For the second straight year, coach Marion Kirby’s  Greensboro College football squad finished with an even 5-5 record.

Now in its fifth season as a varsity sport at GC, the Pride football program was a legitimate contender for the Dixie Conference championship, and an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs— until late in the season.

The Pride started the year strong, with a conference record of 3-1. GC posted victories over Chowan, Shenandoah and Averett. Non-conference wins over Salisbury and Guilford gave the team a 5-2 record before finishing the season with three losses: all on the road.

The team beat Guilford in the Fifth Annual Gate City Soup Bowl in dramatic fashion. The Pride scored 15 straight fourth quarter points to come back and defeat the cross town Quakers, 15-14.

The Pride used another second half comeback on the road in Shenandoah to beat the Hornets, 22-16. GC was down 16-0 at the half before Kirby’s troops stormed back to dominate after the break.

Sophomore Erik Naglee was named to the All-Conference first team for both his punting and his place-kicking. Naglee finished    eighth in the country with an average of 40.4 yards a punt, including 10 that were downed inside the 20-yard line. He was 9 of 11 on his field goal attempts, including 9 of 9 from inside 40 yards.

Junior offensive lineman Roy Tesh was named to the All-Conference second team for his play at the right tackle spot.

Senior receiver George Washington, sophomore linebacker Richard Tattersall and  freshman defensive lineman David Baity joined Tesh on the second team.

Fifth-year senior Jason Layman finished the season ranked eighth nationally with a kickoff return average of 28.1 yards. Layman returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.