BOILING SPRINGS – In a heart-pounding showdown on Saturday, October 21, Gardner-Webb’s Runnin’ Bulldogs managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as they clawed their way back from behind, defeating the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, 35-32. It was a game filled with dramatic twists and incredible plays and went down to the wire.

From the opening kickoff, it was evident that both teams came to play, and Eastern Kentucky wasted no time in making their presence known. In just the second play of the game, Braedon Sloan sprinted 61 yards down the field, putting the Colonels ahead 7-0 in the blink of an eye. Gardner-Webb, however, answered with a relentless drive of their own, only to be thwarted on fourth down by Mike Smith, Jr., granting Eastern Kentucky another opportunity. But it was Gardner-Webb’s defense that soon stole the show. Ja’Kai Young intercepted a pass at the 40-yard line, racing into the endzone and tying the game 7-7 with 10:51 remaining in the first quarter.

Eastern Kentucky retaliated with an impressive 11-play, 75-yard drive, capped off by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Parker McKinney to Jalen Burbage, giving the Colonels a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter. Gardner-Webb’s subsequent possession was marked by a crucial sack from Cam Junior, causing a fumble recovered by Ryan Jackson of Eastern Kentucky. Despite the opportunity, the Colonels failed to capitalize as Raequan Ousley broke up a pass on fourth down.

The back-and-forth continued when Gardner-Webb’s Jordon Thomas stripped the ball from Ephraim Floyd’s grasp, handing Eastern Kentucky possession once more. This time, the Colonels made no mistake, as Josh Carter ran into the endzone from 22 yards out, extending Eastern Kentucky’s lead to 21-7 with 11:47 remaining in the first half.

Undeterred, Gardner-Webb mounted a determined offensive drive, converting three fourth downs, with Jaylen King taking matters into his own hands and rushing into the endzone on fourth down at the six-yard line, narrowing the deficit to 21-14 with 4:59 left in the second quarter. Before the halftime whistle, Ousley snagged an interception with 2:40 left in the quarter, paving the way for Narii Gaither to storm into the endzone and tie the game at 21-21.

The third quarter saw Gardner-Webb driving deep into Eastern Kentucky territory, only for a critical sack by Logan Blake to force a fumble on fourth down, with Jaylen Herrud recovering the ball. This allowed the Colonels to take a 24-21 lead with a field goal as Ty French and Josiah Wright made a crucial tackle.

As the game entered the fourth quarter, Gardner-Webb found themselves backed up at their own 12-yard line, but Jayden Brown electrified the crowd with an 88-yard touchdown run, giving the Runnin’ Bulldogs their first lead of the night at 28-24 with 12:10 left in the game. The Gardner-Webb defense then rose to the occasion as William McRainey forced a fumble, with Wright recovering the ball at the 27-yard line. Capitalizing on the opportunity, King connected with AJ Johnson for a 37-yard touchdown pass, extending the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ lead to 35-24 with 10:25 remaining.

Eastern Kentucky, refusing to surrender, embarked on a gutsy 98-yard drive, helped by penalties against Gardner-Webb. Sloan closed the drive with a six-yard touchdown run, and McKinney found Burbage in the endzone for a two-point conversion, closing the gap to 35-32 with 2:12 remaining. Floyd’s recovery of an onside kick attempt followed by Brown’s 15-yard rush secured the 35-32 win for Gardner-Webb, capping off an exhilarating night of football.

BOILING SPRINGS – Gardner-Webb and North Carolina A&T both came into the last week of the regular season with a perfect Big South conference record, setting the stage for a winner-take-all matchup for the conference’s autobid into the FCS playoffs.

Both defenses started the game strong, combining for two forced fumbles, three punts, and an interception. The offenses were only partially able to take advantage of the turnovers, though. After recovering a punt on the first play of the game, the Aggies went thirty-three yards in three plays to take an early lead on a twenty-three-yard pass from Jaylen Fowler to Zach Leslie. A fumble at the A&T ten-yard-line helped the Runnin’ Bulldogs get on the scoreboard with a short Jay Billingsley field goal.

