Bulldogs take down Fairfield Central in high stakes regular season matchup

NEWBERRY — The Bulldogs have officially put the state of South Carolina and all of class AAA on notice after knocking off Clinton, Chapin and now Fairfield Central. Newberry(5-0) defeated Fairfield Central(3-2) by the score of 45-34 to remain undefeated on the season.

The Bulldogs, as always, had one of the toughest schedules in the state to start the season and passed every early season test with flying colors! Newberry welcomed probably their toughest opponent so far this season to Mike Ware Field on Friday night for a heavy weight showdown. Both sides were packed with fans, television crews were in attendance and just about every local paper had a reporter in attendance.

The Griffins got the ball first and delivered the first big blow in this prize title fight. Senior wide receiver and defensive back Dre Walker had a 76-yard kickoff return to give his squad great field position. The Bulldogs’ defense would help them out the visitors some more with a five-yard encroachment penalty before the first offensive snap. Fairfield Central would then score two plays later on a quarterback keeper from inside of the five-yard line in the red zone to go up 7-0.

Of course it wouldn’t take Newberry’s electric offense much time to respond. Ty Abrams got his fantastic night started with a 69-yard run on the first offensive play of the game for the home team. Kenton Caldwell would finish the drive off with a 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7.

Both teams would exchange punts on their next offensive drives before Fairfield Central was able to put together another scoring drive to reclaim the lead at the end of the first quarter. They went into the second quarter with a 14-7 lead.

The second quarter started off with a controversial call that had the Newberry sideline ready to explode. The Bulldogs rolled the dice on fourth down, and actually completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to the corner of end zone to senior wide receiver Cash Brown that was called out of bounds by the side judge. The Bulldogs felt Brown had one foot in bounds and that the Griffins defensive back held Brown. Regardless, it was a turnover on downs but the Fairfield Central couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity and Newberry’s defense gave the ball right back to their offense.

Caldwell immediately answered with a 61-yard touchdown run like he has done already so many times this season. That tied the game at 14-14 with about nine minutes left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs’ defense began to flex their muscle and assert themselves in the game. Senior linebacker and defensive lineman Thomas DeWalt made his presence felt with his first of many sacks in the game. He came up with a huge sack to force a turnover on downs.

Abrams continued his good night with two long runs on Newberry’s next offensive drive. Then, he capped it off with a 16-yard touchdown run. Newberry reclaim the lead, 21-14, with that score.

The Griffins showed their resilience and big play ability by immediately answering on their next offensive drive with a 56-yard touchdown reception by Ty’quarius Shannon. The game was tied 21-21 and that’s the closest it would be for the remainder of the game.

The Bulldogs would go to what’s been working all season and that would be getting the ball in Caldwell’s hands so he could make a play. He was able to drive the Bulldogs down the field and Abrams finished it off with a two-yard touchdown run. The defense then forced a fumble to give their offense the ball back with great field position. Of course, Caldwell used his legs to get into the end zone for his third rushing touchdown of the night. Newberry led 35-21 after scoring back-to-back touchdowns over a two-minute span.

Fairfield Central tried to make something happen late in the first half after driving down the field using their two minute offense. The Bulldogs’ defense came up huge for them again as Cordell Jackson intercepted the pass on a deep shot.

Newberry went into halftime with a 35-21 lead and the first possession after halftime. The Bulldogs made the post of that possession and found Brown for a 75-yard touchdown reception that there was no question about whether he scored or not. The speedy senior got past the defensive back and safety with ease, then all they saw was the back of his number zero jersey. He extended the Bulldogs to 42-21 and that pretty much put the Griffins away.

Now, fast forward to the fourth quarter the home team would kick a 30-yard field goal to extend their lead some more and make it a 45-21 game in the early parts of the final period.

Fairfield Central wouldn’t go away though and made the game interesting late. It started with a long touchdown drive to cut into the deficit and make it a 45-28 game. Then, of course the onside kick would take place and the Griffins recovered after a Bulldog mishandled the ball. The visitors would go on another long touchdown drive to put six more points on the board, but would fail on the two-point conversion attempt.

The visitors attempted a squib kick to see if they can get another recovery but the Bulldogs were ready this time and ran the clock out to keep their undefeated season alive. Caldwell had another dominant performance with over 100 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Abrams had over 100 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns along and Brown had his first 100-yard receiving game this season with one touchdown reception.

Dewalt and Dontavias Griffin were the standouts on the defensive side of the ball. Dewalt had 2.5 sacks with four tackles for loss in the game. Griffin had 1.5 sacks this game and plenty of tackles and Jackson had an interception. The unsung heroes for the Bulldogs stepped up big tonight and head coach Cedrick Jeter gave them their flowers after the game.

“Those guys worked their tails off. Ty Abrams is a weight room guy, baseball guy and he is just always playing something. We know he is a very good player and really a key guy on defense but when BJ went down we knew we had a back that could get it done,” said Jeter.

“Thomas Dewalt been a staple and glue guy for us for the past few years. He is a specimen if you look at him and see he is jacked up. He is another weight room guy that plays with high energy and high effort. When he gets it going he’s going to be scary. He has the physical tools but he also has the mental edge too! We got some unsung heroes and guys playing very well who put in the work to develop themselves.”

The Bulldogs are 5-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 season which is also the last time they beat Fairfield Central, Chapin and Clinton in the regular season.

“It ain’t over yet and we have to focus on one game at a time. The good thing about our guys is that they are battle tested. We are the only program in the state that had the same players playing as freshman. These guys took their lumps and we were criticized as the worst coaches in America,” said Jeter.

He continued, “We got guys like Jamel Howse, Brady Chapman and a long list of them that played varsity as freshmen when they probably should’ve been playing JV. They played as freshmen, took their lumps and won a playoff game as freshmen. Now, they are here fully battle tested, ready for whatever and now its showing. We didn’t play our best game tonight but we won. That is because of their experience, their work and their efforts.”

Newberry will travel to Saluda next on Friday, Sept. 26 riding a five game win streak and feeling on top of the world.