Bulldogs holds Fox Creek scoreless as they cruise to a 47-0 win on homecoming

NEWBERRY — Newberry High School varsity football team took the field for the first time in two weeks following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and they were ready to play. The Bulldogs(3-3, 1-0 region 4-AAA) wins big on homecoming over Fox Creek(4-2,0-1 region 4-AAA) by the score of 47-0.

Before the storm ripped through the Carolinas, the Bulldogs were on the wrong side of a streak and lost three consecutive games. All against quality opponents, but the small break did them some good. They were able to get healthy, especially JaMerius Shepard who had been sidelined all season, and they were able to get back focused on the goals they set for themselves at the start of the season.

“He’s[Shepard] an experienced player that just knows what to do. He is a little frustrated now because he can’t do what he used to do yet, but we just got to get the rust off of him. The more he plays, the better. So the more he plays the rust is going to get off and the more plays he will make. He is a smart heady player. A guy who started last year is going to work his way back up because we have a lot depth their now,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Cedrick Jeter.

“It is good to get everybody back to 100 percent, feels good to have those two weeks to prepare and focus on us,and fix some of things that are causing us to lose those one score games. It’s been good and having a little break sometimes is not bad. The main thing is that everybody was safe.”

Their first offensive drive was slow as expected after being off for a few weeks, but the defense held it down for their offense by forcing a three-and-out of their own. Then, starting quarterback Kenton Caldwell and the Newberry offensive coaching staff kept things simple by start to run the ball on the short field.

Newberry took over on the opponent’s side of the 50-yard line and found the end zone in just six plays. BJ Jones got things going with a good 11-yard run and then later finished the drive with a rushing touchdown from one yard out.

Jones wasn’t done getting into the end zone and making plays because he picked up where he left on the Bulldogs’ second offensive drive. He took a short pass put the backfield for 25-yards and got the ball inside the red zone. Jones then finished the drive with three yard touchdown run to put his team up 14-0.

Backup running back Ty Abrams joined in on the homecoming fun with 10-yard touchdown run after another stop by the Bulldogs’ defense and another bad punt from the Predators.

Newberry jumped out to a 20-0 in the first quarter. The second quarter started off with a muffed punt by CJ Earl and Fox Creek recovered. Unfortunately, they couldn’t take advantage of the good field position and came up empty after starting the drive inside of Newberry’s 40-yard line.

Bulldogs’ senior defensive back Steven Joseph gets his hands on another interception this season and returned all the way back for a touchdown, but a block in the back negated the points. No worries though because the Caldwell lead the home team on another good drive with a short field and he called his own number to score on the quarterback keeper.

Caldwell then found South Carolina commit Jamel Howse Jr. for a 10-yard touchdown reception on the next drive to put the game out of reach. The Bulldogs led 34-0 at halftime.

Fox Creek showed some fight to come out of a halftime and had good kickoff return to start the third quarter. That fight quickly disappeared after the Bulldogs’ defense held them out of the end zone yet again.

The offensive starters for Newberry got two more offensive drives in the third quarter that resulted in two scores and put the predators to bed. Isaiah Glymph scored on a short screen pass that he took 25-yards for a touchdown.

The speedy junior receiver Cash Brown made a spectacular catch over the Predators’ defender on a jump ball and took it 52-yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs lead 47-0 and cruised the rest of the way to end their three game losing streak.

“It’s always great to get a win, always. The guys want it. They lost three games by a combined total of 21 points. So we were losing tough games against quality opponents and it really prepared us for the long stretch here. That is the preparation we talked about in the summertime and those games are going to prepare us and its just good to get back on the field with the guys,” said Jeter.

Jeter also discussed Howse announcing his commitment to the University of South Carolina last weekend on social media.

“The biggest thing about him is that he is a super talented guy, but he also wants it for his teammates. He wants to see his teammates get the same type of opportunities. We have been pushing all of our guys recruiting wise. Putting film out, getting transcripts and educating them on the process,” said Jeter. “The best thing about him is he is a team guy when he could be a me guy. He hadn’t scored a touchdown all year and you wouldn’t even know it because he didn’t complain about it. He’s just all about the team.”

The Bulldogs will be on their bye next week and back at home against Keenan on Oct.25.