GUILFORD – Guilford football opened with two touchdown drives and went on to shut out Xavier 19-0 on Friday night at Kavanaugh Turf Field.
Running back Shane Connelly broke off several big runs and scored twice. He credited his offensive line for opening running lanes.
Connelly put the Grizzlies on the board with a 7-yard touchdown run on their opening drive. After Guilford’s defense forced a three-and-out, quarterback Ryan Lynch found Reed Hovick wide open for a 72-yard touchdown, making it 13-0.
“It was huge [to get two touchdowns on our first two drives] not knowing what the weather was going to be,” Guilford head coach Brian White said. “Starting early was something we haven’t really done this year, so we wanted to try and get out of the gate a little earlier and doing that on our first two drives definitely helped us.”
Soon after Hovick’s touchdown, the rain came down hard and the wind picked up, turning the second quarter into a defensive battle.
The rain let up in the third quarter, and Connelly broke loose for a 78-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw.
“Honestly, I [was just trying to] make it to the end zone,” Connelly said. “I was tired. I almost ran out of gas at the end, but I made it.”
Xavier looked to answer immediately. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Maxwell Murphy scrambled for a 42-yard gain.
The Falcons drove into the red zone, but Hyde Jacobson intercepted Murphy’s pass after it was deflected.
Guilford then moved into the red zone behind a series of runs by Connelly, but Xavier got the ball back when Carmine Balogh intercepted Lynch’s pass in the end zone.
After another long Xavier drive, Guilford forced another turnover. Benjamin Mennone made an impressive one-handed interception.
“I saw the guy running a post on the outside; I looked up – the ball was coming my way, and I just made a catch,” Mennone said.
Guilford remained undefeated, but White said his team knows the schedule will get tougher and is focused on taking it one game at a time.
Connelly credited his teammates for his performance and said the team still has work to do.
“I think we’re doing great,” Connelly said. “We just got to keep doing what we do.”
Player of the game
Shane Connelly, Guilford: Ran for two touchdowns, one for 78 yards and the other for 7, to help keep the Grizzlies unbeaten.
Quotable
“Shane is electric. He can really break it at any time. We have some really good receivers, but we knew the weather was going to be an issue with the wind, so throwing the ball was going to be kind of difficult for us. I thought, for the most part, it was a really good team effort with defense and offense combined.” – Guilford coach Brian White.
Guilford 19, Xavier 0
XAVIER 0 0 0 0- 0
GUILFORD 13 0 6 0-19
G- Shane Connelly 7 run (Owen Andrews kick)
G- Reed Hovick 72 pass from Ryan Lynch (kick blocked)
G- Connelly 78 run (kick blocked)
Team records:Guilford 3-0; Xavier 2-1.
This article originally published at Guilford football stays unbeaten after shutout of Xavier; Connelly scores twice.
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