GREENSBORO, N.C. -- E'Montie Dears rushed for a season-high 148 yards and three touchdowns as the Methodist football team defeated Greensboro, 41-16 on Saturday afternoon at Grimsley Stadium.
 
The Methodist (1-4, 1-2 USA South) defense held Greensboro (1-4, 0-2) to 291 yards of total offense, including just 45 passing yards as two GC quarterbacks combined to complete just 5 of 24 passes for 45 yards. The Pride were also held scoreless for the final 50:07 of the contest after racing out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter.
 
Tolan Jones scored on runs of 71 and 69 yards on successive plays in the first quarter as the Pride took a 13-0 lead at the 7:33 mark. A David Chappelea field goal from 22 yards out at the 5:07 mark made it 16-0 in favor of the hosts before MU got rolling.
 
Following a three and out early in the second quarter, Monarch quarterback Steve Keoni needed just three plays to hook up with Dylan Cummings on a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-7 following Landon Cheviron's PAT wit 10:29 on the clock.
 
A short four-play drive by Greensboro gave the ball back to MU at its own 10-yard line. A 36-yard completion from Keoni to Xzavier McNeil got MU out of the shadow of its own end zone before Dears began to take over. Runs of 16 and 21 yards moved the ball to the GC 17 yard line and after a Pride timeout, Dears scampered in from 17 yards out to make it 16-14 with 7:53 left until the half.
 
With under five minutes to play in the first half, MU's EJ White forced a fumble of Greg Tyler, scooped up the loose ball and returned it 43 yards to the GC 22. Keoni got MU to the goal line with a 21-yard completion to Josh Carter on first down and Dears punched it in on third and goal for a 20-16 lead after a failed PAT.
 
The Monarchs' first possession of the third quarter, which came after a Greensboro three and out, resulted in a Keoni-to-Carter scoring pass that covered 44 yards and pushed MU's lead to 27-16.
 
Dears added his third rushing touchdown, another one-yard effort, with 9:17 left to play in the contest. Following an interception by Carlos McCracken, Keoni and Cummings hooked up again, this time from 30 yards to push the Monarchs' lead wot 41-16 with 5:42 to play.
 
After the first quarter, the MU defense held Greensboro to four plays or fewer on eight drives, resulting in five punts, a pair of fumbles and an interception. Dennis Livers added an interception late in the fourth quarter
 
Of Greensboro's 291 yards, 161 of those came in the first quarter as MU's defense stifled GC over the final three quarters.
 
Keoni completed 19 of 35 passes for a career-high 276 yards with three touchdowns. Cummings hauled in six passes for 103 yards with a pair of scores and Carter had 73 yards on three grabs with a score. Cummings' 103 yards also marked a new career high.
 
Mark Stanford led the defense with seven tackles, including three for loss. Will England had five stops, four for loss, and White added five tackles with one for loss in addition to his forced fumble and recovery.
 
The Monarchs are home next week against Brevard beginning at 1 pm.