LEXINGTON, Va. – Nick Iannone (Wellington, Fla.) was in the center of the action for the entirety of Saturday evening for the Guilford College football team (1-2, 0-1 ODAC), compiling a program-record 24 tackles in the team's Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) opening bout at Washington & Lee University (1-2, 1-0 ODAC) that finished in a 35-7 decision at Wilson Field.

Going against the Generals' triple-option rushing attack, the stage was set for a huge performance and the senior linebacker delivered with five solo tackles on top of an astronomical 19 assisted efforts to reach his total and make it 3-for-3 in terms of Quakers rewriting the record books with solo performances so far this year. Notching a tackles total that is the most the league has seen thus far and would rank second in all of Division-III football entering the week, he surpassed Satiir Stevenson '15 and his record mark of 22 as set on October 4, 2014, also against Washington & Lee.

Iannone added a pass break-up while pacing five Guilford defenders who reached double-digit takedowns, as Travis Burton (Pikeville, N.C.) and Aden Reece (Wilmington, N.C.) had 11 apiece, followed by Avery Lilly (Mount Gilead, N.C.) and Chase Evans (Fayetteville, N.C.) with 10, with the full quartet notching career-high marks. Burton was tied for the game-high with 1.5 tackles for a loss while Evans came away with his first collegiate interception in the contest. W&L was paced by Mac Palmer's ten tackles and two PBUs while Jack Johnson and Alan Haigler came down with picks for the hosts.

Offensively, Luke Hyatt (Wadesboro, N.C.) could not find a rhythm in the first half and while he recovered some, he still only completed half of his 38 pass attempts for 220 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. His top options were Cameron Campbell (Flowery Branch, Ga.), who had a career-best 69 yards and scored his first collegiate TD on five catches, and Shane Shapiro (Jacksonville, N.C.) who led all players in receptions for the third-straight week with seven going for 66 yards. Shapiro was also Guilford's third-leading rusher which is a credit to the work that W&L's defensive front did to restrict thew Quaker ground-game with Malik Woodard (Wilson, N.C.) finishing as GC's leading rusher with 23 yards.

Anthony Crawford controlled the game taking 27 carries, with every one of them going for positive yardage on his way to 176 yards on the ground, finding paydirt twice for the Generals. Ty Collins could not find success against GC's terrific secondary, but made his seven completions over 17 attempts count, throwing a pair of touchdowns and a pick on his way to 49 yards through the air. Dominic Hahn was the only W&L player with multiple catches, bringing in two for 14 yards and a touchdown with Michael Schoenberg also scoring once later.

The team totals shook out to the hosts out-gaining the Quakers 472-296, including 423-76 on the ground, leading to a 29-14 edge on first downs and while it actually balanced out some late, W&L maintained the edge in time of possession, 36:59-23:01. Guilford threw for more yardage, 220-49.

The Generals would toss and defer to the second half so the Guilford offense would get the ball first although it would be an abbreviated possession as they rapidly went three-and-out. Following a short punt, the hosts took over possession in plus territory and took advantage benefitting from key conversions on third-and-three and fourth-and-seven before Crawford, who got the ball on seven of the drive's eight plays and the producer of all 49 yards on the drive, punched it in from six yards out, although that is the only scoring that the first quarter would see.

GC's offense would take a few drives to get their initial first down of the contest, but would do so on their sequence that straddled the quarter break. They strung a few plays together, too, ultimately getting well into W&L territory, but a fourth down hold would get the ball back for the home squad. Like their first trip down the field in the opening period, Washington & Lee would get seven more on their initial possession in the second frame. Over 11 plays, they went 77 yards, ultimately seeing Collins toss the ball as he was descending to the grass on what would have been a huge fourth-down sack, instead connecting with Hahn who lunged across the plain for a seven-yard receiving score. Overall, however, the Quaker defense maintained their hold, keeping the deficit to just the two scores.

The third frame saw the script repeat itself with the Generals going right down to score the first time they had the ball. Despite getting pinned deep at their own two-yard line due to a special teams mental mistake, they got big runs from Collins on a third down pickup, then Hahn before Fidel Small broke free for the game's longest play to score a 52-yarder on the ground and finish a 98-yard venture over just six plays. Unfortunately, unlike the first half, the remainder of the frame would not be a shutout as W&L's 20 minutes of possession in the first half finally took its toll, with the hosts going on another 65-yard march over seven plays later in the quarter with Crawford putting the finishing touches on it from four yards out.

Guilford finally had an answer, finding some rhythm. Finding opportunities to get the ball to Shapiro chipped away at the yardage before an explosive play that saw Hyatt hit Campbell in stride, breaking tackles and running hard inside the host's 10 with a 40-yard chunk. A couple of rushes and a false start later, Hyatt went to his sophomore target again on a third down dump into the flat and Campbell did the rest diving over the pylon for the six-yard touchdown grab.

Washington & Lee made it 4-for-4 on quarter-opening scoring drives, as they split the period break with a 12-play, 75-yard jaunt down the field with Collins throwing to Schoenberg for a five-yard score and the rest of the game was just icing as the contest finished in a 35-7 final.

Guilford looks ahead to Homecoming Weekend next when they host Hampden-Sydney in week four action at the Armfield Athletic Center on Saturday, September 27^th at 1:00 PM.

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