by Alex Trepper

It is no secret that the Greensboro College football team for the past couple of seasons has been tough and heartbreaking to watch. As students, we want nothing but success for our friends and fellow classmates, especially on the field. The football team finished last season with 0 wins and 10 losses, but Coach Card did not look at his squad’s record and give up; he learned from it and recruited like a mad man.

The football team brought in over 50 new recruits this season with intentions on turning things around. For a program that has not seen success on the field for a while, the 2021 season was nothing but another motivator for the Pride.

This year’s team did not let last year’s failures and the outside noise get to them as they came into the year with high hopes. Those hopes disappeared early as GC blew an 11-point lead to Guilford in the home opener and went on to start the year 0-5.

While they lost their first five games, they showed promise as quarterback David Loughry II took home an offensive player of the week award as well as Max Steele leading the conference in tackles. On October 8, Southern Virginia (0 5) arrived at Pride Field and the stage was set for two teams to do battle, both hoping to get their first win of the season.

The game started out with a bang as Loughry found K.J. Greer on the first play of the game for a 75-yard touchdown on a wonderfully run go-route. Following great defense, the Pride marched 93 yards down the field and scored again, making it 14-0 after the first ten minutes. Going into the second quarter, the Pride had a 7-point lead and SVU had the ball on the Pride side of the 50; however, this is where everything went wrong for SVU and the GC defense began its takeover. In the second quarter alone, the Pride defense forced two interceptions (Tyler Alston and Derek Smith) and scored a touchdown after Symieon Sheridan returned a fumble for his first collegiate score. The amazing defense displayed, as well as an offense on fire, led to the Pride taking a 35-7 lead into halftime, with hopes high among the students surrounding the field.

The Pride offense in the second half was held to just 3 points thanks to a Christian Burgess field goal in the third quarter. Despite the offense stalling out, the defense for the Pride stayed strong, holding SVU to just 7 points in the third. The fourth quarter got a little nerve-racking, as with three minutes left in the game, the SVU offense had a chance to pull within one possession of the Pride. The GC defense came up big, however, and stopped a crucial 2-point attempt, keeping the lead at 10 points. As the final seconds ran down, the environment around Pride Field erupted as players, parents and students had just seen the first win on Pride Field since the team started playing on it.

Greensboro College defeated Southern Virginia 38-28 with the defense forcing four turnovers and the offense racking up over 550 total yards. This was a huge win for the program as it cements that this team is heading in the right direction.