BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - A fast start for Gardner-Webb pushed the Runnin' Bulldogs to their first conference victory of the season, knocking off Robert Morris 31-16 on Saturday, Oct. 7.

"The first quarter was awesome," says head football coach Tre Lamb. "It's hard to score on three straight possessions. The offense was rolling, the defense got stops, and the special teams forced a turnover. It was a complete first half for us. Then we come out at halftime and put it in cruise control and made two critical errors in the second half. Offensively we put it in neutral and didn't make enough plays we needed to. A lot of teachable moments for us, but it's a lot easier and more fun to go back and teach when you win."

The 'Dawgs (2-3, 1-1 Big South-OVC) started quick, as Jayden Brown took a screen pass from Matthew Caldwell 67 yards to the endzone on Gardner-Webb's third offensive play of the contest, putting the Runnin' Bulldogs on top 7-0 with 9:44 left in the first quarter. After a 24-yard punt return by Maleek Huggins gave GWU good field position, Brown weaved his way through the Robert Morris (2-4, 0-1 Big South-OVC) defense, for an eight-yard scamper for his second touchdown of the game, pushing the Gardner-Webb lead to 14-0 with 6:32 left in the first quarter. 

The Colonials would go for it on fourth and three on their next possession, but Willie Harris forced a fumble to give Gardner-Webb the ball back deep in RMU territory. After a nice catch in coverage from Caleb Borders put GWU back in the red zone, Brown caught another pass from Caldwell, this time from eight yards out, and the Runnin' Bulldogs bulge swelled to 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. 

Robert Morris put together an 18-play, 60-yard drive, taking 8:36 off the clock. A sack by Charlie Jackson forced a field goal attempt from Jayson Jenkins, who connected from 32 yards out to put the Colonials on the board, down 21-3 with 9:37 left in the second quarter. Gardner-Webb put together a long drive of their own, and Nemo Squire scored his first collegiate touchdown, powering into the endzone from two yards out to push the Runnin' Bulldog lead to 28-3 at the break.

Both teams traded possessions in the third quarter, until Robert Morris got the ball back deep in Runnin' Bulldog territory after a muffed punt was recovered by Kyle Jenkins at the 28-yard line. Cyrus Bonsu powered his way across the goal line to give the Colonials their first touchdown of the day, as RMU cut the deficit to 28-10 with 2:55 left in the third quarter. 

Robert Morris got the ball back once again following an interception by Garret Fairman, but Ja'Kai Young forced a fumble that was picked up by Josiah Wright and returned all the way to the RMU 21-yard line to end the third quarter. The Runnin' Bulldogs took advantage at the beginning of the fourth, as Jay Billingsley drilled a field goal from 24-yards out to put Gardner-Webb ahead 31-10 with 14:11 left in the game. 

After a Robert Morris punt, Tizlam Muhammad forced a fumble, and Fairman scooped the ball up and ran 17 yards to the endzone to cut the GWU lead down to just two touchdowns. Jenkins missed the extra point, and the Colonials trailed 31-16 with 11:48 remaining. 

A long drive from the Runnin' Bulldogs stalled, and Robert Morris got the ball back with 2:19 remaining in the game. Brice Bass sacked Anthony Chicitt on back-to-back plays, and the 'Dawgs forced an incomplete pass on fourth down to preserve the 31-16 victory for Gardner-Webb.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- This is the second time this season Jayden Brown has scored three touchdowns in a game. Brown scored three touchdowns on Sept. 2 at Appalachian State
- The three sacks for Brice Bass is a career-high. He is the first Runnin' Bulldog to have three sacks in a game since Ty French did so on Oct. 23, 2021, also against Robert Morris
- Gardner-Webb held Robert Morris to a season-low 33 yards rushing
- As a team, the Runnin' Bulldogs recorded five sacks for the second time this season. GWU had five sacks on Sept. 9 against Elon
- William McRainey led the team with 11 tackles, his second 10+ tackle game of the season. McRainey had 10 tackles on Sept. 9 against Elon.

QUOTABLE
Tre Lamb on Jayden Brown's three touchdowns
"He's special. As a staff during the off-week we voted on who were the most talented players on offense who needed to get the ball more. And Mel and Narii (Gaither) both recieved the same amount of votes. That tells me we need to get them both on the field at the same time and get them healthy. Neither have been on the field at the same time since week one, and we played well on offense that game. Those two guys are different, and I am glad they're here."

Tre Lamb on Matthew Caldwell's play 
"First half he was 8-for-8 with a couple of touchdowns. In the second half we try to run the football and we couldn't establish the run. THey put some pressure on him and he gets banged up in the fourth quarter. I would say a B+. He did enough to win us the game, but he missed some throws in the second half and could've used his leg more. But I'm proud of the way he responded, we got the win, and he played well in the first half." 

Tre Lamb on the emotions in the locker room following the win
The locker room is happy. It's hard to win in college football. We wanted to desperately get back in the win column and spark some energy in the second half of the season. We have six really good opponents left, and those games are going to be dogfights. They'll all come down to the second half. The energy is good in the locker room. I'm still a little agitated because I think we have played better, but it is my job as head coach to help us reach our ceiling. I think we haven't reached that yet. We haven't played a complete game yet. We finally played a complete half, but not a game yet. And that's going to be the message to our players, and that's my job to get that fixed."

Jayden Brown on his performance
"I saw nothing but open field. I feel like with our running backs, when we get into the open field, no one can mess with us. As far as me, Narii, Donovan Jones, we're looking to get yards after catch. That's what we call ourselves. YAC Boys. Yards-after-carry. That's important. And yeah, scoring three touchdowns is great, but I'm thinking about the next play. How do I score touchdown number four, five, six? We're thinking about how important every game is on our schedule. We're treating every game like a playoff game. We can't lose."

Brice Bass on his performance
"Shout out to my coaches. They put me in position to make a play. Our defense does a great job of motivating each other. We knew going in they wanted to run the ball. And our pride on defense is stopping the run. And our motto is to not give up. We just want to finish every play."

UP NEXT
Gardner-Webb returns to the road and nonconference play next week, heading to Clarksville, Tenn. to face Austin Peay. Kickoff is set for 2:00 PM eastern.