Freshman Aaron Philo threw for 373 yards and a touchdown in his first career start as Georgia Tech thumped Gardner-Webb 59-12 on Saturday at Atlanta.
Jamal Haynes scored on two second-quarter touchdown runs and Malachi Hosley, who racked up 100 yards on the ground, also scored two touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech (2-0) didn’t use quarterback Haynes King because of a lower-body injury.
The Yellow Jackets compiled 680 yards of total offense, though they were hurt by 12 penalties.
Nate Hampton and Cole Pennington each threw touchdown passes for the Runnin’ Bulldogs (1-1). Pennington finished 14-for-21 for 164 yards.
Philo completed 21 of 28 passes with an interception.
There was a pregame delay prior to kickoff because of weather conditions. The Yellow Jackets led 28-6 at halftime, outgaining the Runnin’ Bulldogs 356-132 after facing an early 6-0 deficit on a 1-yard connection from Nate Hampton to Anthony Lowe after a Philo fumble.
The Yellow Jackets had turnovers on their first two possessions.
Philo threw 11 yards to Isiah Canion for Georgia Tech’s first points. The Yellow Jackets then tacked on three touchdowns in a span of about 9 1/2 minutes in the second quarter, beginning with Hosley’s 55-yard run. Haynes scored on runs from 47 and 1 yard.
Gardner-Webb, which erased a 28-point deficit to win last week’s opener against Western Carolina, was hurt by going 2-for-10 on third-down conversions in the first half.
Georgia Tech padded its lead on Hosley’s 5-yard run for the first points of the second half. In the final minute of the third quarter, Ahmari Harvey recovered a blocked field goal by Jordan van den Berg and raced 65 yards to stretch the margin to 42-6.
Gardner-Webb scored on Caleb Borders’ 14-yard reception from Pennington to halt Georgia Tech’s stretch of 42 unanswered points.
This was the second meeting between the teams, with the Yellow Jackets enjoying a more stress-free outcome than their 10-7 victory in 2008.