A Gardner-Webb block of  NC A&T punt seemed to awaken everyone in the stands, including both teams' offenses, who combined for twenty-eight points in the second quarter. Gardner-Webb was finally able to find the end zone when Bailey Fisher hit Cutrell Haywood on a slant play and the graduate receiver raced twenty-three yards to give the Runnin’ Bulldogs their first lead of the game. Just when it looked like North Carolina A&T would seize the momentum for the day after Bhayshul Tuten broke free and rumbled for a sixty-one-yard score, the Runnin’ Bulldogs rattled off fourteen unanswered points to end the half. Jayden Brown scampered nineteen yards around the left side of the line for one score and linebacker Jamari Brown’s scoop-and-almost-score set up a two-yard Narii Gaither touchdown run.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs started the second half strong as well, forcing an Aggie punt and then extending their lead to seventeen with Narii Gaither’s second touchdown of the day. North Carolina A&T finally got on the scoreboard again late in the third quarter with Andrew Brown’s forty-yard field goal. By the time the third quarter ended, the home team held a two-score lead and was looking to add to their advantage. A fourth quarter Jayden Brown, his second of the day, closed the scoring and secured the victory for the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

With the win, Gardner-Webb (6-5, 5-0) secured their first conference title since 2003 and first FCS playoff bid ever. The Runnin’ Bulldogs will find out their opponent on Sunday’s selection show.

BOILING SPRINGS – It was the inaugural BBQ bowl between Big South rivals Gardner-Webb and Campbell taking place at Spangler Stadium on Friday night. At stake were bragging rights and a catered barbecue meal for the winning squad. Both teams traded offensive and defensive blows for three and a half quarters, knotted at 28 with four minutes left on the clock. Campbell stepped up on both sides of the ball over the last four minutes, finding the end zone twice on their way to a 42-28 win, and claimed the right to take the brand new trophy back to Buies Creek for the next year.

The Meat

After both teams started slowly, trading punts and turnovers, it was Campbell who broke onto the scoreboard first. Capping an eight-play drive, Bryant Barr (Eastern Guilford) punched it in from two yards out to give the Camels an early 7-0 lead. It was the Gardner-Webb defense that got the Runnin' Bulldogs on the scoreboard first with linebacker William McRainey (West Brunswick) picking up a fumble and racing seventy-one yards to the house for the scoop-and-score to tie the game at 7-7.

The second quarter saw both teams turning on their offenses. Wiley Hartley, on fire since stepping into the starting quarterback role due to injury, threw the first of his two touchdown passes early in the quarter, finding Caleb Snead in the back of the end zone. Gardner-Webb struck back quickly with Narii Gaither rushing for fifty-five of his game-high 150 yards on the way to the end zone to tie the game again. Gardner-Webb then went on to take the lead on a one-yard pass from Bailey Fisher to Bryson Duckworth to seemingly give the Runnin' Bulldogs a 21-14 halftime lead, but Campbell was able to go seventy-five yards in only fifty-two seconds with Hartley finding Julian Hill (Pine Forest) over the middle for a thirty-nine-yard score to cap off the quick drive to send the game into the half at 21-21.

Both teams' running backs found the end zone during the third quarter. Narii Gaither rushed twenty-two yards for his second score of the night to give Gardner-Webb a 28-21 lead, but Bryant Barr would not let Camels go without a score, punching the ball in from a yard out, his second of the night, and setting up what would be a momentous fourth quarter. Barr added the go-ahead score, his third of the night, at the 3:53 mark to give the Camels a 35-28 lead. After the Campbell defense held Gardner-Webb on fourth down, CJ Freeman's twenty-three-yard scamper sealed the deal and secure the 42-28 win for the visitors.

The Sides

• Bryant Barr's ninety-seven yards and three touchdowns were both career highs.
• Caleb Snead hauled in ten receptions on the night, tying his own school record.
• Wiley Hartley was 26/41 on passing for 265 yards.
• Narii Gaither now has two 150 yard rushing games this season.
• William McRainey led Gardner-Webb with thirteen total tackles to go along with his scoop-and-score.
• Campbell led the time of possession battle, 36:54 to 23:06.

The Dessert

North Carolina barbecue legend Bob Garner was on hand to debut the new trophy at halftime and Big South Commissioner Kyle Kallander had the privilege of handing over the trophy to the victorious Camels in a postgame ceremony.

What's Next on the Menu?

Campbell (3-2, 2-0) will host #25 Monmouth next Saturday at Barker-Lane Stadium while Gardner-Webb (2-4, 0-2) has an open week before hosting Robert Morris at Spangler Stadium for Homecoming on October 23.

