NEWBERRY – Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks entered Saturday’s contest against Newberry College fresh off his 337th career win, which moved him past Pop Warner and into fifth-place in college football coaching history.
Newberry College made sure that Sparks made no headway on fourth-place Bobby Bowden before the third-largest crowd on record to ever watch a game at Setzler Field.
The Wolves racked up 424 yards of total offense and pounded Carson-Newman for a school-record 14 tackles for loss in a 34-19 Newberry victory, igniting the near-record crowd of 4,988 and solidifying Newberry’s spot atop the South Atlantic Conference standings with its sixth consecutive win.
Carson-Newman (3-4, 2-3 SAC) sent shockwaves through Setzler Field by scoring on its first play from scrimmage, a 75-yard strike from running back Antonio Wimbush to Aaron Seward on a trick play 13 seconds into the contest. The visitors forced a three-and-out on Newberry’s (6-1, 4-0) first possession, then drove 84 yards in 15 plays to extend the lead to 13-0.
Raleigh Yeldell and the Newberry offense had seen enough. The senior quarterback led Newberry on touchdown drives on each of its next four possessions to give the Wolves their fifth halftime lead this season, which the Wolves’ defense made stand up with a lights-out performance after the intermission.
Yeldell threw for 312 yards and rushed for 23, surpassing a number of career milestones. He moved into third place all-time in Newberry history in total offense and became the third player to reach the 6,000-yard mark in his career, finishing the day with 1,462 rushing yards and 4,575 through the air for a grand total of 6,037.
He is now sixth in school history with 2,469 yards of offense this season, placing him 745 yards away from breaking Josh Stepp’s record that has stood since 2004.
Yeldell also became the seventh player in school history to throw for 2,000 yards in a season and moved from 10th to fifth in single-season passing yardage. His four touchdown passes, each to a different receiver, give him 19 this season and 37 in his career.
The Edgefield native got the offense going with a 31-yard completion to Cole Watson on the Wolves’ second offensive possession, then found Baptiste Staggers for a 35-yard touchdown to cut into the Carson-Newman lead.
Newberry wasted no time in taking the lead in the second quarter, scoring on the first play after the break on a 23-yard catch-and-run to Markell Castle. The two-point conversion pass to Knox Butcher gave the Wolves a 14-13 lead that they would not relinquish. Castle finished the contest with 114 yards on nine catches, the second-best effort of his career in both categories.
After the Newberry defense stiffened on Carson-Newman’s next possession, three straight rushes by Romelo Doctor yielded 22 yards and helped the Wolves roll to a third touchdown drive capped by a Yeldell-to-Watson connection.
Although the Eagles managed to score on their next possession, Newberry retained a 21-19 lead after a two-point conversion attempt failed. The Wolves took over with 3:53 remaining on their own 36 after a short kickoff and marched 64 yards to the end zone in 11 plays, taking less than three minutes off the clock before Yeldell’s touchdown pass to Braxton Ivery.
While the Newberry offense couldn’t find the same level of success in the second half as it did in the first, the Wolves’ defense put on a clinic after the half. Carson-Newman managed just 127 second-half yards and was kept off the scoreboard for the final 30 minutes.
The Wolves sacked Carson-Newman’s Noah Suber nine times and had 14 total tackles for loss, setting school records in both categories. Suber, a key player in Carson-Newman’s traditional split-back veer option offense, netted -36 rushing yards on the day.
Newberry also forced a fumble in the end zone that was recovered by Anfernee Moffett on the game’s final play, representing the only points scored by either team in the second half. Joe Blue showed the way with 10 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery, while Darryl Foster set career highs with 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss.
Jaquille Oden and Jimmy Holmes each tallied a pair of sacks to tie for the team lead, while Oden’s 4.0 tackles for loss were second only to the five he recorded at Tusculum on Sept. 24 in Newberry history.
Newberry’s win gives the Wolves a 4-0 mark in league play. The Wolves are one game ahead of 3-1 Wingate and Catawba but own the tiebreaker over the Catawba Indians by virtue of Newberry’s nationally-broadcast 35-14 win two weeks ago. The Wolves travel to Brevard for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday.