Bulldogs perfect season comes to an end as they fall to Loris in the 3A Quarterfinals

NEWBERRY — The 3A state playoffs quarterfinals matchup featured two undefeated teams between Newberry and Loris. Unfortunately one of these teams dream season would end and the other one would keep their undefeated record in tact as they move on to the semifinals. It wasn’t the home teams day, and Newberry(12-1, 4-0 region 4-AAA) fell 51-21 to Loris(13-0, 5-0 region 5-AAA) on Friday, Nov. 21st to conclude their 2025 season.

Mike Ware Field was packed with fans from Newberry and the Loris fans that made the nearly three-hour drive to see this much anticipated heavy weight fight between two undefeated power houses in 3A. The evening started with everything going good for the Lions and things going south very quickly for the Bulldogs.

Newberry received the ball first and couldn’t get anything going on their first offensive series of the game. The Lions had no issues on their first offensive series of the game and drove the ball right down the field to get a quick score. The visitors took an early 7-0 lead.

The second offensive series for the home team Bulldogs went much like the first series where they couldn’t get anything going and were forced to punt. Their defense was able to get a stop and get their offense the ball back but they were pinned deep in their own territory after the punt.

The Lions defensive line were salivating at a chance to possibly get a sack or force a turnover. They got something just as good after the pressure forced Bulldogs senior quarterback Kenton Caldwell to step out of the back of the end zone and get a safety. Loris now held a 9-0 lead and had the Newberry crowd stunned.

Things went from bad to worse for Newberry after the safety because Loris and their hot offense would strike quickly once again. They completed a 49-yard pass to get them in the red zone and then went on to punch it home for a two-yard touchdown run to take a 16-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started with Newberry finally being able to move the ball down the field, but the drive stalled close to to the red zone. The Bulldogs went for it on fourth down and failed. The Lions went back to their air attack and quickly got into the end zone yet again. This time it was a 22-yard touchdown reception that gave them the 23-0 lead in the early parts of the second quarter.

Caldwell had trouble through the air for much of the first so he began to use his legs. He scampered down the sideline for a 38-yard run to finally give his team some life and put them in the red zone for the first time of the night. The senior dual-threat quarterback keeps it himself and scores a six-yard rushing touchdown. Bulldogs now trailed 23-7 with a little under three and half minutes left to play in the first half.

Unfortunately, Loris would not take their foot off the gas pedal and they marched right down the field in three plays using their passing attack for another touchdown. They extended their lead to 30-7 now.

The Bulldogs’ offense picked up some momentum in their last scoring drive and carried that over to their next drive because they executed the two minute drive to perfection. Cash Brown got things started with a shirt reception that he took down the sideline for 20-yards and then another 15 was added at the end of the play due to a horse collar tackle by the Loris defender.

Caldwell worked the short passing game and finished the drive off with his legs in a short yardage situation to get his second rushing touchdown of the night. Newberry now trailed 30-14 with about 15 seconds left to play. Loris had a good kick return to set them up with good field position. So, they attempted one more shot down the field to get points but senior defensive end Thomas Dewalt made his presence felt with a sack to end the first half.

Newberry trailed at halftime for the only the third time this season, and now in back-to-back weeks during these playoffs. Loris received the ball first in the second half and did the unthinkable. The Bulldogs stuffed the Lions on first and second down to start the drive, but Lions senior quarterback Zamire Gerald pulled off his best Patrick Mahomes impression by escaping what would’ve been sacks on third down to find a wide open receiver down field for a 50-yard gain.

Gerald would then find Jacobien Lewis for another touchdown through the air that gave them a 37-14 lead. Newberry would go on a long drive to move the ball down the field, but was once again stopped on fourth down in the red zone. Loris was pinned deep in their own territory and couldn’t get anything going so was forced to punt.

The Bulldogs got the spark they needed by sending the house at the Loris punter and came up with a huge block. They recovered the ball on the two-yard line and Caldwell would punch it home for his third rushing touchdown of the night. the home team now trailed 37-21, but had some momentum on their side.

The Lions would deliver the knockout punch on the very next play. They took the kick return back 80-yards for a long touchdown at the end of the third quarter and that would be enough to end the Bulldogs perfect season and send them into the offseason.

“This was a tough one tonight. Obviously after a perfect season and it doesn’t end a championship then it is easy to say this season was a failure. Our coaching staff did a great job all season long, but tonight we gave up to many big plays in the passing game. Our secondary was young and has been area of concern for us all year. Last year we graduated six seniors and we knew that replacing that group was going to be the biggest challenge. We started a freshman, two sophomores and a junior,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Cedrick Jeter.

He continued, “We tried to go with our senior Cash Brown to start the game at corner tonight and put Jamere and Jamel in there some but after we dug a huge hole for ourselves early then we had to play save those guys for offense because we knew we were going to need those guys if we had any chance of coming back in this game. But our young secondary will learn from this, we will learn from this as a program and get back to work in January and this offseason.”

Jeter also discussed the impact of this senior class as they played their final game tonight at Mike Ware Field.

“I am going to miss these guys. This was a special group just like the group of seniors last year. Again, we graduated six seniors in our secondary last season and we are going to lose a lot more guys this year on both sides of the ball. This was a special group and its going to be hard to say goodbye to them. I am going to make sure these guys finish the semester strong in the classroom, help them get their film together and we are going to try to get as many as these guys into college to play on the next level,” said Jeter.

Newberry finished the season with a 12-1 overall record, had their first undefeated regular season since 2001, won back-to-back region titles for the first time in over a decade and advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 season. They didn’t get the storybook ending but these young men have nothing to hang their heads low about. Congratulations to the Bulldogs and coach Jeter on a fun season and a season to remember in The Berry.