On Saturday night, the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs did not look like a team making its first playoff appearance, on the road nonetheless. On their initial drive they marched right down the field and socked Eastern Kentucky in the mouth with a touchdown. The Colonels answered but every time they did, the Bulldogs just hit right back. Eventually EKU simply couldn’t keep pace anymore and when the dust settled, Gardner-Webb had pulled off a high-scoring shocker.
Narii Gaither opened up the scoring with a 28-yard touchdown run that came on the heels of a nine-play drive. Quarterback Bailey Fisher completed his first five pass attempts on the drive and the EKU crowd fell silent as the Bulldogs took a 7-0 lead.