NEWBERRY — Newberry College football hosted their annual White and Scarlet Spring Game on Thursday, April 16th at Setzler Field. The Wolves will have a lot of eyes on them this season as many of the die hard Wolves’ fans are interested to see how the team will look after coming off the most historic season in program history.
In 2025, the Wolves reached the Division II National Semifinals round and racked up the postseason awards with a number of all-Americans, all-conference players, conference award winners and national award winners. This season is a new chapter and there will be a lot of new faces on the offensive side of the ball with the departure of starting quarterback Reed Charpia, all-conference wide receiver Keith Dessausure, starting center Davion Pyles, etc.
The new look offense and new look Wolves took the field at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday to showcase their talents to the community. Key position of interest is the quarterback position and the Wolves rotated a total eight quarterbacks in the spring game. The Wolves rotated a total of eight players at quarterback to try to see which guy could get the most out of their time which was limited due to the 15-minute running clock for all four quarters.
Mason Kidd got the start for Team White and Coleman Gray got the start for Team Scarlet at the quarterback positions. Kidd was able to lead the Team White right down the field for the first score of the game. The drive stalled in the red zone but they were able to get a field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
Gray had some struggles early on and was sacked on the second play of Team Scarlet’s first offensive drive and they were forced to punt. Team White had a promising drive going to start their second offensive drive of the game but Kidd had issues handling the snap from the shot gun and fumbled. He recovered his own fumble and the white squad was able to make the most out of their second chance opportunity. John Peeples broke a 31-yard run to put the white squad in the red zone for the second time in the first period as time expired. The transfer running back from Sumter High School showed why he was able to rush for over 1,300 yards as a senior and could be one of the many tailbacks that get a significant amount of the carries this fall.
Team White started the second quarter with the ball in the red zone and they score six this time around. Kidd found Gage Gunter for a five-yard touchdown reception on a short quick out route.
Team Scarlet’s struggles on offense continued as Grayson White was able to get home for a sack to end their second drive of the game. The white squad started to struggle on offense as well after their defense forced another punt. Kidd fumbled another snap, but wasn’t lucky enough to fall on the football and Team Scarlet recovered the fumble.
Then, the scarlet squad turned it right back over as the white squad was able to get an interception to force the second turnover of the game.
Izayah Whiteside would take over at quarterback for Team White following the interception and he couldn’t lead them down for a late score as time expired in the first half. Whiteside did show the ability to use his legs to extend plays and pick up key first downs. He would get the chance to start in the second half.
Peeples had another solid start to the second half as he was able to break a long 15-yard run to help lead the white team down the field for a score to open up the second half. Cam Davis would finish the drive off with a 10-yard rushing touchdown to extend the white squad’s lead, 17-0.
The second half turned into a defensive battle after the early score. Jaxon Schiedt and Heath Moser would see time at quarterback for the Wolves in the second between the two teams, but both would struggle mildly against the defensive line pressure provided by Jay Jeffries and company. They combine for 10 tackles for loss and five sacks in the spring game.
“I think we got close to what I was looking for. I think we have a good amount of talent but I was really looking to try to clean up little things that kept coming back to haunt us throughout the spring. We had issues with jumping the snap count and we kind of took a step back with that tonight and probably more than I care for in a ball game,” said Wolves head coach Todd Knight.
“I think the talent is there along with the effort and the kids are hungry. This group wants to make a point on improving from last year and keep us right where we want to be. I am happy with what I saw tonight but going into camp[fall], I need to jump on the little things right off the bat if we are going to get it cleaned up by the first kickoff.”
Despite the multiple offsides and false start penalties, Knight was still happy to see his defensive line make some many plays.
“There is no question that we are talented on our defensive line. Our new DL coach Terrence Campbell brings a lot of energy and juice to the room everyday. Our kids are emulating him. They are playing at higher level, their attitudes are off the charts and it’s because of him. He is the example for that group and you can see it tonight on the field. Yeah they may have jumped offsides a couple of times, but the five sacks and ten tackles for loss outweighed the two or three times they jumped offsides,” said Knight.
The ole’ ball coach also spoke about the quarterback and he just wanted to remind Wolves’ fans that Charpia didn’t take full control of the QB1 spot last season until fall camp. So for now, it is still a work in progress and Knight won’t be naming a starter until after fall camp has concluded.
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