Wolves drop heartbreaker at Mars Hill
Mars Hill, N.C. (Newberry) – In their past few trips, Meares Stadium has proven to be a house of horrors for the Newberry Wolves. They have dropped games in the last moments in their last two trips into the mountains of North Carolina and unfortunately, this week just added to that history. Newberry was able to come back from 22-7 down with just under two minutes to play but a Dre Harris Interception in double overtime proved to be the difference maker as Mars Hill would take the ensuing drive and score the game winning touchdown, breaking the Wolves’ hearts once again.
The teams would trade punts throughout the first quarter of action. Newberry’s best drive came on their opening drive of the quarter as they would drive 26 yards and get to the Mars Hill 39 but decided to play it safe on 4th and 2 and Gibson Marsh would have a punt downed at the Mars Hill one yard line, continuing his trend from last week which earned him SAC Special Teams Player of the Week.
The deadlock wouldn’t be broken until about four minutes before halftime when Mars Hill would take an eight play, 30 yard drive, which was assisted by a roughing the passer penalty against the Wolves, and score the game’s first touchdown as Jimmy Urzua found Ty Snelson for eight yards and the score. The Lions would convert the ensuing two-point conversion and Newberry found themselves down 8-0. The Wolves would not be deterred, however, as even though the offense went three-and-out on their next possession the Newberry defense would force Mars Hill to do the same and Newberry was able to capitalize on this opportunity as Dre Harris found Bobby Irby for the touchdown to cap a seven play, 71 yard drive. With that, the Wolves went into the locker room trailing 8-7.
However, in the third quarter, it seemed the game was getting away from the Wolves as Newberry was forced to punt on the opening possession of the half and despite another Gibson Marsh punt being downed on the one yard line, Mars Hill took the ball 99 yards to score a touchdown. Most of those yards came on the Chris Roberts 71 yard touchdown run to cap the drive and Newberry was down 15-7. After another Newberry punt, Mars Hill would take their next drive 58 yards for a touchdown and Newberry suddenly found themselves down by two scores. Newberry would take the next drive into the Lions’ red zone but Dre Harris had a pass intercepted and that brought us to the end of the third quarter with Newberry on their heels and looking to get back in the game.
It seemed that Newberry had the perfect opportunity to get back to within one score as they once again drove to the Mars Hill red zone but Dre Harris’ pass to the endzone was intercepted by Mars Hill with just under six minutes left and it seemed that Newberry would come up short in the game. However, the Wolves defense had other plans as they forced a Mars Hill three-and-out which Dre Harris would follow up with a drive capped by a 38 yard touchdown pass to Bryson Woodruff and suddenly Newberry had life again with just under two minutes to play and all three timeouts still in Todd Knight‘s pocket. However, things seemed bleak again as Mars Hill gained nine yards on their first play where a first down would all but end the game but the Newberry defense was once again not ready to give up as Tyran Dixon would force a Chris Roberts fumble and Newberry gained possession with under a minute to go and a chance to tie the game. All the Wolves offense would need was three plays and 36 seconds as Dre Harris completed two passes to Bryson Woodruff for 34 and 24 yards, the latter of which capped the drive which led to Ray Cotton making the point after to complete the emphatic Wolves comeback to force overtime.
In the opening overtime period, Newberry seemed to have a golden opportunity to complete the comeback and win as Anthony Blue picked off a Jimmy Urzua pass and all Newberry needed was a field goal to come away victorious. Newberry would gain six yards to set up Ray Cotton for the game winning field goal. However, Cotton would push the kick to the right and we played on to a second overtime. This time it was Mars Hill who forced a turnover as they intercepted Dre Harris on the opening play of the second overtime and Newberry found themselves with their backs against the wall. After an illegal formation penalty forced Mars Hill back to a 2nd and 15, Jimmy Urzua found CJ Thompson for the game winning touchdown and thwarted the Wolves’ comeback hopes.
The Wolves will travel into the mountains once again next weekend as they face the Cavaliers of UVA-Wise as Newberry continues SAC play. That game can be heard on WKDK and streamed via a UVA-Wise produced feed on newberrywolves.com/tv.
