Newberry announces 2022 football schedule

NEWBERRY, S.C. – The pathway to a title defense for the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Champions has been set as the Newberry College football team has announced their 2022 schedule which features six road affairs as well as five home games at historic Setzler Field.

One of those game will start the season for the Scarlet and Gray as they play host to Allen University out of nearby Columbia, S.C. to start the season on September 3. It will be the first time that they two teams have met on the gridiron. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 4-5 overall record last season where they only met one common opponent with the Wolves as they dropped a 47-40 contest to Erskine.

Newberry will then hit the road for the first of a pair or two-game road stints in the season with their first featuring trips to Tigerville, S.C. and Emory, Va. The first game of the road trip will feature a familiar foe in the Crusaders of North Greenville University. The Wolves were able to upend NGU by a final score of 24-14 this past season and currently owns a 12-5 record against them all time. The Wolves will then make their first trip to Emory & Henry, who will begin their membership in the SAC in the 2022 season. It will be the first matchup between the two teams and will open league play for both sides.

Another new conference member will be waiting for the Wolves to make their first return to Setlzer Field as the Flying Fleet of Erskine College will join the league as an associate member for the 2022 season.  A relatively new program, the Wolves have taken on the Fleet twice in their history, taking home double digits wins on both occasions including a 48-10 win over them this past season.

A single game on the road to start the month of October will feature a matchup with the Eagles of Carson-Newman University. The Eagles currently hold the 24-32 edge over the Wolves in the overall record, but Newberry has the slight edge on the line over the past ten games, posting a 6-4 record. Returning home on October 8 to host a new conference member yet again, the Wolves will welcome in the Bulldogs of Barton College to Setzler Field for the first time, as both contests between the two teams have taken place on the road in Wilson, N.C. with the Wolves coming out victorious both times.

The second two-game road stint will be a test for the Wolves towards the end of the season as the face perennial powerhouses Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne on their home turf. The Wolves and Indians are notched even on the historical scoreboard with each team picking up 41 wins against the other, with three early contests ending in a tie. Newberry will then look to defend the Bishop’s Trophy and win it in back-to-back years for the first time since 2017 as they travel to take on the Bears on October 22.

Returning to the friendly confines of Setzler Field on October 29, the Wolves will play host to the Saints of Limestone University for a homecoming showdown.  The two teams have met seven times since Limestone began competition in the 2014 season with the Wolves holding a 6-1 overall record against the, with only two games being decide by only one score.

Another evenly split overall record of 16-16 will be decided after the 2022 matchup between the Wolves of Bulldogs of Wingate University as they will meet in Wingate, N.C. on November 5. The two teams were forced into a double-overtime matchup last season with Newberry coming out on top, 41-35.

The final weekend of the regular season is ambiguous depending on the results of the earlier contests. The 2022 season will be the first in which the SAC is split into two divisions with the two leaders of the divisions meeting for the regular season title in the final week of the regular season.  If the Wolves were to not make that championship game, they would then take on their regularly scheduled opponent for that weekend in the Lions of Mars Hill University. The Lions have a firm hold on the overall record between the two, with the Wolves trailing 17-32 overall.

Newberry kicks off the 2022 campaign on Saturday, September 3 as they host the Yellow Jackets of Allen University. Kick-off is slated for 6:00 p.m.