Simply Sara: Babies and Another Dawg Win

Yesterday was a great day. Not only did the Runnin' Bulldogs pull out another huge win, we got to celebrate the upcoming birth of another coach's child. Melissa, one of the coach's wives, is due in October. Kelly and Quanza came up with the great idea to throw Melissa a pamper party. This is Melissa and Rocco's second daughter, so we knew she had a lot of clothes from when Reilly was little. All of the moms in our group suggested that, instead of buying more of the clothes and "first child" gifts, we stick with the necessities like diapers and wipes.

For the past two weeks, we have been sending around mass texts trying to coordinate who was bringing what. When I was driving home from Raleigh on Wednesday, my phone was going off like crazy. When I got home, I looked and had around 25 texts from everyone. Days like that make me smile. I have such a great support system here.

It was a wonderful day, cool with a slight breeze. Definitely becoming football weather. We got to the tailgate early to set up. Let me say, these ladies did such a great job! The food was great and all of the little shower details were wonderful. Melissa was completely surprised when she showed up. I am so glad we could show her and Rocco that we love them and support them.

Kenny doing the Ray Lewis dance

He was Ray Lewis all day.

Sydnei with some of her friends

Kendall has a woman's barber shop. Kelly always seems to be his customer.

The woman of honor!

These women are amazing.

We're so excited for the new addition to our football family.

We got into the stadium just as the colors were being presented. The Richmond Spiders were the "bad guys" (as Reilly says) this week. They are also ranked in the top 20 in the country for FCS schools. Now if you follow football in NC, you know that Richmond almost beat NC State last week. I had no idea that our game against Richmond would come down to the last play of the game too.

Our run defense was stellar; Richmond was held to an average of 0.5 yards per rush! At the end of the third quarter, it was 6-3 (GWU). The fourth quarter was another story though. I was shaking because it was so intense. Gail, Yogi, and Brett's brother Sam were able to make it to the game. I think Sam lost his voice in the fourth quarter. Jordan Day made a field goal to put GWU up 9-3. Richmond then scored the lone touchdown of the game with 2:06 left in the game to put the Spiders up 10-9.

Brett is the special teams coordinator. He knew they had to come up with a big play in order to get the team into field goal range. Brett made an adjustment. J.J. received the ball on the kickoff and hit the gap hard, returning the kick for 51 yards to the Richmond 47! The offense made a couple of big plays in order to give Jordan a manageable field goal. Jordan made the 30 yarder to put GWU up 12-10 with 25 seconds left on the clock.

The Spiders managed to get a couple of big passing plays and get out of bounds to stop the clock. Their kicker had a 43 yard field goal for the win... and MISSED!!!! Check out the missed field goal and GWU's reaction here. It still gives me chills.

I'm so proud of this team for hanging in there and continuing to fight. Now onto Wofford (another top 20 program). Let's go Dawgs!