Box Score BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.- VMI's bid to remaining undefeated in Big South Conference football play came up short as Gardner-Webb held off a second-half rally and posted a 34-27 win over the Keydets at Spangler Stadium.
Bulldog fifth-year senior quarterback Devin Campbell completed 28 of 38 passes for a career-high 392 yards and three touchdowns to pull GWU to 1-1 in league play and 4-4 overall.
VMI fell to 3-4 and 1-1 in the Big South.
Keydet junior quarterback Tim Maypray rushed for his fifth 100-yard game of the season after gaining 145 yards on 25 carries.
VMI trailed 24-6 at halftime, but assembled a seven-play, 81-yard drive on its first possession of the second half and pulled within 24-13 after Maypray connected with sophomore Michael Rainey-Wiles on a 46-yard TD pass on VMI's first completion of the day.
Gardner-Webb pushed the ball to the VMI 6 on the ensuing drive, but had to settle for a 23-yard FG by freshman Ryan Gates to extend the Bulldog lead to 27-13 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
The Keydets took advantage of a good kick return and personal foul penalty tacked on after the play and took possession of the ball at midfield. Two plays later, Maypray had the ball knocked loose after a first-down rush fighting for extra yardage and Gardner-Webb's Lyndrez Leslie recovered at the GWU 39. The Bulldogs capitalized in what would be the game's only turnover and struck quickly three plays later with a 51-yard TD bomb from Campbell to his favorite receiver, senior wideout Dobson Collins, pushing the Bulldog advantage to 34-13 with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter.
But VMI battled back with two fourth quarter TD's to push the game's outcome into the final minutes of regulation. A partially blocked punt by VMI's Mario Scott gave VMI excellent field position early in the fourth period and sophomore slotback Gabe Itoka scampered 36 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown run to close the gap to 34-20 at the 11:36 mark.
The Keydets were pinned back at their own 2 on the next possession, but marched 97 yards in 13 plays and capped the drive when sophomore Josh Wine, a defensive tackle inserted at fullback full-house goal line backfield, slammed in for the 2 with 1:51 left to pull VMI within 34-27 with 1:51 remaining.
VMI lined up for an on-side kick, but the Bulldogs recovered at the 39 and managed the clock away for the rest of regulation - utilizing two timeouts called before the 40-second play clock expired to keep snaps at a minimum and the ball out of VMI hands.
Keydet fullback Howard Abegesah returned to action after missing two games with a knee injury and finished with 48 yards on 12 carries. Junior quarterback Kyle Hughes, however, was not as fortunate and missed the game with a sore hamstring aggravated in mid-week practice.
GWU's Collins finished as the game's leading receiver and caught nine passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulldogs outgained VMI, 456-388, including 392 through the air. The Keydets, which had entered the game ranked first in FCS in rushing, gained 321 yards against the Bulldog defense that had been ranked fourth nationally in rushing defense.
After holding Gardner-Webb on the game's opening drive, VMI engineered a 13-play drive that moved the ball to the Bulldog 5-yard line following an Abegesah rush, only to see the gain wiped out by a holding call that pushed the Keydets back to the VMI 16. After a dropped pass in the endzone on the next play, VMI lined up for a 33-yard field goal attempt, but cornerback Cedric McGowan blocked Stevens kick and a touchback ensued.
The Bulldogs then marched 80 yards in 14 plays to produce the game's first touchdown, a Patrick Hall one-yard leaping dive into the endzone with 13:27 left in the second quarter. The drive was aided by a roughing the passer penalty after the Keydets pulled off a third-and-11 stop from the VMI 13. The game's initial scoring drive started a string of six straight scoring possessions for the home team.
Wine's first college TD run from his fullback slot (2 yard) came with 10:27 left in the second quarter but the extra-point attempt to even the game at 7-7 was missed and Keydets were forced to play catch-up the rest of the afternoon.
The Bulldogs used a Lyndron Leslie 22-yard TD pass reception, a Collins 12-yard leaping grab off a timing pass, and a Gates 40-yard field goal to build a 24-6 lead at halftime.
Red-shirt sophomore linebacker Kyle Nikmard led the Keydets in tackles with nine stops while defensive backs Bryant Youngblood and Byron Allen had eight and seven tackles respectively.
Gardner-Webb converted eight of 14 third down tries while the Keydets made good on seven of 13. VMI held the slight edge in time of possession, 30:12 to 29:48.
VMI HEAD COACH SPARKY WOODS ? “We got behind early and they kept us from getting ahead. I think the biggest play was probably the roughing the passer penalty where we had stopped them and then they got an automatic first down and scored. That was a huge penalty. I thought we played hard, but we didn't play very good. We made some plays offensively toward the end, but I didn't think we challenged them very well defensively in challenging their receivers. I thought their quarterback did a really nice job and threw the ball to the open guy and put it where we couldn't get it. The best thing I can say about our guys is we continue to play hard and made some nice drives in the second half. It hurt us not having Kyle Hughes (hamstring) and we didn't know until right before the game if Maypray was going to be available to play (back). We had a week off and we thought we were in good shape health-wise and we ended up with Kyle pulling his hamstring in the last five minutes of Wednesday's practice and then Tim tweaked his back somehow in the first 10 minutes of Thursday's practice. It's hard to know where you are with team leadership with the guys who are supposed to be the leaders. Gardner-Webb has a really good football team and they're tough. We battled back and overall I thought our guys played hard and that's encouraging. We're going to get back and watch this tape and get ready for Charleston Southern.”
GAME NOTES ? Tim Maypray produced his 5th 100-yard game of the season with 145 yards on 21 carries. He now has 841 yards rushing on the season. He also tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the yaer. The 46-yard strike to Rainey-Wiles in the third quarter tied for the 14th longest play this year.
Today's game marked the fourth time in the last five meetings that the VMI-GWU game been decided by eight points or less.
