The Newberry High School Bulldog Football team opened its 2009 home season with 421-yards of offensive excellence as their 35 unanswered points trumped Broome High School Friday evening 35-14.

NHS had not defeated BHS at home during the regular season since 1986—breaking a three-game losing streak, and eight overall by the visiting team.

After a 28-0 shut-out loss at Clinton to begin the season, the Bulldogs averaged three-hour practices each day.

“We have to get more physical,” said NHS head coach Sam Baird. “We got great effort out of our kids as they understand now what is expected of them.”

After winning the coin toss, the Centurions took their opening possession 75 yards in nine plays when quarterback Chase Henry threw a 26-yard pass to a wide-open Tyler Massey, who took the reception in for the touchdown on a third-and-fifteen situation.

Broome would not convert another third down play until its final offensive possession of the night.

Massey’s PAT was good as the Centurions had plenty of momentum just less than three minutes into the game.

“That scoring drive made it look real easy,” said Baird. “But we settled down as they didn’t score again until very late in the game.”

Seventeen seconds later, however, Bulldog quarterback Tyler Bishop, making his first career start as a junior, threw his first varsity touchdown pass to Kerry Workman, as his reception ended a one-play, 76-yard scoring drive.

“I was real proud of Tyler Bishop stepping right in there for us,” said Baird. “That touchdown got our kids up and gave us some momentum.” Bishop was tabbed as the starter after Brandon Ahrens developed mononucleosis symptoms.

Joseph Foster, who went 5-5 on all of his extra-point attempts, tied the score at 7-apiece with 7:56 left in the opening stanza.

Being held to its second straight three-and-out, Broome was forced to punt from its own 6-yard line after two sacks and a 5-yard penalty.

Having only 36 yards to go for the go-ahead to stay score, Newberry ran the ball five straight plays, as Montagus Caldwell scored on a 10-yard run with 14.2 seconds left in the first quarter.

The second play of the second quarter saw BHS having their best punt of the night with a 48-yard kick and no return.

Having 93-yards of Mike Ware Field real estate in front of them, NHS fought hard to gain three yards, setting up a third-and-7 from their own 10.

Marcus McMorris took the pitch back from Bishop as he raced along the Broome sideline forty-one yards, to give the ’Dogs a new life just beyond mid-field. In fact, during this run, McMorris never broke stride as he broad jumped several Centurion defenders, which got him several more yards on the carry.

Eight plays later seemed to see McMorris diving in from the four-yard line for the touchdown but a clipping penalty brought the ball back fifteen yards.

McMorris only needed one play to cover these nineteen yards as NHS had a 21-7 lead after the Foster PAT with still 5:52 left in the first half.

Tyrone Neal’s “big night” continued as he broke through the Broome line four plays later as he literally took the ball out of the Centurion runner’s hands in the backfield.

One of the biggest applause points of the night occurred one play later when after Caldwell moved his fellow Bulldogs 13 yards: public address announcer Tim Medlin announced that Caldwell had surpassed rushing for over 1500 yards in his career.

Neither team could move the ball to get within scoring distance for the remainder of the first half.

NHS had 296 yards of offense in the first half, including garnering 213 on the ground. BHS had 116 yards of offense, with 76 of them coming through the air.

Newberry received the third quarter opening kickoff as the Bulldogs would take four minutes off the clock before Aaron Ransdell’s 39-yard field goal attempt fell short.

Desperately needing to get momentum back in its favor, Broome worked its way to the Newberry 41 before an eight-yard sack brought the team back to just inside mid-field.

Another huge Bulldog hit on the Centurion quarterback caused him to fumble the ball where it rolled for several yards before McMorris picked up the free merchandise and raced 44 yards for the touchdown. Foster’s fourth successful PAT of the night put Newberry ahead 28-7 with 5:24 left in the third stanza.

McMorris ended the night with 146 all-purpose yards, including being the leading rusher of the evening with 102 yards on nine carries.

Receiving Broome’s fifth punt of the evening, Newberry started on its last scoring drive of the evening at its own 45-yard line.

A late hit on Caldwell in front of the Newberry bench moved the Bulldogs down to the Centurion 36.

Newberry went 5-11 on third down conversions for the evening but the one that got the loudest shout of “first down” from the Bulldog faithful in attendance came with 10:41 left in the game after a 12-yard carry by Caldwell.

Just two plays later, Caldwell scored his second touchdown of the evening with a nine-yard run along the right side. Foster’s fifth and final PAT ended the Newberry scoring with 9:45 left in the game.

Caldwell, who “played very well,” was the second leading rusher of the evening with 80 yards on 11 carries.

Newberry was forced to punt from its 24-yard line with six minutes to go in the game, but Chad Davis’ punt was blocked as the ball was downed at the 12.

Three straight rushing plays by Broome carried Cameron Lipscomb into the end zone as Massey’s PAT ended the scoring with 4:54 left in the game.

Newberry improved to 1-1 on the season while Broome fell to 0-2.

Newberry will host Fairfield Central Friday at 7:30 p.m. Fans going to the game, however, are encouraged to get there early as several skydivers are scheduled to land onto Mike Ware Field at 7:15 p.m. Being that it will be Sept. 11, NHS will be honoring our nation’s military with free admittance to those coming in uniform or with a valid military identification card.

NHS will also be honoring America as the United States flag that will be flown during the game first flew over the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec.7, 1999, the 58th anniversary of the Japanese bombing. It has flown at all but six home games since the beginning of the 2000 football season.