NEWBERRY – Newberry opens the season at a Southern Conference opponent for the second consecutive year, traveling to take on the Catamounts of Western Carolina Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. 

WHO: Newberry College at Western Carolina University
WHERE: E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field on the campus of Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C.
WHEN: 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 1
RECORDS: Both teams are playing their first game of the season
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (subscription service)
LIVE STATS: www.catamountsports.com
LIVE AUDIO: www.newberrywolves.tv, WKDK-AM 1240 in Newberry County, www.wkdk.com, WKDK app, "WKDK" on TuneIn Radio app
WEATHER FORECAST: Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms during the day will give way to partly cloudy skies in the evening. The high is predicted to be 81 degrees with a low of 64. There is a 50 percent chance of rain during the day that drops to 20 percent in the evening.
SERIES HISTORY: Western Carolina leads the all-time series 10-4, including 6-2 in games in Cullowhee. Saturday marks the teams' first meeting since 1993.
TICKETS, PARKING, AND GAMEDAY INFORMATION: Available here
WESTERN CAROLINA PREVIEW: Available here
OF NOTE: Newberry fans making the trip to Cullowhee are asked to wear SCARLET to the game

THIS WEEK'S TOP STORYLINES

1. Head Coach Todd Knight will coach his 100th game at Newberry against the Catamounts. Knight enters his 10th season with a 55-44 overall record, second in school history in both overall wins and winning percentage (.556) among coaches with 10 or more games at the helm. He ranks 10th in SAC history in wins.
    
2. Markell Castle enters the season third in Newberry history with nine 100-yard receiving games, fourth with 17 career touchdown catches, seventh with 1,757 yards, and 10th with 110 receptions. He is 179 yards from moving into third in career yardage.
    
3. Of Castle's 39 receptions in 2017, 31 went for a first down or a touchdown, including all 12 of his catches on third down.
    
4. Jamarcus Henderson 41.5 career tackles for loss rank second in Newberry history, third among active Division II players, and seventh among active players at any NCAA level.
    
5. Of the 93 players on Newberry's initial dress list, 87 are South Carolina natives.
    
6. The Wolves are 9-12 in their last 21 games against Division I opponents dating to a 50-19 win at Charleston Southern on Oct. 8, 1994. Newberry's most recent Division I win came over Morehead State (23-7) in 2006. The Wolves fell 31-14 at The Citadel in last year's opener.
    
7. Newberry and Western Carolina met every year from 1960-69. Nine of those seasons were spent as rivals in the Carolinas Conference, a forerunner of the South Atlantic Conference that was established in 1975 with Newberry as a founding member.
    
8. The Wolves dropped the first two meetings between the two schools, in the 1948 and 1949 seasons, but won four games in a row between 1960 and 1963. Western Carolina is currently on an eight-game winning streak in the series.
    
9. Western Carolina went 7-5 last season and narrowly missed a playoff berth, extending a the Catamounts' playoff drought to 34 seasons after playing for a national title in 1983. WCU won six of seven games early in the season and peaked at No. 18 in the national polls in October.

MORE INFORMATION

For complete coverage, view game notes from the Newberry Athletic Communications staff, Western Carolina's game notes, and the Southern Conference's game notes package.

IMPORTANT LINKS
Rosters: Newberry | WCU
Stats: Newberry | WCU
Schedule: Newberry | WCU
Standings: SAC | SoCon