Newberry’s Yeldell, Knight nab SAC honors

Newberry quarterback Raleigh Yeldell was named South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Wolves coach Todd Knight picked up Coach of the Year honors.

Yeldell is Newberry’s single-season leader in passing yardage, total offense, completions, attempts, and is one touchdown away from matching Lexington coach Josh Stepp for the single-season school record.

The Strom Thurmond High alum owns Newberry’s first 3,000-yard passing season, and is 82 yards shy of cracking 3,500 yards of total offense. Yeldell leads the nation in completion percentage at 70.3 percent, and ranks in the top 20 in eight other categories.

Knight was named Coach of the Year after leading Newberry to the South Atlantic Conference championship. The Wolves (10-1) closed the regular season ranked No. 14 nationally, earning a program-best No. 2 seed in Super Region 2 for the 2016 NCAA Division II Football Championship. They’ll open the playoffs on Saturday against Tuskegee.

North Greenville gets a bid

Newberry isn’t the only in-state team to earn a trip to the Division II playoffs. North Greenville (7-4) was announced the sixth-seed, and will travel to Florida Tech on Saturday.

Perfect SoCon season

With The Citadel’s 30-20 victory over VMI, the Bulldogs completed a perfect run through its Southern Conference season. As SoCon champs, The Citadel (10-0) earned an automatic bid into the FCS playoffs, but will wrap up the regular season Saturday at North Carolina.

Myers named MVP

Benedict senior running back George Myers Jr. was named the 2016 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference MVP. Myers led the conference in all-purpose yards (1,476) and set a school record with 235 yards against Central State, adding a 222 yard game against Lane.

Four other Tigers were named all-SIAC including: Edward Kirkland, Oketchi Ntiasagwe, Justin Brown and Charles Williams.

Awards and Honors

The Citadel’s Jonathan King and Wofford’s Lennox McAfee each earned Player of the Week honors from the Southern Conference. King was named Defensive Player of the Week after forcing a fumble and returning it 54 yards for a score. McAfee returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, adding a 60 yard return off a free kick.

Newberry running back Braxton Ivery was named South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for 74 yards and two touchdowns while catching four passes for 79 yards.

Travis Boland contributed to this report