Newberry Gets Ready To Host Homecoming

NEWBERRY (NC SID) — The Newberry College Wolves‘ football team faces a stern test, as the No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears come calling this weekend. The game is the annual Battle for the Bishops Trophy, as well as Newberry‘s Homecoming contest. WHO: Lenoir-Rhyne University at Newberry College WHERE: Setzler Field on the campus of Newberry College WHEN: 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 18 RECORDS: Newberry is 2-4 overall and 1-3 in South Atlantic Conference action. Lenoir-Rhyne is 6-0 overall and 3-0 in SAC play. LIVE AUDIO: http://www.NewberryWolves.tv, WKDK-AM 1240 in Newberry County LIVE VIDEO: http://www.NewberryWolves.tv LIVE STATS: http://www.NewberryStats.com WEATHER FORECAST: 78 degrees and sunny THE GAME “¢ Newberry College is in its 101st season of intercollegiate football. “¢ Today‘s game marks the 987th game in school history, with Newberry carrying an all-time record of 407-543-36 (.431) “¢ Lenoir-Rhyne is ranked fifth in the AFCA Division II Coaches Poll and seventh in the D2Football.com Poll. “¢ Newberry is not ranked or receiving votes. THE BISHOPS TROPHY SERIES “¢ This game is the 81st meeting between the Wolves and the Bears. “¢ L-R has a 43-30-7 lead in the all-time series. “¢ The Bishops Trophy was established in 1987 by the North and South Carolina synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) to be presented to the winner of the football game between the two sister Lutheran institutions. “¢ L-R has a 15-12 lead in Bishops Trophy contests. “¢ The Bears have won the last three games, which broke a five-year Newberry winning streak. THE COACHES NEWBERRY: Todd Knight (Gardner-Webb, 1989) is in his sixth season as Newberry‘s head coach. He has a 30-29 record and a record of 5-3 against teams ranked in the AFCA Divsion II Top 25. He has a 19-19 record against the South Atlantic Conference. In 2009, Knight led Newberry to a 6-4 record and became the first Newberry head coach to record a winning record in his inaugural season since Reed Charpia in 1978. In 2010, Knight led Newberry to a 4-6 record, as well as the 2011 season. The Wolves went 5-6 overall in the 2012 season and achieved a ranking as high as No. 25 nationally. In 2013, he led the Wolves to a 9-3 overall record, making the school‘s second appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Newberry finished the season ranked No. 23 nationally. Knight is 2-3 all-time against Lenoir-Rhyne. LENOIR-RHYNE: Ian Shields (Oregon State, 1994) is in his third season as a collegiate head coach and first season as the head coach of the Bears. He has a 13-15 (.464) overall record and a 6-0 record in his short time at L-R. This is his first game against Newberry. He was previously the offensive coordinator at Army from 2009-13, and was head coach at Eastern Oregon from 2006-07. UP NEXT: UNC PEMBROKE “¢ Newberry hits the road for a non-conference tilt with the Braves of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. “¢ Newberry is 1-2 all-time against UNCP after last year‘s upset victory while the Braves were in the top 10 nationally. “¢ This is the first of two consecutive road games for the scarlet and gray. “¢ Kickoff in Pembroke on October 25 is set for 4 p.m. ROLL OVER THE ODOMETER “¢ Newberry quarterback W.T. Murden became just the fourth trigger man in school history to pass for over 5,000 yards in a career with his 174 yards at CSU. “¢ He now has 5,854 yards passing, moving up to second in school history. “¢ He ranks second in in TD passes, yardage and completions and third in attempts. HOMETOWN SCORER “¢ Jackson Swindler scored Newberry‘s first touchdown of the season with his 62-yard score in the fourth quarter of the CSU game. “¢ He is the first player who is a native of Newberry to score a touchdown for Newberry College since Roderick Elkins returned an interception for the game winning touchdown at West Virginia Wesleyan on Sept. 23, 2000. This is a span of 128 games “¢ The last Newberry local to score an offensive touchdown was Trokya Bates, who had a TD reception in the Nov. 14, 1998 Bronze Derby game, a 45-14 loss at Presbyterian. This is a span of 143 games “¢ Newberry native Joseph Foster kicked four PATs in the blowout win over Limestone. “¢ Both players have an interesting Newberry connection, as Swindler is the son of recently retired City of Newberry police chief Jackie Swindler and Foster is the son of Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster. ELMORE HITS A THOUSAND “¢ With three carries in the third quarter of the Limestone game, Newberry senior Dureal Elmore from Abbeville earned over 1,000 rushing yards for his career. “¢ With one more rushing touchdown, Elmore would crack Newberry‘s top 10 in career rushing scores. He currently has 12 touchdowns after his first quarter score against Tusculum. NEWBERRY IN THE NFL “¢ Three former Newberry College football players are on NFL rosters “¢ As expected, Kansas City cornerback Ron Parker made the Chiefs‘ roster for the second straight season opener. He started the KC‘s last two games at safety in the place of injured Pro Bowler Eric Berry. “¢ Parker ranks second on the Chiefs‘ roster in tackles with 26. He led KC in tackles in their loss at Denver. He had seven stops in Sunday‘s loss at the 49ers. “¢ Despite an injury late in the preseason, Brandon Bostick remained on the active roster for the Green Bay Packers. He made his 2014 debut in GB‘s win over the Jets, playing on nine special teams plays. “¢ The feel-good story of the NFL this preseason was wide receiver Corey Washington, who caught four touchdown passes late in games for the New York Giants. In the regular season, he has yet to catch a pass, but has been fature in short field packages as well as special teams. “¢ These players tie Newberry for the second-most NFL players of any Division II school, behind only Grand Valley State with five. A trio of other Division II schools also have three NFL players – Saginaw Valley State, Washburn and West Texas A&M. “¢ Newberry‘s three NFL players is all the more impressive considering its relatively small student body. Only one player in the NFL hails from a college smaller than Newberry – Baltimore Ravens‘ wide receiver Jacoby Jones, who attended Lane College in Tennessee. Lane lists its attendance as 1,000.