You can tell a lot about a football team by the way they handle adversity. Some crumble, while others stand and look adversity in the face and claw right back at it, refusing to be beaten. 

    Guilford College showed that moxie Saturday, September 17 in Armfield Stadium as they opened their home schedule with a bang. 

    After jumping out of the gate with a defensive gem in the first game of the year against Greensboro College, Guilford College has dropped their last two games. They have played their hearts out but they have one factor of their game that continues to rear it’s ugly head. Turnovers.

    As the Quakers took on the Averett Cougars, in an out of conference battle, they entered the game 1-1 after the previous weeks loss to Methodist. Still riding high behind the confidence that Head Coach Chris Rusiewicz and his staff has instilled in the team, they took the field in front of a frenzied home crowd. 

    With skies overcast and rain drizzling throughout the evening the game figured to be an interesting one. And from the beginning of the game it did not disappoint. After one quarter the Cougars, who had only scored 13 points total on the season, exploded and jumped on top of the Quakers 21-0. But still playing with pride the Quaker offense was able to muster a second quarter touchdown when QB Grady Gamble found wide receiver Ben King for a 6 yard score. The lead was cut to 28-7. Guilford threatened once more in the first half  as they were knocking on the Cougars’ door  but would be denied when Gamble was picked off in the endzone. The teams would head to halftime. 

    “We cant turn the ball over,” said Rusiewicz.  

    After the returning alumns were announced and the rain subsided, Guilford took the field for the second half and you could tell they were a new team, although the same players came out.  At the 4:00 mark the Quaker offense took the field and two plays and :29 later freshman Josh Williams was in the end zone with a 24 yard touchdown jaunt up the right sideline.

    “I told the guys, we had five starters go down during practice so this week we are going to face adversity,” said Rusiewicz. “Last week we faced adversity and we couldn’t get through it. This week we faced it and fought all the way to the end.”

    As the teams traded possessions back and forth during the second half it became apparent that the Guilford squad was not going to roll over and take the loss.

    “The loss is disappointing, but at the same time an achievement,” said first-year defensive back DaShawn Johnson.  “We saw a lot of improvement out there tonight. We are a team and we knew just because we were down the game wasn’t over.    Our coaches told to just keep fighting and we did.”

    It’s not often that a loss has such a positive impact on a team but in this case I understand. When the Quakers found themselves down in the first half, they could have packed it in and allowed Averett to run them off the field. But they didn’t. 

    “Hey man, I’m excited,” said Rusiewicz. “To only lose by 14 points with all those turnovers I’m impressed…I’m excited. We can get better and build on it. I told my team that I don’t care if we are 0-2. We can go 6-0 in the conference from here and be champs. If these kids keep improving the way they are, we can go up to and beat Washington and Lee in two weeks.”

    That heart of a lion beats in everyone of the players on this team. They play from the beginning if the game the same way that they play at the end. Hard and with confidence.

    “I was still proud of my teammates even when we were down 21-0,” said sophomore return-specialist Quan Parker. “I  felt like we could come back and we almost did. Those are my brothers and we are always going to be together taking something positive out of the game. We never give up until that clock hits triple zeros in the 4th quarter. We don’t give up.”