BOILING SPRINGS – Saturday night's matchup between Western Carolina and Gardner-Webb saw a budding in-state rivalry building into a new chapter as each team was still breaking in fairly new head coaches who both sport offensive philosophies that want to run as many plays as possible in a quick-paced manner. The two teams did not disappoint, combining for 1200 yards of offense and eighty-six points. Although Western Carolina had a quarterback who threw for over 400 yards, it was Gardner-Webb, who lived up to their Runnin' Bulldogs name, sporting two 100+ yard rushers on the night, who were victorious on Saturday, winning 52-34.

The first quarter did not have the fireworks that fans and pundits alike were expecting. Gardner-Webb forced a three-and-out on the first drive of the game, but fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, giving Western Carolina the ball back in Bulldogs territory. The Catamounts took advantage of the turnover, landing on the scoreboard first with a thirty-eight-yard Richard McCollum field goal. Not wanting to be outdone by another in-state kicker, Gardner-Webb's Austin McKay kicked his own field goal to knot the score at three.

Although the first half was marred with turnovers with each team fumbling twice and turning the ball over on downs once, there were bright spots for each squad as well. Gardner-Webb running back Narii Gaither ran hard for Gardner-Webb and wide receiver TJ Luther made two great catches with the sun right in his eyes, the second in the back corner of the end zone to give the Bulldogs their first touchdown of the day. Western Carolina's KJ Milner had multiple tackles for loss and a recovered fumble and quarterback Rogan Wells was 12 of 16 passing with a scoring toss to Kenny Benjamin.

The teams started to settle down as the second quarter got underway. After the Catamounts added another McCollum field goal to cut the deficit to four, Rogan Wells led his team on their first/only touchdown drive of the half, moving Western Carolina fifty-eight yards in eight plays, culminating with a thirteen-yard scoring grab by Kenny Benjamin.

The Runnin' Bulldogs looked to regain the momentum late in the quarter, and quarterback Bailey Fisher was ready to step up and led his team on a seventy-yard scoring drive, finishing the drive on his own with a keeper, but it was Western Carolina who would have the last word in the half with Wells continuing with his hot hand, leading the visiting Catamounts seventy-nine yards in eleven plays. Calvin Jones made a great grab at the one-yard line to get the Catamounts into position and TJ Jones punched it in two plays later to give Western a 20-17 halftime lead.

Gardner-Webb QB Bailey Fisher celebrates a touchdown. Photo: Brian Barnes

The second half was a tale of two quarters. The third quarter saw both teams trading punches and trying to light up the scoreboard. After forcing an initial punt which rolled all the way to the two-yard line, Western Carolina struck fast and quarterback Rogan Wells broke free on an eighty-two-yard keeper three plays later to give the Catamounts a three-point lead. TJ Luther got Gardner-Webb right back in scoring position after returning the ensuing kickoff seventy yards to the Western Carolina thirty-yard line. This set up Narii Gaither, who picked up eighteen of his team-leading 151 rushing yards on a rushing touchdown three plays later. Wells and the Catamounts sought to respond immediately. Wells, who finished with 427 yards on the evening, accounted for all eighty-three yards through the air on this drive, finishing with a six-yard pass to Raphael Williams to make it a two-score game again. Western Carolina would not see the end zone again the rest of the night. The rest of the game would belong to the home team.

Gardner-Webb got back into and then began to control the last twenty minutes of the game. Freshman Donovan Jones added two scores for the Bulldogs, a six-yard score, and a back-breaking seventy-nine scamper to seal the deal. Between these two Jones scores was a pick-six for junior Jamari Brown.

Up Next

Gardner-Webb (2-2) takes on Monmouth in the Runnin' Bulldogs Big South Conference opener while Western Carolina (0-4) opens Southern Conference play on the road at Chattanooga.

BOILING SPRINGS – The Runnin’ Bulldogs were victorious in their first game under new head coach Tre Lamb on Saturday afternoon. Gardner-Webb outscored #24 Elon 35-0 in the second half on their way to a 42-20 win over the visiting Phoenix.

Gardner-Webb running back Narii Gaither led the Runnin’ Bulldogs with 119 yards on 19 carries, hitting paydirt twice on the afternoon. Quarterback Carlton Aiken added another two scores on the ground for the home team. Devron Harper also returned a punt to the house for Gardner-Webb to take the lead for good on the afternoon. Elon was paced by quarterback Joey Baughman who scored on a quarterback sneak early in the first quarter. Skyler Davis was 2 of 2 on the afternoon on field goals.

Both teams are in action next Saturday as Gardner-Webb (1-0) hosts Presbyterian for their second straight game at Spangler Stadium while Elon (1-1) returns to the friendly confines of Rhodes Stadium, hosting CAA rival James Madison.