Wolves Roll To 45-24 Victory In First Round Of NCAA Division 2 Playoffs

Newberry College (10-1) won their eighth consecutive game and broke Kentucky State’s eight-game winning streak with a 45-24 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division 2 playoffs at Setzler Field.

The 45 points scored by Newberry were the most the program has scored in a postseason game, surpassing the 34 points scored in Newberry’s last home playoff victory, 34-28 over Albany State in 2006.

Wolves quarterback Reed Charpia completed 25 of 34 passes for 288 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Jonah Norris scored three touchdowns, two rushing and one on a reception, Quez Spells led the team in rushing with nine carries for 52 yards while Kenmane Bruson chipped in with 47 yards and a score on 11 carries.

De’Andre Colemen led the Wolves with five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half, Rico Dorsey, Jr. had seven receptions for 83 yards and Keith Desaussure had four receptions for 45 yards.

Jalen Stradford led the Wolves’ defense with six tackles and an interception; Jonathan Sexton had five tackles and a quarterback sack and Mikey Blandin and KyHeim Bethea each added five tackles.

Newberry had 414 yards of total offense to 317 for Kentucky State and the Wolves possessed the ball for nearly 11 more minutes than KSU.

Kentucky State threw three interceptions while the Wolves had two turnovers.

Newberry College rolled into halftime with a 31-10 lead, but Kentucky State quickly got back into the game in the third quarter.

The Thorobreds scored the first 14 points of the second half thanks to a pair of Newberry turnovers.

Charpia had his streak of 204 pass attempts without an interception snapped when a Kentucky State defensive lineman picked him off at the Kentucky State 40-yard line.

The Thorobreds scored a touchdown on fourth and six from the Wolves’ nine-yard line with 4:58 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 31-17.

Another Wolves turnover on the next drive put the Thorobreds in business when Newberry fumbled the ball on a fourth and one attempt to give Kentucky State the ball at the Wolves 39-yard line.

Another fourth-down conversation resulted in a touchdown with a 30-yard run with 1:30 left in the quarter to cut the advantage to 31-24.

But the Wolves responded as Charpia drove the Wolves down the field on a 10-play 75-yard drive that culminated in a four-yard touchdown pass to Norris, his third touchdown of the game with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter to increase the lead back to 38-24.

On the next drive, Sexton came up with a key third down quarterback sack to force a fourth down and 14 at the Kentucky State 16-yard line and the Thorobreds could not complete a pass to turn the ball over on downs.

Newberry then put the exclamation point on the victory with Brunson scoring from five yards for the final score 45-24.

“This was a team win,” said Wolves head coach Todd Knight.  “We had to stop the big play.  They run the air raid offense, so you make them run the ball and eat the clock up.”

The Wolves defense put together a dominant performance in the fourth quarter, holding the Thorobreds to one first down and 17 yards.

The Wolves exploded for 31 first half points, their second most of the season to grab a 31-10 halftime lead.

Charpia completed 16 of 20 passes for 213 yards and a pair of scores, Coleman had five grabs for 102 yards and a touchdown, Dorsey had five catches for 52 yards, and Desaussure and Will Young combined for three grabs for 52 yards.

Newberry also ran the ball effectively in the first half with Spells with 31 yards on four carries and Charpia with 25 yards on the ground.

Newberry dominated the scored quarter gaining 121 yards to just 61 for the Thorobreds.

Leading 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Wolves completed a drive three and a half minutes into the second quarter to go up 21-10 on a one-yard run by Norris.

On the next drive, Stradford cut in front of a Kentucky State receiver and came up with his third interception of the season and returned it 22 yards to the Wolves 47-yard line and stopped the Kentucky State drive which penetrated the Newberry 36-yard line.

The Wolves turned the turnover into points as Burke Nettles made a 33-yard field goal to increase the lead to 24-10.

Another big turnover forced by the Wolves defense led to a late first half touchdown.

Charles Smith intercepted a tipped pass at the Thorobred  26-yard line with 1:08 left in the second quarter.

On third and eight from the Kentucky State 24-yard line, Charpia hit Coleman in the near corner of the end zone for a touchdown to finish the first half scoring with the Wolves up 31-10.

In a wild first quarter the Wolves grabbed a 15-10 lead.

Newberry exploded out of the gate scoring in just two plays.

Charpia connected with Coleman with a pass over the middle for 40 yards to the Thorobred 35-yard line and on the next play he connected with Dorsey on a short pass to the far side of the field that he cut back all the way across the field to score in the near corner of the end zone to give the Wolves a 7-0 lead just 30 seconds in to the game.

Kentucky State kicked a field goal on their first drive to cut the lead to 8-3, but the Wolves responded by driving 65 yards in 12 plays with Norris scoring from a yard out to give Newberry at 15-3 lead.

Again the Thorobreds responded to score a touchdown on their next possession to cut the advantage to 15-10 with 2:08 left in the quarter.

Newberry had 178 yards of total offense while Kentucky State had 135 yards.

The #3 seeded Wolves will travel to Pensacola, Fla. Saturday to take on #2 seed West Florida.