GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford College football team (0-1, 0-0 ODAC) could not get their offense revved up, dropping a 21-7 decision to crosstown foe Greensboro College (1-0, 0-0 USA South) in the 24^th Annual Gate City Soup Bowl on Saturday night at Appenzeller Field at the Armfield Athletic Center.

In the annual food drive that is associated with the rivalry showdown, over 11,000 canned goods and non-perishable food items were collected, making the evening a major win for the city of Greensboro.

On the gridiron, this one was a defensive slog with barely over 425 combined yards of total offense between the adversaries. On the whole, the game featured more punting yards, with 326 than either passing, 262, or rushing, 172, yards on the night.

Both squads employed a tandem of play-callers with the Pride's Josh Sims being the best of the bunch in reserve for the guests, throwing for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Caleb Robles (Wilmington, N.C.) had some ebbs and flows finishing 8-of-20 for 58 yards along with the game's only touchdown tote and 36 rushing yards, the second-most of all players behind Josh Campbell's (Reidsville, N.C.) 39. Shane Shapiro (Jacksonville, Fla.) led all players in receptions with five for 44 yards while KJ Brown led all players in yardage with 51 on a single grab for Greensboro

Defensively, it was a stellar showing for Travis Burton (Pikeville, N.C.) who had eight total tackles and 3.5 sacks. Nick Iannone (Wellington, Fla.) paced all players with ten tackles and added four QB hurries while Tristan Bailey (Statesville, N.C.) came down with an interception to go with four total takedowns.

Frank Walker led the Pride with eight total tackles and 2.5 for a loss and Jay Law came down with a pair of INTs for Greensboro.

As teams, Guilford dominated the ground game, out-gaining the Pride, 119-53, but the opposite was the case through the air, 156-106, although the Quakers picked up more total yardage, 225-209. The difference was the turnover differential with Guilford getting just one pick against Greensboro coming down with a pair in big spots.

This one started with a bang following a weather delay, as the guests immediately stole the life from the huge Quaker crowd when Sincere McIntyre took the opening kickoff back 95 yards for an immediate score. The rest of the first half was much slower paced. The Quakers got the equalizer with an eight-play, 60-yard trek on their second drive of the night, polished off by a Robles eight-yard run. The half's most consequential play may have been one that, for all intents and purposes, did not happen, as at the 13:15 mark of the second, Bailey returned a punt for a touchdown only to see it redacted due to a hold on the return. The other ten drives resulted in a bunch of punts, a pair of turnover on downs, and a missed field goal by Guilford ahead of the half.

The takeaways began to roll in come the second half with Bailey coming down with a huge INT in the endzone but later in the half, a shanked punt off the back line led to a short field and four-play, 28-yard scoring drive with Sims throwing to Karee Dykes in the third before icing it with a seven-play, 56-yard drive late in the fourth as Sims hit Matt Kidd for an 11-yard score. That would bring the final score to 21-7 in Greensboro's first Soup Bowl win in the last nine tries.

The Quakers football team heads to Fayetteville to battle Methodist next on Saturday, Sept. 13^th. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM.  

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