By MONTE DUTTON

Dammit. Presbyterian College deserved better on Saturday night.

The scoreboard revealed that Gardner-Webb, what with scholarships and all, doubled the Blue Hose, 42-21.

Well, I mean, if you want to go by the score …

An upset didn’t slide away. It slid away big-time.

The game, like most, required 60 minutes on the Bailey Memorial Stadium board. Presbyterian (2-2) kept the Runnin’ Bulldogs off it for 25 of them. Alas, it was the other 35 that doomed the hustling Hose, who remained within a touchdown until Gardner-Webb scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

“I told them in the locker room I couldn’t have been prouder of them,” said head coach Steve Englehart. “I thought they fought their asses off every snap.”

Down by three touchdowns and energized upon red-shirt freshman Collin Hurst’s insertion at quarterback, the Blue Hose charged back into the fray, beginning with Hurst’s two-yard pass to senior Wyatt Hodges with 4:28 remaining in the first half.

It was Hurst’s fourth consecutive completion after Gardner-Webb had taken a three-touchdown lead on Quasean Holmes’ 51-yard gallop with 7:00 left in the first half. The issue at the time was who let the Dogs out.

“Stuff is going to break down when football happens,” said Hurst, of Davie, Fla. “The ability to extend the play, it’s kind of one of the things trained in football.”

Then Presbyterian’s Brooks Russ-Martin intercepted GWU’s Tyler Riddell. Three plays and two Gardner-Webb personal fouls later, the Blue Hose were back in the end zone, thanks mostly to a trick play in which Jalen Patrick ran right and threw back to the quarterback, starter Ty Englehart, who was alone to score from 13 yards away with 2:17 left before half.

There the score, 21-14, remained for the entire third quarter and the first 3:19 of the fourth.

Englehart, who completed 6/11 passes for 55 yards, later reinjured his shoulder, which has plagued him since the season opener. Hurst rose to the challenge, completing 14/22 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. The piece de resistance was his 61-yarder to Cincere Gill, who turned a short pass into a touchdown with 2:44 to play.

The game was over, but PC made the best of it.

The Blue Hose were almost all passing – 297 yards to 25 on the ground – and the Bulldogs were balanced and prolific. Gardner-Webb (1-3) rushed for 247 and passed for 238.

“We didn’t have a big run game plan,” said coach Englehart. “We just didn’t feel like we could match up and push them around up front. … We did what we did to give us our best chance. We have to spread the ball out and get some of our athletes in space.

“I thought that was effective, but we could have stopped their run better.”

Riddell, a red-shirt senior from Tampa, Fla., hit 19/26 for a touchdown and an interception. A blast from the PC past, well-traveled Ren Hefley, had two incompletions for Gardner-Webb in a muted return to Clinton. Hefley was Kevin Kelley’s record-setting starter in 2021.

The potent running game, led by Carson Gresock with 134 yards and Holmes with 132, gave Gardner-Webb an almost 15-minute edge in time of possession.

The Bulldogs have displayed a knack for playing to the opposition. GWU has fallen to Wofford and Charlotte by one point and James Madison by seven. The Dukes upended North Carolina, 70-50, on Saturday.

Hurst hit his first eight passes. Senior linebacker Alex Herriott of Hanahan, made 10 or more tackles (11) for the 11^th time.

“Hurst is a quick processor,” said his head coach. “He does a really good job of getting from one to two to three (in receiver options). We know he’s going to be really good.”

An excessive aspect was the frequency of penalties. Gardner-Webb ran up 164 yards in 17 infractions, PC a mere 125 in 15 flags. The Hose wore blue and the Bulldogs white, by the night was flecked in yellow.

Now everything changes.

After bouncing from annihilation (63-10) at Mercer to overwhelming wins at Erskine (31-14) and against Virginia of Lynchburg (52-0), and an encouraging loss on Saturday, the rest of the way matches PC against its peers, the proud walk-ons of the Pioneer Football League.

“Everybody played really well,” said coach Englehart. “Right now I couldn’t care less about the [previous] four games. You play these preseason games, or non-conference games, and it’s really all about the PFL.”

Presbyterian’s closest PFL rival, Davidson, visits Bailey Memorial Stadium, next Saturday night, again at 7, in the so-called Carolina Border Clash, which isn’t the Bronze Derby but is something.

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