Iannone Sets Program Tackles Record, Football Takes Soup Bowl Defeat To Greensboro
Guilford College Quakers open season with setback to crosstown rival, Greensboro College
Greensboro College 48, Guilford College 7
from: Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Nick Iannone (Wellington, Fla.) made a trio of early tackles, breaking the career total tackles record for the Guilford College football team (0-1, 0-0 ODAC), but they were unable to get in rhythm at Pride Field on Saturday night, falling to crosstown rival Greensboro College (1-0, 0-0 USA South) in the 25th Annual Gate City Soup Bowl.
With a trio of first half takedowns, Iannone surpassed Robert Smith ’16 to claim the program record with 329 total tackles and counting. He also worked closer to a second program record, with 176 career solo tackles, getting within single-digits of Satiir Stevenson’s ’15 standard of 183.
This year’s clash between Gate City foes was a far cry from 2025’s defensive slog, with the two teams combining for 10 explosive plays of 20-plus yards. The Pride out-gained Guilford 553-230, nearly doubled them up in first downs, 31-16, and scored on half of their 12 full drives. Guilford won the turnover battle, 3-2, but unfortunately could not do anything with it.
Tristan Gabrels (Buford, Ga.) showed flashes of strong play in his Quakers debut, but over the course of the game, finished with an inefficient evening, completing 15-of-38 for 126 yards, throwing an interception and getting sacked three times. Cameron Turner threw a majority of the night for Greensboro, completing 13-of-21 for 244 yards and three TDs against one INT. Kyjuan Westmoreland led all players with 84 rushing yards of Greensboro’s 277 total, but it was Cameron Torrence-Kelly who punched in a pair of scores. Maurice Andrews (Baltimore, Md.) only got two carried for Guilford but took one of them 58 yards for the game’s longest play and his team’s lone score. Shane Shapiro (Jacksonville, Fla.) secured double-digit receptions for the second time in his career, hauling in 10 albeit only for 69 yards. The Pride’s KJ Brown instead led all players in receiving yards with 99 on just four grabs and one score.
Iannone led all players in total tackles with nine on the night, including half a sack. Garrett Wilson (Winston-Salem, N.C.) had a strong debut with eight tackles, and Simeon Reid (Morganton, N.C.) had six takedowns, five solo, and 1.0 TFL in his first-career start. Ben Finkelstein (Southern Pines, N.C.) also stood out with seven tackles and an interception. Jay Law led the hosts with seven tackles followed by Scoot Colyer with six and Stone Fewell with five, all of whom had 1.0 TFL.
Guilford’s defense held early, yielding a first down but then a turnover on downs and things were actually looking up early for the offense with Gabrels linking with Josh Long (Elon, N.C.) for 37 yards, but unfortunately an interception two plays later halted any momentum as the Pride used 14 plays and two critical penalties to go down and open the scoring on a Torrence-Kelly rush. After a Quaker three-and-out, the Pride completed a Turner to Brown connection on their second play, going 54 yards for a second score. Guilford got their score as a counter, with Andrews breaking free for 58 yards on just the fourth play of their next drive, bringing it back to a one-score game where it would hold until the quarter break at 13-7.
In the second stanza, a strong punt return set up a quick Greensboro strike for 27 yards from Turner to Sincere McIntyre, but that would be the only scoring in the frame, as the defenses settled in to keep the score at 20-7 at the half.
The hosts opened things up in the third, with McIntyre’s second TD catch, Torrence-Kelly’s second TD run, and a rushing score from Turner before Austin Seabrook ran in a touchdown in the fourth, bringing the final score to 48-7.
The Quakers make their home debut next week under the Appenzeller Field lights, hosting Methodist University on Saturday, September 12 at 7:00 PM.
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