages.

The touchdown left the ECU sideline stunned and its fans in a state of disbelief, as only minutes earlier the Pirates had erased a 26-9 fourth-quarter deficit with a 21-0 run that put them up 30-26 with 2:17 left in the game.

"It was a tough way to lose that thing," ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill said. "But one play is not going to define this team."

Down 17 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Pirates bounced back from an error-filled first half that featured two turnovers and 97 penalty yards by scoring 21 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes.

ECU’s record-setting duo of quarterback Shane Carden and wide receiver Justin Hardy scored what appeared to be the clinching touchdown with less than three minutes left in the game. They connected on a 12-yard play-action pass that gave the Pirates a 30-26 lead and what appeared to be a fantasy ending in their final home game.

But the dramatic ending left Carden, Hardy and the rest of the Pirates shell-shocked as they watched the Knights pile on Perriman in the end zone.

Carden, ECU’s all-time leader in passing yards and TD passes, connected on 36 of his 48 attempts for 397 yards, three TDs and was intercepted twice.

Hardy, the Pirates’ leader in career receptions, receiving yards and TD receptions, grabbed a game-high 12 passes for 140 yards.

Holman threw for 274 yards and one touchdown on 20-of-33 passing. Perriman, the son of former Detroit Lion Brett Perriman, gained 139 yards on four receptions.

After Hardy’s TD, East Carolina inched closer to victory when its defense kept UCF from gaining a first down, giving the Pirates the ball back at the Knights 15-yard line with 1:47 left in the game.

It was then, that ECU’s normally up-tempo offense pumped the brakes and got conservative. Instead of trying to score a touchdown, the Pirates took a knee on first and second down, resulting in a loss of five yards.

After a UCF timeout at the 1:02 mark, ECU called for a QB keeper, which sent the offense back four more yards to 20.

Having already witnessed a blocked extra point attempt in the first quarter, McNeill opted to forgo a 37-yard field goal attempted, and on fourth down Carden was sacked for an 11-yard loss.

"(UCF) had blocked an extra point, so a field goal wasn’t going to be an option," McNeill said. "We ran the clock. … We thought our best option was to take a knee and allow our defense (to play)."

UCF got the ball with 10 seconds on the clock and proceeded to rip the hearts out of their rivals. A 14-yard reception by Josh Reese advanced the Knights to the 49-yard line with five seconds left, setting up Perriman’s game-clinching TD grab.

This story was originally published December 4, 2014 at 11:26 PM with the headline "Last-second Hail Mary touchdown by UCF sinks ECU."