Page A4
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Pilot
Sports
Bulldogs scrape out wild win vs. Stony Brook
By Blake DuDpnis
Pilot sports writer
Devin Campbell post
ed his second consecu
tive game with over 400
yards of total offense as
he lead Gardner-Webb in
a grind-it-out victory over
Stony Brook, 34-33. The
win puts Gardner-Webb
in second place in the Big
South with just two games
remaining this season.
A victory was in doubt
early for the ’Dogs as they
fell behind 14-0 early in
the first quarter.
Campbell showed the
poise he has been known
for this season, and
marched the ’Dogs down
the field until he found
tight end Josh Miller open
for a 20-yard touchdown
pass with 5:46 left in the
first quarter.
Campbell struck wide
receiver Tre Perry on the
next drive for a score fol
lowing a field goal Ixom
Stony Brook.
That put the score at
17-14 in Stony Brook’s
favor early in the second
quarter. The Gardner-
Webb defense allowed
Stony Brook another field
goal and a touchdown run
before halftime, putting
the Seawolves up 26-14.
The Bulldogs refused
to go into halftime with
that deficit and scored a
touchdown on a 1-yard
run by Philip Peoples after
an incredible catch by Ty
son Perry to set the score
at 26-21 at the break.
Once the second half
began, both teams stepped
it up on defense, with nei
ther team scoring. Late in
the third quarter, Gardner-
Webb faked a field goal
and pulled it off flawlessly
for a touchdown; at least
that was how it appeared.
After a lengthy meet
ing, the ’Dogs were
flagged for an illegal sub
station and the score vva^
taken off the scoreboard.
The Seawolves then
sauntered 99 yards down
the field for a touchdown,
Quarter
back Devin
Campbell*
watches
game
GWU
battle
victory
Saturday
at Spangler
Stadium.
Thanks
some great
work
Campbell s
GWU
triumphed
34-33
giving them a 33-21 lead
early in the fourth quarter.
Campbell again
stepped it up and took the
’Dogs on a well orches
trated 73-yard drive that
was finished by Peoples,
for his second touchdown
run of the game.
Photo by
Jess Jones
Gardner-Webb went
for a 2-point conversion
but failed, leaving the
score at 33-27 with 11:35
left in the game.
On the subsequent
kickoff, the Stony Brook
returner was crushed by
safety Mike Vesser and
lost the football. Fresh
man Keron Phelps fell
on the loose ball, giving
Gardner-Webb the ball
on the Seawolves 37-yard
line.
Campbell did not let
the great field position go
to waste as he found the
sure-handed Dobson Col
lins for a 13-yard touch
down pass.
From there, Gardner-
Webb’s defense refiised
to budge as the defensive
unit held strong to force a
punt with 6:02 left in the
game. Campbell and the
offense then did their job
and ran nearly five min
utes off the clock before
giving the ball back to
Stony Brook.
The Seawolves
couldn’t complete a pass
on their last drive, and
Gardner-Webb held on for
the victory.
Campbell finished the
game going 32-for-44 for
392 yards and three touch
downs, tying his personal
record in both yards and
touchdowns.
Tre Perry exploded for
a career high nine catches
for 153 yards and a touch
down, while Josh Miller
also had a career day with
four catches for 65 yards
and a score.
Dobson brought in
seven catches, putting him
at 60 for the season, for 65
yards.
The win brings Gard
ner-Webb to 5-4 overall,
and 2-1 in the Big South.
The Bulldogs will take on
Coastal Carolina Saturday
for the last home game of
the season. The game will
be broadcast by MASN.
Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.
Notes: Dobson Collins
now has eight touchdowns
on the season, tied for
first in the conference...
The 525 yards given up by
Gardner-Webb is the most
given up by the ’Dogs de-.
fense this season... With
his nine tackles this week,
sophomore Jejfery Wil
liams has a league-lead-
ing 90 tackles this season.
Men’s basketball ready
for 2008-2009 campaign
By Blake DuDohis
Pilot sports writer
ft’s time for one of the
most exciting times of the
year: college basketball
season.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs
of Gardner-Webb are
loaded fi"om top to bottom
and ready to unload on
opposing teams.
The team returns four
starters and sees nine
players overall com
ing back fi'om last year’s
squad. Along with the re
turnees, Gardner-Webb
has enlisted the help of six
newcomers, four of whom
have transferred in fi'om
junior colleges. The team
is coming off of a season
where they went 16-16,
and had an impressive 9-3
record at home.
The team has switched
conferences, going fi-om
the Atlantic Sun to the
Big South, which means
a big jump in competition.
The Ruimin’ Bulldogs
will face teams such as
Radford, UNC-Ashville,
and Winthrop, a team that
made it into the NCAA
tournament last year.
