GREENVILLE — Over the years, they’ve each done their climbing on the football ladder.
Thursday night, East Carolina and Appalachian State hook up in the season opener in the Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. A crowd of about 30,000 is expected in the 74,867-seat stadium in the prelude to Saturday night’s sold-out main event of the Duke’s Mayor Classic doubleheader: No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 4 Georgia.
“What’s exciting,” Danny Morrison of the Charlotte Sports Foundation said to the Charlotte Observer, “is we’ll have more than 100,000 visitors between the two games, and probably more like 110,000. Think about the power of that in a year where the hospitality industry has just been crushed.”
Masks are required for inside spaces at the stadium. That means, seated in the lower bowl or upper deck, no mask is required; a trip to the restroom does. Proof of vaccination is not required. These rules match Carolina Panthers’ NFL preseason games.
The Pirates will be kicking off their third season under the direction of Mike Houston. They are forecast eighth in the American Athletic Conference, and feature a quarterback on the radar of NFL teams. Holton Ahlers, a senior who prepped a few miles from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at D.H. Conley, has thrown for 7,093 yards and 51 touchdowns.
ECU also returns Rahjai Harris, the league Rookie of the Year, who ran for 624 yards and four touchdowns.
The Mountaineers won the Myrtle Beach Bowl a year ago after finishing second in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference. Shawn Clark’s second team at his alma mater is led by junior running back Camerun Peoples and senior defensive end Demetrius Taylor.
While the matchup is intriguing as a cross-state showdown of sorts, each has a more high profile opponent waiting on Sept. 11. ECU will host South Carolina of the mighty SEC, and Appalachian will trek to Miami of the ACC.
The game is a home date for Appalachian; thus, both end zones will be in the colors of the Mountaineers. Saturday, however, is a neutral site game and the Tigers and Bulldogs each get their colors in an end zone. The Duke’s Mayo Classic logo will be at the center of the field each night.
Fan Fest activities are in full swing all three days, including before both games and on Friday from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. featuring Ingrid Andress and Warren McZeke.
All tickets are mobile, same as the Panthers. Go to DukesMayoClassic.com for more information.