Courtesy of Newberry College Athletics
ANDERSON, S.C. — As they have all season long and especially during their current six-game winning streak, the no.20 Newberry College Wolves (8-1, 7-1) made key plays late in the game for a thrilling victory, 24-21 over Anderson to clinch at least a share of the South Atlantic Conference title.
Burke Nettles provided the winning margin with a 22-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining.
That play capped a clutch seven play, 75-yard drive that culminated in the winning field goal.
The game also featured another Wolves rally as they trailed 14-7 in the second quarter and didn’t grab their first lead of the game until the fourth quarter.
The late field goal also marked the fourth time this season Newberry has scored the game winning points on its final offensive possession.
Quarterback Reed Charpia completed 26 of 41 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns, De’Andre Coleman had a career-best eight receptions for 112 yards and a score, and Jamar
Blandin led the defense with ten tackles including two and a half sacks and three quarterback hurries.
Nettles also averaged 41.3 yards per punt on seven kicks placing two inside the 20-yard line, forced four fair catches and had three touchbacks on five kickoffs.
The Wolves’ offense struggled mightily in the first quarter, amassing only 27 yards in their first four possessions.
But despite the early offensive woes, the Wolves actually grabbed a 7-0 lead when Blandin and Mason Grier hit Anderson quarterback Wilson Edwards whose passes popped up in the air, was caught by Charles Smith who returned it 72 yards for a touchdown with 5:53 left in the first quarter.
After Anderson scored two touchdowns in just over three minutes to grab a 14-7 lead, the Newberry offense awakened.
Charpia completed six of eight passes for 69 yards culminating with an eight-yard touchdown to Coleman to tie the game at 14 with 7:21 left in the first half. He completed passes to five different receivers on the scoring drive.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Wolves grabbed their first lead of the game with 9:14 remaining as Rico Dorsey, Jr. caught a short pass from Charpia and turned it into a 17-yard score to give the Wolves a 21-14 lead.
The Trojans answered right back scoring just 1:14 later using two big plays and taking advantage of a Wolves penalty to drive 75 yards for the game tying score.
After a three and out for the Wolves offense, the Newberry defense came up with a key stop of third down from the Anderson 42-yard line and forced the Trojans to punt.
Newberry took possession at their own 20-yard line with 2:29 left in the game and Charpia took over, completing three consecutive passes to Coleman, Dorsey and Keith Desaussure for 67 yards, the final one a 36-yard completion to Desaussure to take the ball down to the Trojan 13-yard line.
Jonah Norris ran the ball three times for eight yards, forced Anderson to burn their final two timeouts and Nettles kicked the go-ahead score.
Blandin punctuated the victory with a game ending sack.
The six-game winning streak is the longest for the Wolves since a seven-game winning streak in 2021.
The Wolves host Carson-Newman Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Setzler Field with the winner taking home the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.