PHILADELPHIA — Their quarterback missed a game they might have won had he played. Referees errored, their league said, to cost them another game.

Saturday it looked like COVID-19 might prevent them from playing after they had warmed up.

Not this time for East Carolina.

Tyler Snead scored two touchdowns, including a 95-yard kickoff return, and the Pirates beat Temple 28-3 to snap a four-game losing streak.

The game started roughly 50 minutes late after a Temple player was taken back to campus for a rapid COVID-19 test shortly before kickoff. As a result of the situation, five Temple defensive players, including three starters, were ruled out for the game because of protocols.

“The kids fought and they did a great job with the game plan, so it’s just exciting to get back on the winning side,” ECU head coach Mike Houston said. “I didn’t know with this stuff, and the one thing I’ve learned about 2020 is you have to be ready for anything at any time in any day. You control what you can control. We were sitting in the locker room and the medical advisory board for the conference was monitoring everything, so we were just relieved we got the green light to go play.”

The Pirates lost to Navy 27-23 on a day when junior quarterback Holton Ahlers was sidelined by coronavirus protocols. Two weeks later in their next outing, ECU recovered a fumble to stop the potential game-winning touchdown drive by Tulsa — only to have the call reversed by replay.

The next day, the American Athletic Conference said the officials should not have done that.

“We needed that bad,” Houston said of the victory. “With some of the breaks we’ve gotten this year, whether it’s Navy or Tulsa or whatever, I’ll tell you that I’ve struggled all week this week.

“Our players are just so resilient, and that was jubilation in that locker room in there. They are very relieved and very excited.”

Snead’s kickoff return gave the Pirates (2-6, 2-5 AAC) a 10-point lead and his 46-yard touchdown catch in the final minute of the half made it 21-3. Ahlers set up his own 1-yard score with a 75-yard run. He also threw for two TDs and was intercepted once. Keaton Mitchell rushed for 103 yards.

“We worried at first, but then coach Houston came in and he said he was going to make them take the field,” Snead said. “After that, everybody started getting their mind right again and I think that really helped us. Everybody was lit in that locker room before the game and we were all ready to go.”

Ahlers was 11 of 22 for 182 yards. He’s now accounted for 60 touchdowns in his career. Mitchell (103) had his second straight 100-yard rushing game.

“This year has been tough and we haven’t won as many games as we we would like to, but you just have to keep believing,” Ahlers said. “You have to believe in the culture and continue to buy in. We know we’re young and it’s a weird year and obviously we’ve wanted to win more games, but we won this one today and all we can focus on is the next one.”

Bruce Bivens led the defense with 11 stops.

ECU once dominated the series with Temple, but was victorious against the Owls for the first time in seven tries since 1995.

Another game-day announcement resulted in the Owls (1-6, 1-6 AAC) starting their fifth-string quarterback, walk-on Kamal Gray, after fourth-stringer Matt Duncan was suspended for violating team rules. Temple’s first three quarterbacks were already unavailable because of COVID-19 protocols or injuries.

Gray threw for 95 yards with two interceptions.