Wolves hit the road looking to upset Mars Hill in season finale

NEWBERRY — Newberry College(4-6, 3-5 SAC) will hit the road to face Mars Hill(7-2, 6-2 SAC) in their season finale on this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. This will be the 53rd meeting between the two programs and the Lions lead the series with an all-time record of 32-18.

The Wolves will enter the matchup coming losers of three consecutive games. The offense have struggled to produce points this season and three different quarterbacks have started for the Wolves.

The Lions have won four of their previous five matchups, but lost in double overtime against Tusculum on last Saturday. They are currently at the top of Mountain side of the South Atlantic Conference standings and still have an outside chance of possibly winning the conference title. Mars Hill is one game behind Lenior-Rhyne and Limestone in the standings, whom both are 7-1 in conference play.

Senior quarterback JR Martin, freshman running back Jon Gullette and junior wide receiver Malik Laurent are the trio that leads the Lions high scoring offense this season. Martin has thrown for 1807 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns and only five interceptions. He also has 471 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

Gullette averages 84.6 yards on the ground and have 761 total rushing yards with three rushing touchdowns. Laurent leads the team with 631 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions. As a team, the Lions’ offense averages 377.3 total yards per game, 164.4 rushing and 212.9 passing, and 27.6 points per game.

Their defense is allowing under 100 yards per game on the ground (90.2) and 17.6 points per game. Senior defensive lineman Daimpi Lamboni is second in the conference with nine sacks this season.

The Wolves’ offensive line will be key to pulling off the upset and playing spoilers to the Lions’ postseason hopes. Hopefully, they can control the line of scrimmage and create holes for their backfield duo of Dwayne Wright and Trakell Murray. If so, the Wolves could end the roller coaster ride of the 2023 season on a good note heading into the offseason.