Furman Shows Resilience in Win Over Bulldogs

CHARLESTON, S.C.—If football had been included in one of Aesop’s Fables, there would have been no greater representation of the Tortoise and the Hare than Saturday’s latest classic in the Furman-The Citadel football rivalry before a crowd of a little more than 9,000 fans at Johnson-Hagood Stadium.

The Paladins, which played the role of “tortoise” on Saturday afternoon, however, with the score reading in favor of The Citadel, 16-3 with a little more than eight minutes remaining, Furman and the narrative alluded to above was never a thought that would have crossed anyone’s mind, as the Paladins were just hanging on by a single hair, however, would dig deep to find a way to rally for 14 points in the final eight minutes and change to steal a 17-16 win over the “hare”—better known as the Bulldogs--in what was a wild Southern Conference game.

For head coach Clay Hendrix, it was the same team with an altered mindset in the second half. That would ultimately be the tortoise mentality. It takes maturity to be more the tortoise than the hare. In the first half, Furman was seemingly in a hurry to do everything, and it was costly. Young teams sometimes do that. And let’s face it, the hareis probably the sexier of the two options if we want to go that route. But the tortoise gets the job done in the end, and when the result W is on the line, however you look in attaining the main goal is of little concern to any historical record.

“The same team went out there in the first half as went out there in the second half,” head coach Clay Hendrix told his team afterwards in detailing the difference  of performance from the first 30 minutes in comparison to the latter 30.

“I challenged them a little bit and I didn’t think we had enough guys stepping up and I didn’t think we were as mentally tough as we needed to be and they responded…Effort without execution though doesn’t really do you any good and we gotta have both and we’re that team and we’ve got talent, but we’re not talented enough not to play that way and again when we don’t hurt ourselves and we play complimentary football…we have a chance to play with anybody…I’ve watched everybody in this league and we can play with anybody in this league,” Hendrix added.

Just two weeks ago, Furman had most recently been the hare when it jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead on William & Mary a little less than five minutes into the game. But to the steady and never wavering no matter the circumstances, Furman became the tortoise in Saturday’s SoCon opener in Charleston.

With the win, Furman improves to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in league play, while the Bulldogs suffered their 11^TH-straight Southern Conference loss in falling to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in Southern Conference action. The Paladins have now won 17 of their last 19 Southern Conference games dating back to the end of the 2021 season. 

Saturday’s one-point win over the Bulldogs also marked Furman’s 299^th Southern Conference win in the history of the program, as the Paladins improved to 299-225-11, as they commenced their 86^th season of gridiron competition inside the nation’s fifth-oldest intercollegiate athletics conference a week later than expected due to the effects of Hurricane Helene, which swept through upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina in devastating fashion a week ago. It caused the postponement of Furman’s Southern Conference opener against Samford, which was slated for last Saturday at Paladin Stadium.

The Bulldogs outgained the Paladins 186-37 in the opening 30 minutes of football. However, in the second half, the Paladins would outgain the Bulldogs, 247-71 in the second half, which would allow Furman to end the afternoon with a slight 274-257 edge in total offense. The win marked Furman’s fourth-straight in the most-played rivalry in the Southern Conference, as the Paladins improved to 64-37-3 in the all-time series.  Furman also improved to 5-1 overall in its last six SoCon openers. The Paladins also improved to 26-22-2 all-time at Johnson-Hagood Stadium.

It was a combination of Furman’s defense making timely plays when it absolutely had to in the second half, as well as true freshman quarterback Trey Hedden continuing to come of age as Furman’s new offensive leader in the second half. The Tampa native finished the contest by connecting on 23-of-33 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns and no INTs, while his counterpart Jonathan Bennett finished the contest connecting on 11-of-23 passes for 103 yards, with a touchdown and an INT, while also being the Bulldogs’ most effective ground weapon, finishing with 48 yards on 16 carries.

In stark contrast to his last performance in a Paladin uniform as the starting quarterback against nationally-ranked William & Mary, when Hedden threw touchdown passes of 14 and 84 yards to stake the Paladins to an early 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the game, this time Hedden threw touchdown passes of 10 and six yards, respectively, on Furman’s final two drives of the game to lead the Paladins to the thrilling one-point win.

Though elated with the win, it was Hedden that was elated out how his defense played all day to keep giving him and the offense the needed opportunities to get a much-needed win.

“I’m glad for our defensive coordinator Duane Vaughn and the players coming in and just believing and just knowing we had a chance and we’re down you know two scores and I’m just glad that they hung in there and just gave us another opportunity. I kept telling them just give me a chance…just give me a chance,” Hedden said after the thrilling road win over the Bulldogs.

Hedden’s six-yard scoring connection with wideout Jackson Pryor, which proved to be the game-winning scorer with 1:01 remaining on a diving catch in the corner of the end zone, giving the Paladins the 17-16 lead following Ian Williams’ PAT. It was an impressive 11-play, 88-yard drive that saw the true freshman connect on 5-of-7 passes for 67 yards on the final drive, while also contributing 16 rushing yards to the cause.

Hedden’s first touchdown came on a 10-yard strike to Ben Ferguson came with 5:39 remaining and cut the deficit to six points, at 16-10, concluding what was a nine-play, 78-yard drive that consumed 2:43 off the game clock.

