The East Carolina Pirates have added the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs to their 2019 football schedule, both schools announced on Wednesday.
East Carolina will host Gardner-Webb at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina on Sept. 7, 2019. The game will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
“The ability to schedule non-conference games against in-state opponents remains a priority for us,” ECU Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery said. “Gardner-Webb is a program which I’m both familiar with and very respectful of. We’ve made it a point to extend our reach into western North Carolina and this opportunity is certainly consistent with that.”
Gardner-Webb is located about 300 miles west of ECU in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. The Runnin’ Bulldogs are a member of the Big South Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision.
“We are excited to head down to Greenville and play an established in-state program like East Carolina,” said GWU head coach Carroll McCray. “We have a great deal of respect for Coach Montgomery and his staff and look forward to taking on the Pirates in 2019.”
The addition of Gardner-Webb completes East Carolina’s 2019 non-conference schedule. ECU is also slated to travel to NC State on Aug. 31, host Virginia Tech on Sept. 21, and travel to Old Dominion on Sept. 28.
East Carolina was previously slated to host South Carolina in 2019, but the Gamecocks backed out of the contest. Gardner-Webb is the replacement for that game.