Pirates bond, dodge storm in Orlando East Carolina traveled here to escape the path of Hurricane Florence last week
East Carolina pulled off a stunning upset win over North Carolina on Sept. 8, but in the 10 days since the Pirates’ victory over the Tar Heels, football seems somewhat insignificant.
As millions of people in the Carolinas continue the exhaustive process of recovery following the devastating impact of Hurricane Florence, East Carolina players and coaches can only watch from afar.
After its game against Virginia Tech was canceled due to the storm, the school officials decided the team should leave Greenville before Hurricane Florence made landfall Friday.
The team went south to Florida, looking for a safe place to prepare for its upcoming game against USF.
“At that point in time, we started trying to make sure that we would give our kids the best opportunity to be safe,” coach Scottie Montgomery said during the American Athletic Conference teleconference.
Montgomery said the school found a location in Orlando that would house the team, allowing the Pirates to dodge the storm while preparing for this week’s game.
“It’s been a great team building situation,” Montgomery said. “It’s been great to be able to be with each other, to connect and to be surrounded by each other and our teammates and just the love, brotherhood and family.”
Montgomery said the school is not back in session yet, so outside of the rigors of preparing for a football game, the team has also set up study hall times for the players as well.
For the players, not much has changed other than the surroundings.
“We still have the same routine, but the only difference is that we’re sleeping in a different room,” sophomore quarterback Reid Herring said Tuesday following practice.
ECU senior right tackle Garrett McGhin added, “Honestly, the hardest part has just been not sleeping in my own bed. That’s probably got to be the biggest thing. The whole routine thing isn’t a big deal for us because at the end of the day we’re still sticking to our routine.”
The team has been in contact with family and friends back home.
“FaceTime has been awesome for some of our kids that haven’t been able to physically touch their parents or their kin that are in the area,” Montgomery said. “We’ve been able to utilize FaceTime for some people, some people are dealing with the situation where the power’s out. We have some families that are in hotels at different locations.
“So it’s been good to be able to, you know, to be able to take care of our guys when we did.”
He admits there is still some uncertainty about where the team will go after Saturday’s game. Much of the Carolinas are coping with flooding and storm recovery.
“Right now, we have a lot to learn about what’s going on in East, but of course, if there’s a way for us to get back, we would love to get back around our families and to get back to sleeping in our own beds,” he said. “We would love to get that done and to get these kids back to school.”
Through it all, the team remains focused on the task at hand, getting ready to face USF Saturday in Tampa.
“We’re very prepared and we’re looking forward to this Saturday,” Herring said.
Montgomery added, “The only concern is the same concern we had before we got on the bus: South Florida, we don’t have any other concerns. A lot of things you can control and you can’t control. You can’t control the weather. You can’t control sometimes the circumstances. What you can control is your effort and the way we prepare.”