Harris rushes for a pair as Newberry downs Catawba, 14-7

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Redshirt-senior Dre Harris (Greenville, S.C.) posted a pair of rushing touchdowns on the night as the Newberry College football team (5-2, 4-1 SAC) handed the Indians of Catawba College (4-1, 1-1 SAC) their first loss of the year by a 14-7 margin inside the friendly confines of Setzler Field on Saturday, October 16. The Wolves bested the Indians in nearly every statistical category, but the stand-out number was the 80 yards the Wolves held the conference leading rushing attack to.

Catawba was only able to muster 165 yards of offense, most of which came in the first half as the Wolves were able to hold them to under 30 yards on every drive in the second thirty minutes of action. Harris threw for 173 yards on the evening as he was able to complete 11 of his 18 attempts in the contest.  Redshirt-senior Bryson Woodruff (Roebuck, S.C.) would prove to be his favorite target on the evening catching four passes for 45 yards, including a hefty 37-yard pickup.

But it was the ground game that truly sparked the Newberry offense on the evening, an attack that was led by redshirt-sophomore Mario Anderson (Summerville, S.C) who finished the evening with 129 yards on the ground, including a 29-yard scamper. Harris was the second leading rusher on the evening for the Scarlet and Gray as he was able to rack up 75 yards on the ground, tallying both the touchdowns for the Wolves on the night.

Newberry was able to open the contest with nearly an eight and half minute drive that would last 14 plays but would end up with a punt from just inside Catawba territory that gave the Indians offense their first look of the contest. They would take advantage of that opportunity as they drove 80 yards for the first score of the game to take a 7-0 lead.  The Wolves would start to drive down the field, but the quarter break would stall their momentum as they were forced to punt for the second time on the evening.

It looked like Catawba would drive down the field again, but a big-time sack by redshirt-junior AJ Valentine (Johnston, S.C.) would help bring their drive to a quick close and give the Wolves possession with a touchback punt to set-up the Wolves on their own 20.  Harris would complete two big chunk passes to Woodruff and graduate student Bobby Irby (Irmo, S.C) that accounted for 59 yards of the drive.  Harris would then take the ball up the middle himself and scamper in from 15 yards out to pull the Wolves back even at seven point a piece heading into the halftime break.

After deferring the opening coin toss, Catawba took the opening kick of the second half and drove to nearly half field before another pivotal sack by redshirt-senior Chase Rogers (Dalzell, S.C.) would bring that drive to a halt, though a tough targeting call on the Wolves off the punt would pin then inside their own 10-yard line to start their next drive.  Newberry would make it just across the 50-yard mark before having to punt the ball back to Catawba.  However, the Wolves would force a three-and-out and a 19-yard punt return by graduate student Brentley Allen (Lexington, S.C.) would set up the Wolves on the Indians 33 yard-line.

Newberry would chip away at that yardage with multiple short gain rushes as they sat waiting on the seven yard-line when the quarter flipped to the fourth.  Harris would waste no time at the start of the fourth quarter as he would take the first play from scrimmage around the right side and dove to the pylon to give the Wolves the 14-7 lead.

Catawba would be able to get off a field-goal attempt on their next drive, after only being able to pick up one first-down, but would not get any points out of it as it sailed wide to the left of the uprights. Newberry would nearly mirror that effort on their next drive as they would set up for a 35-yard attempt but theirs two would go wide of the post to the left side.

The two teams would then again trade special teams plays, this time in the form of a punt over their next two drives before Catawba would take over with just two minutes to play in the contest.  After a first down rush and a completion, the Indians would post back-to-back incompletions, however the second of which would be called for pass interference by graduate student Anthony Blue (Newton, N.C.) which keep the drive alive for Catawba.  Blue would have a very short memory though as he would lock the game down for the Wolves on the next play, picking off the Indians and giving the ball back to the Wolves with just over a minute left to play.  Harris would line his squad up in the victory formation and take home the 14-7 win, handing the Indians their first conference and overall loss on the year.

Valentine led the Newberry defense with seven tackles on the evening, two for loss, as well as adding a sack to his credit.  Sophomore Juwan Moye (Lilburn, Ga.) added four tackles in the contest and a sack as well.

The Wolves return to Setzler Field a week from today for their Homecoming game as they welcome in the Eagles of Carson-Newman University on Saturday, October 23.  Kick-off is currently set for 4:00 p.m.