GWU was picked 3rd
in the pre-season polls
for the Big South. The
non-conference road also
will prove to be a tough
one, as the team travels to
Virginia Tech, Oklahoma,
Kansas State and several
other schools.
“I think it’s always
good to play tough teams
because it always makes
you better,” said GWU
head coach Rick Scruggs,
who is returning for his
14th season at the helm
for Gardner-Webb.
“We sort of have a
reputation as a giant-
killer. Kentucky isn’t the
only school we’ve beat.
We’ve beaten East Caro
lina twice, Minnesota,
Colorado State... We’ve
had some success in those
games.”
Senior Aaron Linn
headlines the returning
playing for GWU, along
with junior sensation
Grayson Flittner, who set
an Atlantic Sun record
last year by making 107
3-pointers throughout the
season while averaging
15.3 points and 3.8 as
sists.
Flittner was named to
the pre-season All-Con-
ference team and is ex
pected to produce even
more than in seasons past.
Liim is coming off a ca
reer y^ in which he av
eraged 12.5 points and 4.8
rebounds a game and was
riamed MVP of the Lex
ington Coaches vs. Can
cer Regional. Liim has got
it done in the classroom,
too, earning a 4.0 GPA
while at Gardner-Webb.
“Our team goals are to
win the league and go to
the (NCAA) tournament,”
said Liim.
“Both are goals that
are attainable for us and
both are goals that will
hard to accomplish, but
I will be satisfied if this
team reaches it’s potential
by the end of the year.
“If that happens, I
think everything else will
fall in place.”
Backing up Linn and
Flittner are two very ca
pable veterans: Takayo
Siddle and Brandon Jack
son. Siddle will provide
some senior leadership off
of the bench, and brings
some good long-range
shooting to the table. Jack
son is a good ball handler
and keeps his composure
well under pressure.
Also returning for the
Bulldogs is reigning At
lantic Sun Freshman of
the Year Nate Blank. He
scorched defenses for 10.4
points a contest a season
ago, and led the team in
charges drawn. Unfor
tunately, Blank will be
absent fi'om the court for
the first few weeks of the
season. A tom ligament in
Blank’s hand has him in a
cast for several weeks.
“He had it operated on,
and it was on his shoot
ing hand which made it
worse because you know
he won’t have any mobil
ity on that hand,” Scruggs
said.
Auryn MacMillan,
at center, will be the an
chor for the Bulldogs, and
looks to keep improving
as he has done each sea
son. MacMillan averaged
just 4.3 points a game last
year, but was consistently
making hustle plays that
helped the team.
Joining MacMillan in
the post will likely be 6-
foot 6-inch junior college
transfer Roy Hinson III.
Hd is the son of former
NBA player Roy Hinson
Jr., and will provide a nice
athletic option in the post.
Returning as reserves
are junior Lu Dovonou
and Matt Maden. Dovo
nou is only 6’5, but plays
a very physical style of
basketball^ making up for
his lack of height against
bigger opponents.
Maden has no worries
about being undersize,
standing 6’11 and weigh-
Photo by Jess Jones
The members of this year’s men’s basketball squad stand in front of the
arch next to Suttle Wellness Center, ready to go out and get into the NCAA
tournament this season.
in Anton.”
An additional source
of energy will be expect
ed to come in the form
of Josh Hensley, a highly
recruited player out of
Tennessee. Hensley aver
aged a double-double his
senior year, putting in 18
points and pulling down
11 boards a game. Hens
ley was ranked the No. 2
senior forward out of Ten
nessee in his last year of
high school.
The final two green
horns are freshman Josh
Maggard and sophomore
Jonathan Moore. Maggard
was an all-state player in
Indiana, and had a solid
senior campaign where he
averaged 17.1 points and
6.9 assists a game.
Moore, a 6’4, 200-
pound player out of Ar
kansas, shot an incredible
93.5 percent from the free
throw line last season at
Shelton State (Ala.) Junior
College, while stroking in
36 3-pointers.
Joining Scruggs on the
sideline is former Kansas
Jayhawks player Michael
Lee, who played under
ing 270 pounds. Maden is
a redshirt-sophomore and
saw his playing time in
crease as the season went
along last year. Maden
will continue to work hard
for more minutes.
Another transfer play
er, Anton Silver, will be
called upon to replace
much of Thomas Sanders’
athleticism and energy.
Sanders, an All-Ameri
can forward, graduated in
May and is now playing
professional basketball in
Europe
Silver, from Concord
was an all-region selec
tion at Louisburg College,
where he averaged 17.4
points a game, and has
displayed fantastic leap
ing ability.
