Since the 2005 season, Newberry has won on three straight trips there…the first time this has happened since the 1928-50-52 seasons.
“Our kids worked hard all week as we had four good days of practice,” said NHS Head Football Coach Sam Baird. “The kids seemed to be excited all week as they were into the game mentally and were thinking about what was going on the entire evening.”
Losing the coin toss for the fifth time in six games this season, the Bulldogs had to kick-off to the Tigers to start the game.
SHS lost 4 yards in this first of five three-and-outs on the evening.
Newberry started off in excellent field position in all ten of their possessions as they averaged starting off at their own 41-yard line.
Their opening possession of the evening was no exception as they started off just inside mid-field.
The Bulldogs never saw the third down marker on this drive as it took quarterback Tyler Bishop and company five plays to travel down Matthews Field as Quentin Ray scored on a 6-yard run with 8:36 left in the first quarter.
Aaron Ransdell’s PAT was good for the second week in a row. The Bulldogs would lead for at least the final 44 minutes of play.
Saluda though would go from their own 41 to the Newberry 18 in seven plays, facing a 4th and four.
Brian Bushey converted the 36-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 4:57 left in the opening stanza.
The first play of the second quarter saw Bishop pitching back to Montagus Caldwell, who had a head-to-head meeting with a Tiger at the SHS 36, before finally going down at the 32.
Tyrone Neal scored for the second straight week with a run of at least 30 yards with a 32-yard scamper along the Newberry sideline.
Ransdell’s PAT upped the Newberry lead to 14-3 just 25 seconds into the second quarter.
By season’s end, Kerry Workman could virtually have his own “Top Ten Plays of the Season” video easily compare to almost anyone else’s in the entire country.
Friday night was no exception as he made a 24-yard one-handed catch while being heavily guarded at the Saluda 38.
A 21-yard pass to Neal took Newberry down to the 9-yard line. Marcus McMorris’ carry and a Tiger offsides penalty took the Bulldogs down to the 2.
Caldwell scored on the next play as NHS now led 21-3 after the Ransdell PAT with still nearly seven minutes to go in the first half.
Saluda was hoping to slow down Newberry’s momentum as the Tigers attempted to convert a fourth-and-one from the NHS 42.
Neal broke through the line though to sack Ke Ke Clark at the 43.
While Workman’s catch brought shouts of “wow” from the Newberry faithful, the first play of the Bulldogs next possession brought acclamations of “oh my goodness” from both sides of Bettis Herlong Stadium.
McMorris took the handoff up the middle where he was hit hard by an ambush of Tigers, causing the ball to shoot up in the air several feet.
Kevis Worthy, who had missed an assignment, turned around to see how the play ended. Seeing the free merchandise in the air, the senior instead grabbed it and raced 35 yards to put Newberry just 25 yards from the end zone.
Bishop completed his final two passes of the evening on the next two plays.
The first 20 yard completion went to Sean Campos-McJunkins who put the ’Dogs at the 5-yard line.
The last completion went to a wide-open Worthy in the end zone. Ransdell’s PAT increased the Newberry lead to 28-3 with 3:52 left in the half.
The first half saw Newberry have 238 yards of offense compared to Saluda’s 52.
After a 25 minute half-time, Newberry started out the second half at their 33.
The Bulldogs never went to the air in this drive as four different Bulldogs went 27 yards in five plays.
Worthy went along the home sideline 40 yards for the touchdown at the 9:01 mark.
Instead of burning a time-out to get the needed eleventh Bulldog on the field for the PAT attempt: NHS took the 5-yard penalty as Ransdell had to convert a 25-yard kick to increase the Newberry lead to 35-3.
“We told them to take the penalty instead of burning a time-out,” said Baird. “As good as our kickers are, 5 yards won’t bother them.”
After holding Saluda to a three-and-out, Newberry, after a nine play nearly six minute drive, attempted a 48-yard field goal but Ransdell’s kick fell short.
Between two three-and outs for NHS, Saluda got touchdowns from Drey Mitchell (2-yard run) and quarterback Walker Noteboom threw a 70-yard pass to Tornelius Glover with 1:06 left in the game. Both PATs were good.
After the Glover touchdown, Caldwell returned the kickoff “unofficially” 101 yards for the touchdown.
Joseph Foster, who had kicked off all six times prior on the evening, traded places with Ransdell as he converted the PAT while Ransdell kicked off for Newberry with 48.5 seconds to go in the game.
“From start to finish, you can’t find a single player that took a play off,” said Baird. “I thought our offensive line blocked well. We got a lot of effort out of a lot of kids and they’re all doing a lot of good things.”
Newberry improves to 4-2 on the season and 1-0 in Region 3-AA. Saluda falls to 2-4, 0-1.
NHS will be hosting Gilbert Friday at 7:30 for its homecoming. This will be their 71st homecoming while the NHS Homecoming Queen “Sisterhood” will be accepting its 63rd member.
“Everybody looks forward to homecoming and has a good time with it,” said Baird. “If the kids come in and give us another good week of hard work like they did last week, I think we’ll be okay.”
A RECORD NIGHT
On the last two trips the Newberry High football team has made to Saluda High, a play that happened had Bulldog fans wondering, “Is that a school record?”
Two years ago, Eric Davis kicked a 54-yard field goal to end the first half. While that wasn’t a school record, it was the longest since Michael Brice converted about a 57-yarder in the rain against Greenville on October 29, 1993.
Friday night, Montagus Caldwell returned a fourth quarter kick-off 100 yards for a touchdown. Even though he started off a yard deep in his own end-zone, those yards are no longer referred to as being “official.”
It was the first time though a Bulldog had gone the distance since Wayne Eichelberger returned one on Sept. 7, 2001 in a game against Fairfield Central.
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