NEWBERRY, S.C. --- The Newberry College football team scored 37 unanswered points en route to a 44-9 South Atlantic Conference victory over visiting Tusculum College Saturday at Setzler Field in the Wolves' annual homecoming contest.

Newberry (6-0, 4-0 SAC) remains undefeated on the season while the Pioneers even their record at 3-3 overall, 1-2 in league play.

Tusculum will travel to Jefferson City next Saturday to face rival Carson-Newman University for a 3 p.m. contest at Burke-Tarr Stadium. Newberry will be at Lenoir-Rhyne University next week in a battle for first place in the conference.

Newberry out-gained Tusculum 582-314 in total offensive yardage as the Wolves totaled 397 rushing yards led by Romelo Doctor's 104 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Wesley Brown posted 91 rushing yards, while quarterback W.T. Murden tallied 87 yards on 12 carries, including a 46-yard TD run on the Wolves' opening possession.

Murden also went 9-for-14 for 116 passing yards, including a pair of touchdowns to Corey Washington. Over half of his passing total came on a 69-yard TD completion Washington to put the Wolves up 27-3 with 9:38 remaining in the first half.

Tusculum quarterback Bo Cordell went 12-for-22 for 161 yards in just one half of play as he was injured in the second quarter and was held out for precautionary reasons. Back-up signal caller Kyle Dickey went 7-for-11 for 48 yards and was sacked five times.

TC freshman running back Isaac Robinson rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, including a six-yard touchdown run early in the final quarter to put the Pioneers into the end zone.

Tusculum linebacker Brian Alexander followed last week's career-high 18-tackle performance (vs. Catawba) with 17 stops against the Wolves, including a career-best 16 solo hits. He improves his career tackle tally to 311 which are the third most in school history, just 29 tackles away from the school record of 340 posted by Jacques Sessions from 1991-94. Alexander also becomes only the fifth player in program history to eclipse the 300-tackle plateau.

TC's Cameron Thomas added a career-best 11 tackles, while LiRonta Archie and John Perry accounted for seven stops each for the Pioneers.

Newberry's A.J. Booker led the Wolves with seven tackles, while Daniel Foster added six tackles, including three for loss and a sack.

TC's Justin Houston was held under 100 yards receiving for the first time this year with 42 yards on seven receptions, snapping a streak of four consecutive 100-yard games. Deon Hicks posted 88 yards on five catches, while tight end Wesley Powell tallied five receptions for 48 yards.

Washington led the Newberry receiving corps with four catches for 85 yards and two scores, while Jalen Cook added two grabs for 46 yards, including an 11-yard TD toss from Raleigh Yeldell at the 3:02 mark of the third quarter for Newberry's first score of the second half.

Murden's 46-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the day capped a five-play, 75-yard drive, scoring 1:57 into the contest.

On its first offensive possession, Tusculum answered by marching down the field too, but on fourth down and a yard to go, Tusculum was held to no gain at the NBY 17 turning the ball over on downs.

The Pioneer defense forced a punt on Newberry's next possession as the Pioneers gained the short field taking over at the NBY 49. Tusculum once again moved into the Newberry red zone to the nine-yard line, but would have to settle for a Logan Cornelius 26-yard field goal with 7:39 remaining in the first quarter.

Newberry followed with an 11-play, 76-yard drive that was kept alive by a TC pass interference call on third down. Murden found Washington in the corner of the end zone from two yards out and a 14-3 Newberry lead.

For a third straight time, Tusculum moved the ball to the Newberry end of the field to the NBY 32, but Cordell's pass on fourth down fell incomplete on the final play of the opening quarter.

On the first play of the second period, Doctor rambled for a 68-yard touchdown. The Kyle Clark extra point try failed as the Wolves led 20-3.

Murden increased the Newberry lead to 27-3 following his 69-yard strike to Washington. Cordell would be intercepted by Alsteveis Squirewell, who returned the pick 70-yards to the 70 yards to the TC five-yard line. The Tusculum defense held its ground as Newberry settled for a Clark 20-yard field goal as the Wolves took a 30-3 lead into the intermission.

The defenses shined through most of the third quarter as neither team could generate any offense. The Wolves broke though on Yeldell's TD pass to Cook with 3:02 left in the third period. Yeldell would add a 14-yard scoring run of his own to cap the scoring for the Wolves.

Cordell improves his career passing yardage total to 14,340 yards, which are the third most in NCAA Division II history and 10th most for all NCAA divisions. His 14,337 total offensive yards are fourth in DII history and 17th for all NCAA divisions.

- TC -