“That team is going to b e in the South Atlantic Conference one day? That team?”

David Bennett heard those words after Catawba College’s football team handed North Greenville a 59-0 shellacking Saturday afternoon.

The coach’s response?

“Remember Tusculum.”

Bennett knows that North Greenville will probably become the SAC’s ninth school one day. It’s location is perfect. Its Christian values are perfect. It’s size is perfect.

The only thing that isn’t perfect right now is the quality of football.

Saturday was no contest from the opening whistle. Catawba had receivers with more muscle in those arms than North Greenville linemen. Speed was not an issue. Talent? Well ...

North Greenville (0-8) gets beat by scores like 59-0 a lot. But Crusaders coach Joe Johnson keeps plugging along. He keeps a stiff upper lip. He knows that with just 15 scholarships, he isn’t going to come close to beating a Mars Hill (62-0), a Presbyterian (61-0) or a Catawba.

“The thing we don’t have a lot of is depth,” Johnson said after the Catawba debacle. “We can’t reload like they do.”

If North Greenville is admitted into the league, it will receive 25 scholarships. And those extra 10 mean all the difference in the world.

“You can do a lot with 10 scholarships,” Bennett said. “You can distribute that out to about 20 guys.”

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Right now, the big hangup is facilities.

North Greenville is located just under Glassy Mountain about 20 miles from the city. It’s a beautiful setting. There’s not much in the community — a four-way stop sign and one restaurant: Thai Am I.

The Crusaders get little coverage from the Greenville newspaper, which drives sports information director Rob Bradley crazy. But you know it would. Bradley is the son of Clemson’s legendary SID Bob Bradley. And he grew up watching his daddy’s team get plenty of ink.

It also drives Bradley crazy when no one shows up at the games. But to watch the Crusaders play, students must drive past Greer to a little place called Taylors, S.C. where the Crusaders pay $800 to rent the Eastside High School field and another $200 for clean-up.

Students don’t want to drive that far. It was especially depressing earlier in the season when Presbyterian, located just 30 minutes down the road, visited Eastside and the attendance was barely over 800.

But all that will change once the new athletic complex is built on campus. Kids will be impressed and want to play sports there. The mindset will change, maybe even at the local paper.

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Bennett talked to Johnson before and after Saturday’s game.

“Itold him to keep his head up,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, there will be a brighter day. Back in 1994, Catawba gave up 60 points in three consecutive games so I told him I know how he feels.

“But hopefully, North Greenville will be a member of the South Atlantic Conference.”

“That’s one of our goals,” Johnson said.

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Bennett can’t help but remember when Tusculum was doing the same thing North Greenville is now: getting its brains beaten out for the sake of getting the SAC to notice the Pioneers.

“People would say, ‘Tusculum’s getting in?’ ” Bennett recalled.

“I remember the visitor’s side at Tusculum. They didn’t even have bleachers. And they told us, ‘Don’t pull your bus out there because there’s a sink hole.’ Students had a couch they were sitting on.

“But look where Tusculum is today in athletics.”

North Greenville was once a junior college, but so was Mars Hill, Wingate and Gardner-Webb. And they are all successful programs now.

And that’s why one day, Bennett will be referring to North Greenville when another school is getting beaten to a pulp, hoping to be a SAC member.

“I know our presidents are looking into it,” Bennett said. “When they get the facilities, we’d love to see them get in.”

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .