GWU Falls, 30-10, In Season Finale At Liberty Saturday Night
November 16, 2008 | Football
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty took advantage of five
Gardner-Webb turnovers
to take a 30-10 win over the Runnin' Bulldogs Saturday night at
Williams Stadium.
The game closed out the season for Gardner-Webb (5-6, 2-3 Big
South),
which dropped its second game in a row against the Flames.
Liberty (9-2, 5-0 Big South) opened the scoring with a short field
goal
by Ben Shipps with 4:43 to play in the first quarter, and pushed
that
edge to 10-0 when Rashad Jennings capped a 72-yard drive with a
six-yard run on first-and-goal with 9:12 left before halftime.
A Devin Campbell interception turned quickly into Liberty points
17
seconds later, as Brock Smith hit Jonathan Crawford from 25 yards
out
for a touchdown and a 17-0 lead on the ensuing play. Ryan Gates cut
the
lead to 17-3 with 4:41 left in the second quarter, but the Flames
made
the count 24-3 at halftime after driving 65 yards in eight plays
– as
Smith hit Dominic Bolden on a 31-yard slant route with just 32
seconds
on the clock.
Gardner-Webb drove to the Liberty one-yard line in the third
quarter,
but fumbled a chance away, and found themselves down 27-3 after
another
Liberty field goal. Patrick Hall finally found paydirt for the
‘Dogs,
scoring on fourth down from one yard out with 10:52 to play in the
game
– but the Flames would counter an onside kick attempt with a
short
drive and another field goal for the final margin with 7:28
remaining.
GWU squandered any further chance of trimming into the lead
with
another interception and two more fumbles.
Hall finished with 88 yards on 16 carries to pace the Bulldogs'
offensively, and Campbell completed 24-of-40 passes for 242 yards
in
his final college game. Dobson Collins caught 10 passes for 109
yards –
and had a 36-yard punt return – for Gardner-Webb, and James
Perry III
caught seven balls for 60 yards in the finale. Gardner-Webb managed
363
yards on 75 plays, but were sacked four times in addition to
four
turnovers.
Jeffrey Williams (15 tackles), Marty Patterson (10 tackles) and
Dami
Teniola (10 tackles) each played well at linebacker for the
‘Dogs.
Liberty rumbled for 195 yards on the ground and Smith passed for
247
yards to pace a 442-yard output for the Flames. Zach Terrell paced
the
ground game with 84 yards on 16 carries, and Rashad Jennings had
57
yards on 14 carries before leaving the game with an injury early in
the
second half.
