November 8th, 2025 3:00pm
From Newberry sports information:
In typical heart pounding fashion, the Newberry College Wolves thwarted Carson-Newman on the last play of the game to win the 2025 South Atlantic Conference Championship and secure a bid to the 2025 NCAA Division 2 playoffs 28-21 before a sold-out crowd at Setzler Field.
Carson-Newman had the ball on fourth down from the Newberry 12-yard line with four seconds left, but Santory Jones intercepted a pass in the corner of the end zone to seal
Newberry's seventh consecutive victory and third South Atlantic Conference title in the last five seasons.The Wolves also won their fifth game on their final offensive possession when true freshman, back-up H-back Keshon Washington made a finger-tip catch of a Reed Charpia pass caught and rumbled 70 yards for a touchdown to give the Wolves a 28-21 lead with 1:48 remaining in the game.
It was Washington's third catch in just his third game all season. His previous two catches had gone for a total of two yards against Point back on September 13.
Carson-Newman then drove 63 yards on 13 plays to get the ball to the Newberry 13-yard line, but the Jones stopped a pass play for just one yard, followed by two incomplete passes, one that fell short on a quarterback pressure by Jonathan Sexton that set up the final play.
Charpia had another standout game, completing 21 of 29 passes with three touchdowns and no interceptions for 267 yards.
He now has 2,682 yards passing on the season with 23 touchdowns, just one interception and has completed 70 percent of his passes. His 227 completions are the second-best, his 2,682 yards passing are the third best and his 23 touchdowns are tied for the fourth best single season total in Newberry history, while accomplishing it in just 10 games.
De'Andre Coleman caught four passes for 57 yards, Keith Desaussure had four receptions for 54 yards and completed one pass to Charpia for 15 yards and Rico Dorsey, Jr., had three catches for 52 yards and a key block on the game winning score.
Desaussure now has 76 receptions for 864 yards and nine touchdowns this season. His 76 receptions are second best, his 864 yards are fifth best and his nine touchdowns are tied for sixth best in single season history, again with just 10 games played.
The Wolves averaged six yards per rush, actually a half yard better than Carson-Newman's rushing attack which came into the game 11th in the nation.
Kenmane Brunson had 47 yards on seven carries, Jonah Norris had 37 yards on eight carries and Charpia had 32 yards on four carries.
Newberry outscored Carson-Newman 21-7 in the fourth quarter after trailing 14-7 heading into the final stanza.
The Wolves opened the fourth quarter with a bang as Charpia completed a 43-yard pass to Dorsey down to the Eagle eight-yard line, the longest play of the day to that point for the Newberry offense.
Three plays later Charpia, while being hit by two Eagle defenders, completed a three-yard touchdown pass to Dorsey on third and goal to tie the game at 14.
After the Wolves defense stopped Carson-Newman, Charpia drove the Wolves 75 yards in nine plays to grab their first lead of the game.
Charpia completed four consecutive passes for 44 yards and caught a 15-yard pass from Desaussure on an improvised play to get the Wolves to the Carson-Newman 16-yard line.
The running game took over from there as Norris ran three times to cover the final 16 yards, capping the effort with a three-yard score to give the Wolves a 21-14 lead with 6:50 remaining in the game.
But the Eagles punched right back, driving 75 yards in eight plays to tie the game at 21 with just 2:41 left in the game, setting up Newberry's game winning touchdown drive.
The Wolves had a balanced offensive attack with 145 yards on the ground and 282 through the air for 427 while Carson-Newman had 285 yards rushing, 92 yards passing for 377 total yards.
The first half was a slugfest between the top two teams in the SAC with the score tied at 7-7 at the break.
The Wolves had 153 total yards to 142 for Carson-Newman with the Wolves rushing for 73 yards and passing for 80. The Eagles ran for 91 yards and passed for 51.
Neither team scored in the second quarter, but both had opportunities.
Newberry drove to the Carson-Newman two-yard line but could not punch it in on four attempts and turned it over on downs. The drive took 13 plays and covered 63 yards and took just over seven minutes, but the Eagle defense stopped Newberry on three runs and one pass at their own two-yard line.
On the last drive of the first half, the Eagles drove to the Wolves 41-yard line, but Mikey Blandin made tackles on back-to-back plays for a total of just four yards and Carson-Newman's pass on third down was incomplete. They attempted a 53-yard field goal on the last play of the half which fell short.
Each team scored on their first possession of the game and punted on their second in the first quarter.
The Wolves took the opening kickoff of the game and drove 75 yards on eight plays, culminating with Charpia connecting with Desaussure on a pass down the far sideline and running into the corner of the end zone for a 13-yard score with 9:49 left in the first quarter.
Big plays included a 13-yard pass from Charpia to Coleman, runs of 13 and 10 yards by Brunson and a 17-yard run by Norris.
Carson-Newman responded immediately by driving 65 yards on 11 plays to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:33 left in the first quarter.
The Wolves had 96 yards of total offense to 56 for the Eagles. Charpia completed 5-of-6 passes for 38 yards and Newberry ran for 58 yards averaging 7.3 yards per rush.
Newberry completed the regular season with a 9-1 record, 8-1 in the South Atlantic Conference and has a bye-week before the NCAA Division 2 playoff bracket is announced on Sunday, November 23rd.
The Wolves were ranked fourth in the Super 2 Region last week and have a good chance to host their first playoff home game since 2016.