By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — One of the challenges for Catawba football as it seeks a return to prominence in the South Atlantic Conference is being in the league’s Piedmont Division.

The Piedmont is the stronger of the two SAC divisions by a lot — plus-8 in games so far in 2023 against the Mountain Division.

There are three teams in the 12-team SAC that Catawba appears to be clearly better than. All three are in the Mountain Division.

That’s Emory & Henry, whom the Indians beat soundly, and UVA Wise and Erskine, both 0-4 in SAC games, whom the Indians don’t play this season. Catawba did play two of  the Mountain Division’s tougher teams – Mars Hill and Tusculum — and lost to both. The Indians will play one more Mountain team this year —  Carson-Newman.

Catawba, of course, will play everyone in its own six-team division. There are no easy ones there. That division consists of Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne, Barton, Limestone and Newberry. Everyone is at least 3-3. Catawba is one of the three 3-3 teams.

Catawba is an 11-point underdog for Saturday’s  game against one of the other 3-3s. The Indians will travel to Newberry for a 4 p.m. kickoff.

While the Indians aren’t favored, and shouldn’t be favored at Setzler Field, it appears to be a level game, even teams, one of those games that will come down to turnovers and mistakes. In other words, it looks winnable, but the Indians can’t get a punt blocked for a touchdown. That disaster happened against Wingate last Saturday.

Catawba, 1-3 in the SAC, has a more prolific offense than Newberry, by quite a bit, because the Indians are putting up massive passing numbers under first-year head coach Tyler Haines. Preston Brown is the SAC’s leading thrower, while Bo Pryor and Jordan Mitchell give the Indians two of the league’s top five receivers.

Give Newberry the edge on defense, but on paper, Newberry’s edge on defense isn’t nearly as large as Catawba’s advantage on offense.

Newberry employs multiple quarterbacks. Brayden Phillips has thrown for 641 yards, but isn’t much of a threat to run. Jy Tolen, on the other hand, is a running quarterback. Newberry doesn’t have anyone with more than one TD catch. Keith Desaussure has 28 receptions for 349 yards.

The primary back has been Dwayne Wright, who ranks seventh in the SAC with 415 rushing yards.

Mario Anderson, who  totally demolished Catawba for 246 rushing yards in 2022 and led Newberry to the SAC title, jumped through the transfer portal to the University of South Carolina.

Newberry head coach Todd Knight got a contract extension this week. He’s had a lot of success at Newberry and is in his 15th season. He was Newberry’s defensive coordinator before he became head coach. His teams almost always are physical and rugged on defense. The Wolves, 2-2 in league play, have allowed only four rushing TDs this season.

Knight has guided Newberry to five straight wins over Catawba, The Indians haven’t beaten the Wolves since 2017. Catawba hasn’t won at Newberry since 2014.

Still, the all-time series is almost dead-even since it began in 1932.

Newberry has 42 wins. Catawba has won 41. There have been three ties.