By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Catawba’s football team is ranked in the top 10 in Division II as far as providing excitement for fans and gray hairs for coaches, but winning is still the object of the game.

Despite a rash of key injuries, Catawba is scoring almost 32 points per game for head coach Tyler Haines, but the Indians are allowing almost 37. That explains a 2-4 overall record, three gut-churning league losses and a 1-3 mark in the South Atlantic Conference.

What the Indians really need right now is a tedious, boring, mundane victory that puts everyone in the stadium to sleep. Something like 24-10.

Newberry visits Catawba’s Shuford Stadium on Saturday night at 6 p.m.

On the surface, the Wolves (1-4, 1-2) would seem to be an ideal candidate to provide that boring win for Catawba, but like Catawba, Newberry is better than its record might indicate. Newberry is actually favored by six points by the Massey Ratings. Catawba is given a 36-percent chance of winning.

Injuries have hit the Wolves hard, and they played most of last week’s loss to Lenoir-Rhyne with a true freshman quarterback. But they ran the ball effectively against the tough Bears — 187 rushing yards — and they fought defensively.

The Wolves also kick it better than most. Kicker Bryce Early is close to automatic on field goals (8-for-9) and puts his kickoffs in the end zone.

Newberry’s SAC games have included a blowout romp against struggling Tusculum and competitive, low-scoring losses to Mars Hill as well as Lenoir-Rhyne.

The biggest challenge for Newberry on Saturday night will be trying to slow down Catawba running back LJ Turner, who has become a force at the national level in recent weeks.

Turner has carried 123 times for 855 yards and 10 touchdowns. That’s basically 7 yards per carry. He’s second in Division II in rushing yards. He’s tied for third in rushing TDs. Catawba’s passing game is making some strides with Hunter Sheppard throwing and young receivers emerging, but Turner is the guy you have to game-plan to stop.

This is a game Catawba really needs to win in order to have a good season. The Indians will be underdogs in three of their last four games. That’s Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne and Mars Hill. There’s also a 50/50 game at Barton, but there are no sure victories.