GREENSBORO, NC—The Greensboro College football team fell in a heart breaker on senior day to Methodist University by a final score of 51-50. Prior to the game, The Pride football team and fans honored the eight seniors on the team.
To start out the game, the Greensboro offense took off through the air, with junior quarterback completing 4 of his five passes on the drive resulting in a Dexter Russell six yard touchdown reception to put The Pride up 7-0. After the opening touchdown, the Monarchs ran off 13 unanswered points to take a 13-7 lead heading into the second quarter of play.
In the second quarter, both teams showed a high power attack fighting back and forth. On The Prides opening possession of the quarter that started at the end of the first quarter, Throndset hit Russell again for Throndset's second of six passing touchdowns on the day to give Greensboro the lead back at 14-13. However, Methodist responded right back with another touchdown 20-14 with just over ten minutes remaining in the half. After a pair of three and outs by both teams, The Pride would hit the board once again. Warren Scott capped of a seven play 50 yard drive with a two yard dive into the end zone giving Greensboro the lead back at 21-20. But Methodist came right back finding the end zone again just before the half to take a 27-27 lead going into half time.
On the opening drive of the second half, The Pride defense came up with one of their many big plays in the game. Will Thomas caught up to the Monarchs quarterback in the back field to force and recovering the ball to give The Pride great field position on the Monarchs 40 yard line. On the second play of the drive, Throndset connected with Dexter Russell once again taking the ball to the Methodist two yard line. Justin Dukes followed that up with a two yard touchdown pass putting The Pride up early in the third quarter 28-27. On the next Methodist possession following the touchdown, the Greensboro defense came up big with a stop on third down to get the ball back in the hands of their hot handed quarterback. Greensboro College had trouble moving the ball in the drive, but a spark of energy came from Mac Graham who converted a fourth down fake punt giving Greensboro a first down in Monarchs territory. From there, Throndset need just four more plays before hitting Justin Dukes for the second time on the day with a 52 yard strike giving The Pride their largest lead of the day at 35-27. Methodist came back with ten unanswered points to closing out the quarter and with a 37-35 lead.
On the second possession of the fourth quarter, the Greensboro defense did it again jumping on a Methodist fumble to give their offense the ball back on the Monarch 33 yard line. Greensboro found Tripp Honeycutt wide open in the back of the end zone just four plays later to give The Pride the lead back at 42-37 following the extra point. Methodist responded with another touchdown to go back on top, but it did not phase the spirits of the The Pride's offensive attack. Greensboro got the ball back with just under nine minutes reaming in the game, Throndset took the team on his shoulders once again converting on two of his three throws in the drive capping off his scoring day hitting Dexter Russell for the third time on the day with a ten yard strike to makeing the game 48-44. The Pride decided to go for two to make it a six point game, and it was the same combo connecting again for the conversion making the score 50-44 with just over seven minutes left. The fast paced Monarchs struck for the final time in the game just two minutes later to take the lead 51-50 after the made extra point. The Greensboro offense got back on the field, but was unable to convert on fourth down giving the ball back with just over one minute left. Methodist would take a couple of knees to run out the clock and end the game.
The Pride had an outstanding game by Ryan Throndset who passed for a season high 575 yards on 47 of 70 passing for six touchdowns. The six touchdowns for Throndset, not only set a Greensboro College record but also broke his own USA South record from one year ago. Dexter Russell also had a career day for Greensboro grabbing 23 balls for 309 yards and three touchdowns, setting the conference mark for most receptions in a single game. Also for Russell, he became on the second receiver in school history to eclipse the 200 career reception mark and now has 219 in his career.
Greensboro College was anchored on defense by De'Vante Henderson with nine tackles on the day, while Micah McMaster contributed seven tackles. Sam Parker led the way for The Pride with two tackles for loss in the game.
With the loss, The Pride will fall to 2-7 overall, and 1-5 in USA South play. The Pride will travel to Maryville, TN next week at 1:30 pm to close out their 2013 campaign.