Charlotte rallies from 17 down to outlast Gardner-Webb

CHARLOTTE ( CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE ) — After a rough first half from freshman quarterback Deshawn Purdie who had Charlotte in a 17-3 halftime hole, things were looking bleak before walk-on Trexler Ivey came in in the fourth quarter after a Purdie injury, to help lead the 49ers back from 14 points down, to outlast Garnder-Webb 27-26 at Jerry Richardson Stadium.

It’s win No. 1 for head coach Biff Poggi this season and he is more than thankful for the resiliency his team played with in the come-from-behind win.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like that before. I’m so proud of our players. They have so much character,” Poggi said postgame. “They just kept fighting and it was super sweet.”

In a quarter of work, Ivey, the redshirt junior who came into the game third on the depth chart, was near perfect, going 11-for-12 for 142 yards and two crucial touchdown passes late in the fourth quarter.

“Last year I had a good amount of those moments where it was time to go. It wasn’t the first time, but when you see him [Purdie] go down, and it clicked” Ivey said. “It was like ‘let’s go, dude, do your job, lead the team and that’s kind of what I was thinking.”

Charlotte moves to 1-2 on the year and will travel to Bloomington next week to battle the Indiana Hoosiers.

Gardner-Webb falls to 0-3 and gets ready for Presbyterian in Week 4 on the road.

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