A little over a minute remained in the game when Guilford punted the ball to Greensboro, and following a muffed punt, they recovered it at Greensboro’s 13-yard line. With four more downs to go and the end zone within striking distance, Guilford took a knee and ran out the clock.
They did not need any more points.
The annual Soup Bowl between the Guilford College Quakers and their crosstown rivals, the Greensboro College Pride, was a shut-out for Guilford with a final score of 69-0.
It was a resounding victory for the Quakers new lineup.
“We’ve got some young guys and gave them some experience (playing tonight),” said head football coach Chris Rusiewicz after the game.
Greensboro had a new coaching staff, so the Quakers started the game not knowing what sort of plays or formations they might run.
“We really didn’t know much about them (going in),” said senior linebacker and captain Hunter Hoots.
Despite not knowing Greensboro’s tactics, Guilford still won easily.
“It was awesome,” said senior long snapper Ben Winstead. “The refs were saying, ‘are you trying to score 100?’”
Among the players wearing the Guilford crimson and gray for the first time was the Quakers’ starting quarterback, junior Karsten Miller.
Karsten Miller threw a 36-yard pass to junior wide receiver Rontavious Miller for Guilford’s first touchdown less than five minutes into the first quarter. The quarterback also picked up two rushing touchdowns.
Helping Karsten Miller on the offensive side of the ball was junior running back De’Eric Bell, who had 125 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Two other running backs, first-year Eryk Brandon-Dean and junior Hunter Causey, picked up two touchdowns each, and first-year running back Terrek Watley tallied on one.
“We had new players that played really well,” said Hoots. “Some of them got touchdowns in their first game.”
Junior quarterback Christian Miles stepped in later in the game and picked up 120 yards passing and 15 yards rushing.
Greensboro only threatened to score twice, and Guilford’s defense shut them down every drive. Junior Gibson Ziah came up with three sacks and assisted with five other tackles, winning Guilford’s Most Valuable Player for the game. Hoots racked up 10 tackles as well.
Off the field, Guilford dominated in the competition that gave the game its name: the Soup Bowl. Guilford collected 5,829 cans of food, while Greensboro collected 1,829, all of which went to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.
“It’s always good to beat them in cans and on the field,” said senior offensive lineman and captain Wes Johnson.
Now that they have a game against another team under their belt, the team is looking ahead to the rest of the season.
“We have a really bright future,” said Bell. “We have a chance to beat every team in the conference.” More immediately, however, Bell’s plans were pragmatic.
“We are going to come out tomorrow, practice and start the next week.”
The next team the Quakers face off against will be Methodist University at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 at Appenzeller Field. The game may be more challenging, as one of Guilford’s coaches who left last year now works at Methodist.
“They’ll be familiar with us, so you have to be more physical than the other guy,” said Johnson.
But as they face the upcoming challenge, Guilford can go in proud of their performance in the Soup Bowl.
“It’s a good game to put us on the right track,” said Johnson.
