NEWBERRY – The Wolves will look to rebound from a 17-7 setback at North Greenville when they host Florida Tech in the first home game of the 2019 season.
The Wolves and Panthers have played four times in their history, three of which have been one-possession games. Each team has a pair of wins in the series.
WHO: Florida Institute of Technology at Newberry College
WHERE: Historic Setzler Field on the campus of Newberry College
WHEN: 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 14
RECORDS: Florida Tech is 1-0 after a thrilling 23-22 win at Savannah State. Newberry is 0-1. Neither team has played a conference game
LIVE VIDEO: newberrywolves.tv
LIVE STATS: newberrystats.com
LIVE AUDIO: www.newberrywolves.tv, WKDK-AM 1240 in Newberry County, www.wkdk.com, WKDK app, "WKDK" on TuneIn Radio app
WEATHER FORECAST: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Winds will be out of the east northeast at 5-10 miles per hour.
SERIES HISTORY: The series is tied 2-2, including 1-1 at both Setzler Field and Florida Tech Panther Stadium.
TICKETS: Available at the gate.
THIS WEEK'S TOP STORYLINES
- Shea Rodgers has scored 159 points in his career on 21 field goals and 96 PAT's. He is one point shy of Pete Bember (1983-86) for 10th in school history in scoring and ranks fourth in both field goals and PAT's made.
- Florida Tech enters Saturday's game on three days' less rest than the Wolves. Newberry played its season opener at North Greenville on Thursday, while Hurrican Dorian pushed the Panthers' opener at Savannah State to Sunday.
- Newberry is 17-36-1 all-time following a season-opening loss and has a 2-3 record in head coach Todd Knight's tenure. The last win following an opening loss came in 2014, when the Wolves fell at Division I Charleston Southern before rebounding with a 70-20 win over Limestone that set a school scoring record. Newberry is 7-3 in home openers under Knight.
- One of the most notable wins in program history occurred 34 years ago on Sept. 14, 1985, when Eddie Taylor's 57-yard field goal with two seconds left stunned Furman 24-21 in Greenville. Furman would lose just one game in the regular season, including blowing out NC State 44-20 two weeks after the Newberry game, and lost the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game by two points.
- Of the 59 positions on Newberry's two-deep, 54 are filled by Palmetto State natives.
- Florida Tech scored a touchdown to take a 23-16 lead at Savannah State with 2:12 to go before the Tigers drove the length of the field to score with 14 seconds left. Savannah State elected to run a two-point conversion attempt for the win, but senior safety Daniel Welch came up with a tackle in the backfield on a zone-read play to preserve the win for the Panthers.
- Florida Tech allowed 23 passing yards to Savannah State, the fewest of any Division II team since Ferris State allowed Harding just 18 yards through the air on Nov. 17, 2018.
- Panthers' quarterback Trent Chmelik enters the game ranked eighth among all active Division II quarterbacks in passing efficiency at 147.05 for his career. A senior, Chmelik is 253-for-417 for 3,482 yards with 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
MORE INFORMATION
For complete coverage, view game notes from the Newberry Athletic Communications staff, Florida Tech game notes, or the South Atlantic Conference's Weekly Report.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Rosters: Newberry | Florida Tech
Stats: Newberry | Florida Tech
Schedule: Newberry | Florida Tech
Standings: SAC | Gulf South
