JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The No. 25-ranked Carson-Newman College football team was shut out of the end zone Saturday. The visiting Newberry Wolves defeated the Eagles 24-3 at Burke-Tarr Stadium.
Newberry is now 2-2 on the season and 2-0 in the South Atlantic Conference after the win. The Eagles begin the season 0-2 in the SAC and 2-2 on the year. Carson-Newman has not scored a touchdown in its last seven quarters of play. The last time the Eagles were held without a TD was against former SAC-rival Presbyterian in 2005.
C-N was held to just 123 yards rushing in the game.
"We got whipped up front on both sides of the ball, especially on the offensive side of the ball," Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks said. "In this offense, if you don't rush for a hundred yards in the first half, you're probably going to have some problems and we had some problems. We've got to get something squared away."
Carson-Newman was victimized for four turnovers in the game. Both of Newberry's second-half scores were set up by Eagles' fumbles.
"Fumbles usually happen because of a lack of concentration or execution or playing technique like you're supposed to," Sparks said. "We're having a hard time getting any bounces going our way."
The bounce didn't go C-N's way on Newberry's first scoring drive in the opening quarter. An Oliver Davis interception was called back on an offsides penalty. Two plays later Newberry quarterback Bryan Ehrlich made the Eagles pay, with a 36-yard pass to Treginald Wilson to set his team up at the one yard-line. Running back Dureal Elmore took the ball the final yard for the score.
Carson-Newman junior kicker Carlos Lopez (Seymour, Tenn.) put the only points on the board for the Eagles, a 46-yard field goal to open the second quarter. Lopez missed from 36 yards out later in the first half.
Newberry ate up most of the third quarter with a nearly seven-minute, 15-play drive that culminated in a 21-yard field goal from Nick Kinney. The Eagles fumbled the ensuing kick off and the Wolves were able to strike again, this time with a six-yard touchdown run from Aikeem Sherman.
A fumble from C-N quarterback Johnny Foster (Roebuck, S.C.) set up Newberry's final score, a two-yard run from Wesley Brown.
"We have to recommit and check our hearts and see what's there," Sparks said. "We have to find some way to
play with a little more urgency."
Nate Inman (Fitzgerald, Ga.) led the Eagles with 17 carries for 68 yards on the ground. Foster was 5-for-10 for 60 yards and an interception. Linebacker Larry Lumpkin (Grand Bay, Ala.) once again led the C-N defense, this time with eight tackles, two coming for a loss.
The Eagles travel to Wingate next week to take on the defending SAC Champion Bulldogs. Kick off is 1:30 p.m.
