Newberry’s Castle featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10

BRISTOL, Conn. – Markell Castle’s leaping, twisted, one-handed catch on a high pass from Raleigh Yeldell was featured on ESPN as the No. 2 play on SportsCenter’s Top Ten Sunday evening.

The play came as part of a four-play, 73-yard scoring drive that took just 36 seconds off the clock, allowing the Wolves to knot up the score at 21 before heading into the locker room. Yeldell had completed passes to Romelo Doctor of 17 and 23 yards on the previous two plays before finding Castle open down the seam out of a four wide receiver set.

Yeldell’s ball floated over the defensive back and appeared to be just too high for Castle to reel in. But the sophomore used every bit of his 5-8, 185-pound frame to soar high above the turf, reaching into the air with his right hand while twisting to his left, securing the ball with one hand while nearly parallel to the turf.

The Wolves tied the score at 21 with an eight-yard touchdown to Cole Watson one play later and a two-point conversion pass to Knox Butcher.

Castle would go on to haul in 10 passes for 181 yards, good for sixth-most in school history, and a 72-yard touchdown strike. Yeldell’s 447 yards through the air landed at No. 3 in the record books and were the third-most of any Division II quarterback on the season’s opening weekend. Yeldell also moved into 10th in school history in career passing yardage.

View the ESPN SportsCenter clip here or see the version with commentary from Newberry’s live stream here.