Newberry football moves up in national, regional rankings
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Newberry is now the second-ranked team in Super Region 2 after the Wolves’ dominant 49-7 win at Limestone Saturday evening.
Newberry was ranked No. 5 in the first regional poll and moved to No. 3 in last week’s rankings. The Wolves are now second only to North Alabama, vaulting over idle UNC Pembroke and into the second position in the rankings.
Should Newberry hold onto the No. 2 position in the region, the Wolves would host the seventh seed in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 19 and be assured of a second-round home game on Nov. 26 with a win.
Valdosta State is ranked third. The Blazers also leapt over fourth-place UNC Pembroke following an impressive road win at West Alabama, which fell from fifth to ninth in the rankings.
Florida Tech, the only team to defeat the Wolves in 2016, is ranked fifth, while Tuskegee dropped from fourth to sixth after a come-from-behind win at Legion Field over Miles in the game’s final two minutes. Tuskegee’s playoff hopes are in limbo–the Golden Tigers are attempting to schedule a 10th game for this weekend to remain eligible for the postseason.
North Greenville catapaulted to seventh with a win over Carson-Newman, with Wingate currently on the outside looking in with an eighth-place ranking. A win over Newberry in Saturday’s nationally-televised affair would give the Bulldogs a share of the South Atlantic Conference crown and could wrap up a postseason bid.
West Alabama and West Georgia round out the regional top 10. Click here to view the full rankings.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
WACO, Texas – Newberry has moved up one position to No. 19 in the latest American Football Coaches Association Division II Coaches’ Poll after a dominant 49-7 win at Limestone Saturday evening.
The Wolves gained 515 yards of total offense, 258 on the ground and 257 through the air, while limiting the Saints to 124 yards and seven points. Limestone did not have a single drive covering more than 28 yards in a balanced effort that saw three players record more than three tackles on the day.
Newberry moved up one spot after then-No. 17 Fairmont State fell to 22nd following a 27-17 loss at No. 3 Shepherd last week.
This marks Newberry’s 30th appearance in the AFCA poll since it was instituted in 2000. Newberry is 18-11 all-time as a ranked team. The Wolves were ranked for 22 weeks between 2006 and 2008, including an all-time high of No. 9 during the final week of the 2006 regular season.
Newberry will conclude the regular season on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. contest against Wingate at Setzler Field. The game will be broadcast nationally on American Sports Network. A Newberry win would give the Wolves their first outright South Atlantic Conference championship since 2006.
