Another (Soaked) Victory

Saturday, Gardner-Webb traveled to the home of the #8/10 Wofford Terriers.  I had been keeping an eye on the weather all week, as the Upstate was supposed to get rain on game day.  When I checked my weather app on Saturday, it said there would be a break around 7 pm (kick-off time).  The Weather.com app couldn't have been more wrong.

I left at 4:15 to make the hour drive to Wofford.  It poured the whole way there.  I got the field around 5:15.  The rain was coming down hard...and steady.  Knowing it was supposed to rain, I had brought two trash bags; one to sit on and one to put my purse in.  Thankfully, I also brought my beat-up umbrella and wore my supposedly rainproof jacket. Yogi and Gail had stopped at Target to pick up a tarp, so we sat on that.

Since Brett coaches special teams, his punters and kickers go on the field first to warm-up.  I sat there watching, noticing how slippery and heavy the ball was.  That's when I started to get nervous.  Brett had said running the ball would be important against the Terriers, but the rain made it even more of a key to success. 

The torrential rain and wind made it difficult to throw the ball.  Wofford, a triple option team, attempted seven throws, and only completed one.  GWU completed 50 percent of its throws for a little over 100 yards.  At the end of three quarters, the score was still 0-0.

Every phase was on point that night.  Defense was all over the Terriers, holding their offense to just 144 net rushing yards, and a game total of 149 yards. This is unreal for a triple option team.  The offense held the ball for almost 36 minutes, another great stat against an option team.  Special teams made significant plays, especially the punt team.  In the third quarter alone, GWU's punt team recovered two fumbles.

The fourth quarter was nothing short of nerve-wrecking, especially for a coach's wife.  The Wofford punter mishandled the snap, was swarmed by the defense, and threw an incomplete pass from the 1 yard line. He was charged with intentional grounding.  The result was GWU getting the ball on the 1.  Lucas threw a touchdown, which got called back by a blocking penalty.   Jordan, the place kicker and punter, made a 35 yard field goal with 10:52 left on the clock.   GWU held Wofford to a 3 and out.  The Dawgs missed a 38 yard field goal on our drive.  Wofford got the ball back with 2:37 left on the clock.  They went 31 yards, but GWU defense stepped up big with an interception with 50 seconds left.  That meant... BALL GAME!! 

Despite the rain never ever stopping, and me being drenched down to my core, I was thrilled the Runnin' Bulldogs pulled out the win.  It was the first time in history that a Big South team had beaten two ranked teams in back to back weeks.  What an accomplishment. 

And the grind continues. Here we come, Point!

Pre-game. It is raining

Kickers and punters warming up

Team warm-up

This was before the game even started

Right before half-time.  The field was soaked.

The rain never stopped

So happy for a Dawg win!

And this video makes the 4 hours of sitting in the downpour all worth it.  Go Dawgs!