Belvidere, IL – Early season football is always something coaches at all levels lose sleep over. The Guilford-Belvidere battle was littered with penalties, turnovers, and delays for the cramping you often see in the first few weeks of play.
No score for either team in the opening quarter led to a throwback style for the rest of the game where both teams tried to muscle each other around. As the 2nd quarter wore on, Guilford took advantage of their depth.
The Vikings were able to rotate in fresh players while the Bucs had to stick with their starters.
Xavier Lindhe found wideout Messiah Tilson
for a 10-yard touchdown to open the scoring, Guilford added the 2-point conversion to go up 8-0 with 2:30 to go in the first half.
While the hot and muggy night dragged on after halftime the Vikings scored twice in the 3rd quarter. Coming right out of the locker room the Vikings scored a TD on a 8-yard pass from QB Lindhe to 6’2” senior Jaidyn Nguyen. Guilford ran in a 2-point conversion making it 16-0.
The 2nd score of the quarter saw another pitch and catch, this time Xavier Lindhe connected with LaDamion Hoffman on an 11-yard TD.
The quarter ended with Guilford up 22-0.
Guilford held possession of the ball for much of the final quarter to make sure Belvidere was not going to make any sort of comeback. The Vikings added a late 11-yard TD run from Izaias Primus. The PAT attempt fell short and that wrapped up the scoring for the night.
Key Takeaways
Both teams played a lot of youth - it will be intriguing to watch the position battles unfold and see who will establish themselves as the season goes on.
Guilford is going to be tough out of the NIC 10 conference race. Speed, speed and more speed is what shows up all over the field when you watch them play.
Final Thoughts - We’re so excited football is back! The effort and time put in by the coaches, parents, and players is something we can all appreciate. We get to watch the play under the Friday night lights – What we don’t see is the early morning lifts, the extra conditioning, the team building, and all the other things that go into playing high school football.
The next broadcast for Clutch Sports Media 815 is Friday, September 1st 2023 as the Hononegah Indians play host to the Harlem Huskies in another NIC-10 battle. Watch it streamed live at ClutchSportsIL.com and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @clutchsports815 for more coverage.
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