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Little (Flanders, N.J. / Mt. Olive HS) was named Big South Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Thompson (Greenville, S.C. / J.L. Mann HS) was named Freshman of the Week.
Little sprinted and bulled his way to a career-high 172 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries against Presbyterian, leading Gardner-Webb to a 21-15 win in the season finale.
The 5-foot-11, 208-pounder scored his first touchdown with 12:53 to play before halftime for a 13-2 Gardner-Webb lead, and sprinted 65 yards to the house with 13:33 left in the game for a 21-2 GWU advantage.
After Presbyterian rallied late to trim the lead to 21-15, Little took four-straight handoffs inside Blue Hose territory and – on 4th-and-1 – bulled over a pair of defenders for a four-yard gain to ice the game with 30 seconds left.
Little finished the season with 762 yards and seven touchdowns on 167 carries, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt and leading the Runnin' Bulldogs in rushing for the second year in a row. He finished his career with 2,143 yards and 17 touchdowns – which place him sixth in Gardner-Webb history in both categories.
Thompson (5-8, 148) registered five total stops (three solo), two pass break-ups and a forced fumble against Presbyterian, in addition to 1.5 tackles-for-loss.
His TFL on a botched field goal snap and subsequent forced fumble pushed PC back near midfield with Gardner-Webb hanging onto an early 7-0 lead. Thompson tied his season-high for tackles and set a personal-best for tackles-for-loss.
