Wolves fall at home in regular season finale to Wasps

NEWBERRY — The Wolves roller coaster season came to a conclusion on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Setzler Field when they hosted Emory & Henry on Senior Day. Newberry College(3-7, 3-4 SAC) fell 27-7 to the Wasps(9-2, 6-2 GSC) in their regular season finale.

The Wolves’ defense held on as long as they could, but ultimately couldn’t get enough support with from their offense with that side of the ball dealing with a number of injuries, including at the quarterback position.

Newberry battled back to give themselves a chance a few weeks ago at the South Atlantic Conference title game, but those hopes came crashing down when starting quarterback Reed Charpia got hurt and they lost at home against Limestone. The Wolves went into the final two weeks of the season with two wide receivers and a freshman cos-playing quarterback.

Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter of Saturday’s contest, but Newberry struck first in the opening minute of the second quarter. Ja’Corey Martin, one of three quarterbacks to play, scored an eight-yard rushing touchdown.

The Wasps would tie the game midway through the second quarter with Cole Lambert finding Cam Abshire for a 16-yard touchdown reception.

The two teams would go into halftime tied 7-7.

The visitors would seize control of the game in the third quarter. Lambert found Abshire for the second time of the game with a 5-yard pass and catch to give their squad a 14-7 lead. They would later knock down a 49-yard field goal to extend their lead.

Newberry’s offense continued to struggle as Jaxon Schiedt would throw two interceptions in the fourth quarter. Both turnovers resulted in points for the Wasps as they would get a field goal and a touchdown to secure their ninth win of the season.

“We had a lot of injuries and trying to overcome the quarterback situation. We don’t really have a quarterback, just a bunch of receivers lining up acting as quarterbacks. So, the message was simple this week and it was, ‘let’s go out and play hard for the seniors.’ I wanted to try to send this group off on a positive note,” said Wolves head coach Todd Knight.

He continued, “I think we played hard and Emory & Henry is a 9-2 team that’s probably a play or two away from playing in the championship game. They are a very good football team and I thought all the way to somewhere in third quarter that we played toe-to-toe with them without a quarterback. It caught up to us and we just kept putting the defense in bad positions.”

Newberry finished the game with just 146 total yards of offense and only 16 passing yards. Their defense gave up 125 plus yards to two different receivers, but had a turnover and three sacks. This is the second consecutive season that the Wolves finished under .500 after winning back-to-back conference titles in ‘21 and ‘22.

“It’s going to take a great off-season to get things back right here. We need a great off-season in the weight room, great off-season running and a great off-season in the locker room. From a coaching standpoint, we have to go out there and find the right fit and right kids. Recruiting has taken off for us already and the portal opens up on Monday so there’s going to be a thousand kids get in it,” said Knight.