HICKORY, N.C. — The Newberry Wolves ended a four-year drought and won the Bishops Trophy with a resounding 52-14 win over the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears at Moretz Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Newberry is now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Wolves return home for the Senior Day game against Limestone on Nov. 7 at noon.
The Newberry defense stood strong in the early going against the nation’s top rushing offense, forcing three Bears’ fumbles which led to first quarter touchdowns.
The Wolves forced a punt on the opening drive, then a five-play, 49-yard drive took less than two minutes, as Raleigh Yeldell found Romelo Doctor for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
On the fourth play of L-R’s next drive, quarterback Evin Sims fumbled the ball and defensive tackleJalen Hunter picked it up and scampered 18 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-0 with 6:39 left in the first quarter.
Newberry’s onslaught was far from over, as another Sims fumble was recovered by Taylor McDonnell. Five plays later, Yeldell connected with tight end Zach Edmunds for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
On the opening play of the next drive, linebacker Joe Blue forced an L-R fumble recovered by Tyron Mikell. A 21-yard pass from Yeldell to Braxton Ivery two plays later put the Wolves at a quick-strike 28-0 lead with 2:05 to play in the opening quarter.
Newberry drove deep inside Bears’ territory in the middle of the second quarter and a 24-yard field goal by Ryan Janssen pushed the advantage to 31-0 with 8:09 left before the half.
The Bears finally got into Newberry territory on their eighth drive of the game, but came away fruitless as a 44-yard field goal attempt fell short. Newberry took that chance to put more points on the board before the half, going 73 yards in 11 plays and pushing the lead to 38-0 with a 1-yard Ryan Barnwell touchdown carry.
Newberry took the opening kickoff of the second half and mounted a 13-play, 78-yard drive which took 6:28 off the clock and was capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass from Yeldell to Ivery, making it a 45-0 lead with 8:26 left in the third quarter.
The Newberry lead was pushed to 52-0 with 1:52 left in the third quarter on the Wolves’ second scoop-and-score of the day. Brice Green reached in the lane to deflect a pitch, which was picked up by Josh Parker who scored from 14 yards out.
L-R finally got on the board with 10:23 left in the game after a 16-play, 91-yard drive ending in an 8-yard Calvin Edwards touchdown carry. The Bears would score another late touchdown, but it was far too little, far too late for the hosts.
The Newberry defense recovered four fumbles in the contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne came into the game averaging over 407 yards per game on the ground. The Wolves’ defense limited the Bears to 196 yards on the ground – their lowest total since Oct. 1, 2011.
Game highlights
• Newberry’s 52 points is the second-most the scarlet and gray have scored against L-R, led only by a 55-14 win in 1996.
• Yeldell completed 18-of-25 passes for 265 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. He has now passed for nine touchdowns in the last two weeks.
• Yeldell also went over 1,000 yards passing for the season in the game, standing at 1,004 yards with two games remaining in the regular season.
• Ivery caught five passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
• Doctor was the Wolves’ leading rusher with 15 carries for 59 yards, also catching four passes for 40 yards and a touchdown.
• The Wolves put up 469 yards of total offense, with 297 passing yards and 172 rushing yards.
• Newberry averaged 7.0 yards per play, running only 67 offensive plays in the rout.
• Janssen was a perfect 7-for-7 on PATs with the 24-yard field goal.
• Kyle Clark averaged 42.7 yards per punt with a long of 64 and two more punts inside the Bears’ 20-yardline.
• Jamarcus Henderson led the Wolves with 11 tackles (six solos) and a tackle for loss.
• Arnez Gray had eight stops and a pass breakup, while Alstevis Squirewell had seven stops with two TFLs and a sack.