“Anton’s energy is
what we are really going
to be looking for,” said
Scruggs. “He adds a little
bit of what we lost with
Thomas, with the energy
and enthusiasm he has.
He is real athletic, han
dles the ball pretty good,
and shoots the ball pretty
good. We feel like we
have a pretty good player
current Carolina Tar Heels
coach Roy Williams, and
current Kansas coach Bill
Self Lee played in two Fi
nal Fours and provides the
team with a younger face
on the sidelines.
“He has already add
ed a lot to our program,”
Scruggs said. “He has
added a lot of credibility
to the program.”
Scruggs expects a lot
out of this year’s team,
and is ready to take it all
the way to the NCAAs.
“I want to play in the
NCAA tournament so
bad,” said Scruggs. “I
can’t even tell you how
bad I want to play in the
NCAA tournament. I don’t
care if it’s a 16 seed, a 15
seed.... Someone asked
me if we could ever bet
ter the Kentucky win and
I said winning a game in
the NCAA tournament.
That would do it.”
Gardner-Webb has an
exhibition against Divi
sion II foe Brevard Col
lege Tuesday before trav
eling to Virginia Tech
Nov. 14 to open up the
regular season.
Grapplers look strong for Gardner-Webb Cross country teams end season on respectable note
By Andrew Veedcr
Pilot sports writer
After coming off a suc-
cessftil season, the grap
pling Bulldogs of Gard
ner-Webb are looking to
return to the mats. Coach
Scott Shipman looks to
his roster of 34 and his 10
freshmen to try and pin
the competition.
Shipman has put the
team through everything
from two-a-days, to three-
a-days in order to put them
into the best possible posi
tion to succeed.
“We didn’t beat them
up too bad early on, but
we’ve been going...six
days a weekJfor about five
straight weeks,” Shipman
said. “At least three of
those days are doubles.
or triples at some point,
with lift conditioning in
the morning, a drill after
ward and then live in the
afternoon; so we’ve really
been putting it on them.”
With the constant con
ditioning and live match
practices, the Bulldogs
have already proven their
dominance. Shipman sent
12 members of the team to
Puerto Rico to compete in
a preseason tournament.
Battling the harsh condi
tions, the Bulldogs came
back to Boiling Springs
with plenty of hardware
for their achievements.
Even through the ear
ly success, Shipman has
goals for his relatively
young team.
“I believe that by
March, we should be in
a position, that, if things
go right, we could make it
interesting going into the
finals of regionals. I think
that we can make Liberty
[the best team in the re
gion] at least look over
their shoulders at us.”
Shipman also said that
one of the only differences
between Gardner-Webb’s
Wrestling team and one of
the top teams in the region
is depth. That is some
thing Shipman has been
working to develop by
bringing in 10 first-year or
freshmen wrestlers. These
wrestlers all have a chance
to compete for a starting
position in their respective
weight classes.
The team held a wres
tle-off Friday and Satur
day, which gave members
a chance to get live match
By Blake DuDonis
Pilot sports writer
The Gardner-Webb
men’s and women’s cross
country teams finished up
their seasons Saturday by
participating in their first-
ever Big South conference
meet.
The women finished
in seventh place overall,
and the men ended up in
eighth place.
The teams ran well on
the difficult course, which
presented several steep in
clines for the runners.
Carrie Minard crossed
the finish line in 29th place
in 20:28, with senior Beth
Long cruisiflg in at a time
of 20:52, good enough for
36th place.
Laura Scott was the
next GWU athlete to fin
ish, coming in 38th place
in a time of 21:06.
Junior Abby Callahan,
who is the regular front-
runner for the Bulldogs,
was still nursing an injury
and wound up finishing
21:32, in 40th place. Al-
lye Litfrell and Diana Pal-
ka came in 44th and 45th
place respectively.
On the men’s side, it
was no surprise that the
first GWU runner to finish
was freshman Nick Kelly.
He completed the 8k
course in 28:16, with se
nior Tim Israel coming in
about 40 seconds later, for
38th place.
Charlie Steinke fin
ished in 29:45, which put
him in 49th place, while
Jason Weifeel came in two
spots behind at 30:05.
Jacob Hoyle found
himself in 53rd place
when it was all said and
done, and senior Justin
Keziah, who has been
dealing with a possible
stress fracture in his shin,
came in 54th place.
The teams head to
Clemmons, N.C., for the
NCAA Regional Champi
onships Nov. 15.
experience m a non-tour-
nament scenario.’Also, it
gave Shipman a chance to
see some of the younger
team members in a pres
sure situation.
The grappling Bull
dogs will be traveling to
compete against tough op
ponent the Liberty Flames
Tuesday for the first meet
of the year.