Staff report

SALISBURY — LJ Turner and Juice Martin had Hall of Fame nights, but Catawba wound up losing another South Atlantic Conference football game on Saturday.

Newberry put a damper on homecoming festivities at Shuford Stadium with two long-fourth quarter drives against the clock, the crowd and Catawba’s defense and rallied to beat the Indians 27-21. The Wolves (2-4, 2-2), who desperately needed a win, scored the winning touchdown with 56 seconds left.

Catawba (2-5, 1-4) isn’t far from being 6-1 but also has lost down-to-the-wire SAC games with UVA Wise, Carson-Newman and Limestone. Each loss has been a little bit different, but it’s all added up to  a brutal and frustrating stretch of coming up one or two plays short week after week.

Catawba has produced games with humongous passing and rushing yards, but against Newberry the only viable offense was coming from the churning legs of the unstoppable Turner, who had 26 carries for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

Newberry held the Indians to a season-low 273 yards of offense. Catawba threw for only 46 yards. Newberry had 26 first downs to 11 for the Indians.

Martin was outstanding. He had an exciting pick-six and another interception that set up a touchdown.

The first half would have been scoreless, an epic defensive struggle, but Catawba muffed a punt late in the half, and Newberry was able to punch it in and take a 6-0 lead.

Newberry led 13-0 late in the third quarter and early in the fourth when Catawba put together a spree that probably should have knocked out the Wolves. Catawba scored all 21 of its points in a crazy span of about three minutes.

Turner broke a 75-scoring run late in the third quarter to break the ice for the Indians, and the PAT by Bryson Sims reduced Catawba’s deficit to 13-7.

Then Martin delivered an 89-yard pick-six, and Sims’ PAT gave Catawba a 14-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Then Martin picked off another pass. He lugged this one back to the Newberry 7, and Turner put it in the end zone for a 21-13 lead.

Catawba could not possibly have enjoyed more momentum than it possessed at that point, and Newberry had won only one game all season. Newberry had converted just one third down the entire game, but the Wolves proved resilient.

Reed Charpia directed the Wolves on a 75-yard scoring drive. The Wolves converted a third-and-9 under pressure, and Charpia threw a 14-yard TD pass to Rico Dorsey Jr. to make it a 21-19 game with 8:05 left on the scoreboard. The try for two was unsuccessful.

Catawba was still in good position to win, but got stopped, had to punt and watched the Wolves calmly drive 81 yards, including a third-and-12 conversion, as they pushed for their decisive touchdown. After a Catawba personal foul, Quez Spells scored that winning TD from the 18-yard line, and the Wolves tacked on a 2-point conversion.

A pass interception by the Wolves clinched the victory.

While Spells got the winning TD, Dwayne Wright (142 rushing yards) and Charpia (191 passing yards) provided most of Newberry’s balanced offense.

Newberry plays Barton next, while the Indians face a tough one at Wingate.