Caldwell, Crooks too much for Chapin in 45-22 victory to remain undefeated

NEWBERRY — Newberry remains undefeated behind one of the best offenses in the class of 3A that is led by one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the entire state. The Bulldogs(4-0) defeats Chapin(0-4) by the score of 45-22 to keep their undefeated win streak alive.

The Chapin Eagles became the latest victims of the Bulldogs high-powered offense on this 2025 revenge tour. The two teams nearly broke the scoreboard last season with a high scoring game that the Eagles won with a late second half push. Newberry had plans for a different outcome this year at home when the two teams meet on Friday evening.

Newberry started the game off with a penalty on the kickoff as the return team, but that didn’t matter. Senior wide receiver Jemere Crooks took a short quick pass 94-yards on the very first play of the game to give the home team a 7-0 lead.

Chapin showed some fight with their backup quarterback, who was forced to start due to injuries, and drove the ball down the field. The Bulldogs made a stand and was able to stuff the Eagles on a fourth down attempt inside of the 10-yard line. Bulldogs starting quarterback Kenton Caldwell led his squad right down the field that ended with him showing off his speed on a 49-yard touchdown run. Newberry led 14-0 three minutes into the game on two quick scoring drives.

The Eagles’ offense had their second drive of the game end very quickly and gave the ball right back on a forced fumble that was recovered by Isaiah Brown. Then, the Bulldogs had to score twice on one drive because their first long touchdown reception by Jamel Howse was called back due to an illegal procedure penalty. Howse eventually found the end zone a few plays later with a 46-yard touchdown reception on a screen pass where he showed his speed to give the Bulldogs a 21-0 lead.

Yes, this was all still in the first quarter! Chapin showed some life late in the quarter with a 39-yard touchdown reception by their tight end over the middle of the field to cut into the deficit. Caldwell finished the first quarter with just two incomplete passes and three total touchdowns. Crooks had over 100 yards receiving at the end of the first quarter and one of his three touchdown receptions on the night.

The second quarter began with Newberry holding a 21-7 lead and the ball on offense again. They were able to drive the ball down the field, but only came away with a 25-yard field goal by Eric Rubio. Things went from bad to worse with Chapin as they had another turnover with the first possession of the second quarter. The Bulldogs’ defense forced another fumble that they recovered.

The Caldwell and Crooks connection continued as he found the senior receiver for a 11-yard touchdown reception to give the Bulldogs a 31-7 lead.

Chapin offense stalled again on their next drive and they were forced to punt. They were able to pin Newberry inside of five yards of their own goal line after a bad decision by the Bulldogs’ punt returner to try to field the punt instead of letting it bounce in the end zone for a potential touch back. The Eagles’ defense made a huge play to force a safety and give themselves some life at the end of the first half.

The visitors then began to drive the ball down the field in the final minute of the first half in an attempt to steal momentum, but Crooks came up big for the Bulldogs again with an interception to close out the first half.

The Eagles had the first possession of the second half and things quickly turned sour for the visitors after the Bulldogs were able to score on pick six that eventually got called back due to a penalty, but Newberry still got the turnover and their offense had possession.

Like they did all night, Caldwell found Crooks on a eight-yard touchdown reception to give their squad a 38-9 lead. Chapin scored a touchdown late in the quarter, but the home team Bulldogs held a comfortable lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Eagles still had some fight left in them and made things very interesting with another scoring drive in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to cut into the deficit. Chapin now trailed 38-22 after failing on the two-point conversion attempt.

Newberry began to run the football to kill some clock. Ty Abrams, who started in place of BJ Jones, gave them a nice boost out the backfield with the combination of his speed and power. The sophomore eventually would find the end zone on a 16-yard touchdown run to put the Eagles to bed and send them back to Chapin, S.C. still winless on the season.

Caldwell had over 400 yards of total offense and five total touchdowns(four passing and one rushing). Crooks had over 175 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions.

“First of all he[Jemere] has been playing better every week. He started off at Union by making g a couple of plays, then made a couple of good plays against Mid-Carolina. But we really saw it against Clinton. He made some great natural ball skill plays and now this performance tonight,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Cedrick Jeter.

“As a coach, we see it all the time in practice. He probably has some of the best ball skills in the state and putting him at safety is something we planned on doing. So tonight was no surprise, but he is very good player. We look forward to seeing him make more great plays, but we have to just balance his time and we don’t want to wear him out because we have a long season here so prepare yourselves to see it some more.”

Newberry will have their undefeated record put to the test on Friday, September 19 when they host Fairfield Central(3-1), who comes in riding a three-game win streak.

“It wasn’t a clean game offensively.We didn’t play as well as we wanted too. We scored 60-plus points in the first game and we got a lot to clean up. We missed some blocks there and we just expect to play better than this. I know it sounds crazy after scoring 45 points but we have a little bit different expectations internally than most. We expect a certain level of play and we didn’t reach it today,” said Jeter.