Greg Hollis | [email protected]
NEWBERRY — Newberry Academy fought hard, but fell short in week six of the season and still remain winless. The Eagles(0-5,0-2 SCISA) suffered a 42-14 loss at home against Laurens Academy(5-1, 2-0 SCISA) on Friday, Sept. 26.
The Eagles had a two for one night for the fans in attendance that sat through the rainy conditions that caused a delay to the kickoff time. Newberry Academy celebrated homecoming and Senior Night as they were hoping to get their first win of the season and some revenge.
The Crusaders and the Eagles got together for the second time this year. The two teams opened the season against each other and Laurens Academy was able to come out with a 30-14 win.
Newberry Academy got the first possession of the game and they couldn’t get anything going against the Crusaders defense line. The first two plays went for negative yards and they were forced to punt after a three and out.
The offensive struggles in the wet conditions were there early on for both teams. The Crusaders fumbled on their first offensive possession that gave the home team the ball right back. Unfortunately, Newberry Academy had a hard time holding onto the ball and fumbled to give the Crusaders the ball back two plays later.
The fumbles continued for both teams as they each exchange turnovers on their next two offensive possessions of the game. The Crusaders finally got settled towards the end of the first quarter and punched it home for a score on a long touchdown drive. The took an early 8-0 lead after scoring the rushing touchdown from three yards out and converting the two-point conversion attempt.
Laurens solved their early fumbling issues, but Newberry Academy couldn’t and fumbled for a third time in the quarter. The Crusaders turned the turnover into points and scored a short pass to the running back out the backfield that he took 54-yards for a touchdown to give his team a 14-0 lead.
The second quarter was a struggle for the Eagles on defense as they gave up their third consecutive touchdown drive after forcing two fumbles earlier in the game. The visitors took a 22-0 lead in the early parts of the second quarter.
Newberry Academy showed signs of life after senior running back Thomas McLean finally breaks a long 42-yard run where he went complete beast mode by shoving off defenders and dragging them down the field. Unfortunately, the drive would stall just outside of the red zone and the Eagles would remain scoreless.
Laurens Academy would extend their lead on another long scoring drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown run by the starting quarterback on the keeper. Newberry Academy attempted to get some points late in the first half but ran out of time after driving the ball down the field and getting inside of their opponents 25-yard line.
After the Senior Night and Homecoming festivities at halftime, the Eagles would come out the break with a little momentum but still trailing 28-0.
The visitors had the ball first after half, but were stopped and forced to punt. Starting quarterback Javon Conway had enough of being stopped and decided to take matters into his own hands. He scored from 40-yards out on a quarterback scramble that they desperately needed. They would convert the two-point conversion and now trailed 28-8.
The Eagles’ defense would make another strong defensive stand and forced fumble. They would end the night with four fumble recoveries. Conway would again take matters into his own hands as he dropped back to pass on a critical third down, but then decided to take off down the field for 75-yards and a touchdown. The Eagles climbed back into the game and was only trailing 28-14 at the end of the third quarter.
The momentum that the home team gained quickly went away in the fourth quarter. Laurens Academy opened the quarter with a touchdown drive to give themselves a 36-14 lead after being successful on the two-point attempt. Then, they would put the Eagles to bed with another long scoring drive at the midway point of the final period. They would hold onto their 42-14 lead to close out the game.
Also, please keep Gavin Rosemand in your thoughts and prayers. The freshman wide receiver and defensive back made a routine tackle and suffered a head injury on the play. It caused a stoppage in play and the game eventually was called earlier. A Laurens Academy player also suffered an injury on that play.
Newberry Academy will finish the season out on the road for their remainder of their games. They will travel to Winnsboro, S.C. to face Richard Academy on Friday, Oct. 2nd in hopes of their first win of the season.
Reach Greg Hollis @ 803-768-3117 or on X @TheNBOnews