“We exceeded expectations,” said Guilford College kicker Tyler Hunt. “We always expect a win, but …” Hunt didn’t even finish his sentence; he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

This year marked the 19th annual Gate City Soup Bowl between Guilford and Greensboro College; however, this year the Quakers came away with a record-breaking 77-13 win over the Pride.

“It was a great win,” said Guilford head coach Chris Rusiewicz. “I think the scoreboard speaks for us on that one. I can’t tell you how nice it is to put that many points on it.”

Excitement was in the air after the game for both the coaches and the team, but some players on Guilford’s team still plan to improve throughout the season even after such an impressive win.

“I think we did well,” said Guilford linebacker Daytwyn Roscoe. “But we need to shut all teams out from here on. We just have to keep building on this and move on to the next opponent.”

At the end of the first quarter, the Quakers were up 21-0. Then at halftime the Quakers had more than doubled their score to 49-6. The touchdowns just kept on coming for Guilford.

“We are a young team,” said Greensboro College head football coach William Young before the game. “Guilford College has a very good football team and is extremely well-coached.”

It is coach Young’s fourth year as head football coach for the Pride and 15th year overall at Greensboro College, but the competition was just too much for Greensboro College to handle this year.

The football game each year is very entertaining and gives the coaches, fans and players a chance to see what the season may look like for their teams, however the soup bowl is obviously not strictly football.

While the two schools battle it out as local rivals on the field the annual game is also a challenge between the schools seeing which college can raise the most cans to help feed the hungry in Greensboro.

“It is fun to play in a city rivalry game,” said Rusiewicz. “I feel this gives the community something to enjoy, but the canned food drive that comes from the event is another way that this game gives back to the community.”

The cans that were raised by both schools will go directly back into our local community.

“We’ve been doing this since ’97,” said James Shields. “The cans that we collect go to Greensboro Urban Ministry. They have a food pantry there which people can go to and also they provide food to smaller pantries and churches in Greensboro.”

This year, both the score of the game and the amount of cans raised were record-breaking. Guilford College collected 5086 cans and Greensboro College accumulated 2347 cans for a grand total of 7433 cans raised between both schools.

Bringing in this many cans of food is a great blessing for those who are hungry and living in poverty.

“But more so than the cans,” said Shields. “We also want to bring awareness to hunger in the area. While we appreciate people bringing in the cans, we want people to also be aware of the hunger in the area, especially in Guilford County. Raising cans is really just a Band-Aid, it does help people, immediately, but in terms of the long term we really want people to look at how they can be involved in the community.”

As members of our local community we have to remember to do what we can to help those in need. The football game is a great way to bring people together each year, but in order to help those in need we must do more than just bring canned food to a game once a year.

“I think the canned food that is collected for this game is incredible and I can only imagine the amount of people and families it helps,” said Ruciewicz. “I am most excited to be involved in the game that allows for two college communities and the city community to help those that are in need of help.”