PC-GWU Box Score
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. ? Presbyterian College outscored Gardner-Webb 21-17 in the second half, but it was not enough as the Blue Hose had placed itself in too much of a hole in the Runnin' Bulldogs 47-21 victory over PC on Saturday evening at Spangler Stadium.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Blue Hose.
Brandon Miley (Wilmington, N.C./JT Hoggard) led the Blue Hose attack in the loss by passing for a career-best 331 yards. Miley was 34-for-48 overall in the contest. Miley's 34 completions were also a career-high.
The 34 completions are the third-most in the Big South in 2008 as injured Blue Hose signal caller Tim Webb (Lugoff, S.C./Lugoff-Elgin) completed 35 passes in the Appalachian State game and connected on a Big South record 37 passes in PC's season opener against Wofford.
Miley had nine different receivers catch one of his passes. Brandon Clark (Duluth, Ga./Buford) continued his recent torrid pace in the loss, collecting nine passes for 99 yards and a touchdown.
S.J. Worrell (Madison,Ga./Morgan County) had eight catches for 49 yards. He also had 54 yards on the ground to conclude the game with 103 all-purpose yards.
Brian Leonardi (Aiken, S.C./Aiken) led the Blue Hose defense, finishing with a career-best 10 total tackles, which included seven solo stops. Leonardi had one forced fumble.
Phillip Peoples led Gardner-Webb in the game, rushing for 176 yards and one touchdown. Jeffrey Williams paced the Runnin' Bulldog defense with a career-high 18 total tackles.
The score did not tell the whole story in the game with PC finishing with 492 total yards of offense compared to Gardner-Webb's 514. The Blue Hose passed for 382 yards to lead to the 492 yards.
PC's 110 net yards rushing broke Gardner-Webb's Big South record of most games of holding a opponent under 100 yards rushing. The Runnin' Bulldogs had entered the game having held their past six opponents under 100 yards on the ground.
The Blue Hose went into the second half coming off its first scoreless half under Bobby Bentley. After another Gardner-Webb field goal to begin the second half, PC was able to negate the shutout when Miley was able to lull the Runnin' Bulldog to sleep and find Clark for a 35-yard touchdown. Clark was left all alone on the right sideline and was basically able to jog into the end zone for the seven points with 8:38 left in the third quarter.
The Runnin' Bulldogs would score the first defensive touchdown of the game shortly thereafter when Daniel Cooke intercepted Miley and returned the football 72 yards for a touchdown that earned Gardner-Webb a 40-7 advantage.
Worrell rushed for PC's first touchdown on the ground in the game with 5:32 left in the contest. Worrell had set up PC for the touchdown when he busted loose for a 25 yard run to kick off PC's drive.
After Gardner-Webb was able to pick up its final touchdown of the game with 2:26 left, PC's Parker Fleming (Atlanta, Ga./Decatur) made the most of his relief of Miley at the quarterback position in the final minutes.
Fleming tallied his first rushing touchdown of the season with 23 seconds left to set the final score at 47-21 in Gardner-Webb's favor.
Gardner-Webb scored the first points of the game with 4:13 left in the first quarter when Phillip Peoples rushed in from seven yards out to give the Runnin' Bulldogs a 7-0 lead after Ryan Gates' extra point.
The opening score by Gardner-Webb marked only the third time in 2008 that PC had not scored the opening points in a contest.
The Runnin' Bulldogs extended their lead to 14-0 in the opening seconds of the second quarter when starting quarterback Devin Campbell connected with Dobson Collins for a 15-yard touchdown reception with 14:40 left in the second quarter.
Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to 20 points on its next offensive possession. Patrick Hall punctuated the Runnin' Bulldog drive when he scored from two yards out.
PC was able to get enough of a hand on the extra point to keep the score at 20-0 as it kicked back off the bottom rung of the goal post.
Gardner-Webb (3-4) went ahead 27-0 a little while later when Collins caught his second touchdown of the game on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Campbell with 6:36 left in the first half.
The Runnin' Bulldogs went into halftime with a 30-0 lead after Gates hit a 24-yard field goal with 27.9 seconds left in the first half.
PC (3-5) has its one and only off week of the 2008 season next week. They will return to the gridiron next for a home contest against defending Big South Conference champion Liberty at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1.
