College Football Final – Guilford 45, Shenandoah 20

GREENSBORO, N.C. – De’Eric Bell (Jackson, Ga./Jackson) ran for a season-high 227 yards and two touchdowns in Guilford College’s 45-20 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) football win over visiting Shenandoah University Saturday. The Quakers (3-4, 1-2 ODAC) made four interceptions to snap a four-game losing skid and hand the Hornets (5-2, 3-1 ODAC) their first league loss.

Bell averaged 10.8 yards per carry on 21 totes to match the sixth-highest single-game rushing total in Guilford history. He scored on a 10-yard, second-quarter run and added a 40-yard, third-quarter scamper in which he reversed field and eluded multiple tacklers before plowing into the end zone. Ranked third among NCAA Division III all-purpose yards leaders, Bell also caught three passes and returned two kicks to finish with 277 all-purpose yards, the fifth-best total in school history.

Guilford’s defense, which used a three-man front because of a shortage of healthy linemen, harassed Division III passing leader Hayden Bauserman into four interceptions, including Vic Smith, Jr.’s 43-yard pick-six on Shenandoah’s first offensive play. Bauserman completed 37-of-56 attempts for 290 yards and two touchdowns, season lows for yards and scores. The junior entered the contest atop the national rankings with 412.5 total offensive yards per game and 29 passing touchdowns. The longest of his 37 completions went 27 yards and he averaged 7.8 yards per pass.

Guilford registered a season-high four sacks, two by Jarrod Russ. The Quakers’ Terry Singleton picked Bauserman off on the Quakers’ two-yard line on a fourth-down play from Guilford’s 12. He also broke up three of the team’s six passes. Shenandoah was one-of-six on fourth-down plays, three of which ended in Quakers’ interceptions. Jeremiah Hedrick (Sedalia, N.C./Southern Guilford) and C.J. Hobbs notched Guilford’s other interceptions.

Guilford quarterback Karsten Miller (Thomasville, N.C./North Davidson (NW Mississippi C.C.)) completed 18-of-30 passes to eight different receivers for 250 yards. His 15-yard touchdown pass to Montek Johnson opened a 21-13 Quakers’ lead five plays after Shenandoah’s Jalen Hudson returned a kickoff 92 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. Miller completed a 50-yard pass to Johnson two plays after Bauserman’s third-quarter touchdown pass to Michael Ashwell (10 receptions, 55 yards) drew the Hornets to within 24-20. The Miller-to-Johnson completion set up the first of Eryk Brandon-Dean’s (Mebane, N.C./Orange) career-high two touchdown runs, a one-yard dive.

Coach Chris Rusiewicz’s Quakers close out their road schedule Saturday (10/28) at league-rival Bridgewater College at 2:00 p.m.