The Paladins’ only other score came with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter when Ian Williams capped off an 11-play, 67-yard drive with a 26-yard field goal to make it a 13-3.

Ferguson would end up being Hedden’s favorite target of the afternoon, as he hauled in five passes for 53 yards and a score, while Hinton caught six passes for 46 yards. For the second-straight game, Brock Chappell was an effective weapon at tight end, hauling in three passes for 40 yards. Jackson Pryor, a native of Boone, N.C., finished with two catches for 25 yards, including the game-winning scoring catch with 61 seconds left.

Considering what all has transpired over the past week in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and how devasted the surrounding area of Boone and nearly of Western North Carolina was affected by the path of such a storm, it certainly was a special moment for Pryor and one he’ll certainly cherish throughout the remainder of his football-playing career. After the game, Pryor noted that the final scoring play was something the Paladins had been working on and installed.

“That’s a play we have been working on all week and once you get the reps in, it makes it easy to do in a game because you really don’t have to think that much,” Pryor said. “After last week and not playing a game, we had been just sitting there and waiting for the opportunity to prove ourselves in conference and show the team that we actually are,” Pryor added.

The Paladins did move the ball all that much on the ground, and some of that low total had to do with five sacks surrendered in the contest, as the Paladins finished with just 28 rushing yards on 24 attempts. Leading the ground efforts for Furman was Myion Hicks, who finished the game with 25 yards on seven rushing attempts.

Furman’s defensive performance, especially in the second half, was impressive as it has been all season. Time and time again, Furman’s three leaders and three all-conference performers coming into the season—linebacker Evan DiMaggio, bandit linebacker Luke Clark, and nose tackle Xavier Stephens, and another defensive leader that might have been included on some SoCon preseason all-league ballots—Jeremiah Jackson—that helped the Paladins seize momentum as a unit, and shore up its issues stopping the run in the opening half of play.

The Paladins played about as bad as if they had been playing during Hurricane Helene in the opening half of play, while presenting nearly every opportunity with careless penalties in the opening 30 minutes for the Bulldogs to have padded their lead to much more than 10-0 in the opening half play.

In the second half, the Paladins were dominate over the game’s final 20 minutes, particularly the last 15, which saw the Paladins out-gain the Bulldogs 187-9 in the fourth quarter alone.

While Furman’s defense was led by its veterans late on in the game, it would be redshirt freshman Jaylan Moson that would end up making the game-clinching interception, and it would be the only INT the Paladins would register the entire afternoon.  The INT might have been costly, as he suffered an apparent upper body injury on the final play of the game, however, for a young, talented player such as Moson, it was evidence that if you put in the work and the time, it will pay off in a big way, and it certainly did for the Paladins on Saturday afternoon.

Evan DiMaggio led Furman’s tackles ledger with 12 stops, including half-a-tackle-for-loss. Luke Clark finished off a solid afternoon worksheet by posting eight tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss and a sack, and a quarterback hurry. Moson ended his day with three tackles to go with his game-sealing INT.

Furman has seemingly been the hare more often than the tortoise, or at least so it seems, but on Saturday, it was a never say die attitude on both sides of the ball to allow them to figure on the winning side, while The Citadel played the role of the hare, seemingly getting too comfortable in their lead and becoming somewhat daringly predictable on offense. That allowed the Paladins to gain ground quickly, and while the Paladins were the tortoise in terms of the overall broad sense of the game, it was Hare-like tendencies from Hedden and the Paladin offense late on that allowed the Paladins to do the unthinkable.

Furman is still a young team learning how to win football games in the always-tough Southern Conference, but to do what it did against an arch-rival and a team arguably more hungry to defeat you than most given the nature of the rivalry speaks volumes of the steps and maturity being learned by a young , but talented football team.

How It Happened:

The Bulldogs got the ball to open the game after Furman deferred the opening kickoff, and after reaching the 21-yard line, were set back by a holding penalty and a sack by Tanner Schuck, and The Citadel eventually had to settle for a 48-yard field goal from Ben Barnes and a 3-0 with 8:39 remaining in the opening quarter.

After the Bulldogs stopped Furman on its opening possession, forcing a punt, The Citadel got into the end zone for the first time on the day when quarterback Jonathan Bennett hooked up with wideout Deveron Presnell for a 48-yard pitch and catch to make it a 10-0 game with 2:34 left in the opening quarter of play. That would remain the score at the end of the opening quarter of play.

The second quarter saw neither team breakthrough for a score, although the Bulldogs had their chances missing on a well-devised fake field goal attempt, which would leave the score 10-0. It was complete domination from The Citadel in the opening half of play, holding huge advantages in total yards (186-34), plays (43-17), and time of possession (21:49-8:11) and somehow only had a 10-0 lead at the half. The Paladins had just two first downs and never entered The Citadel territory in the opening 30 minutes of action. It was about as one-sided of a half that this rivalry has seen in quite sometime and was reminiscent of The Citadel’s last win in the series, which was a 26-7 triumph back in the spring of 2021 in the COVID-19 compromised game, which was also played at Johnson-Hagood Stadium.

The only thing keeping the score being worse in the opening half of play was a botched fake field goal attempt, which would have likely worked except for the fact it was a dropped lateral and the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize on the well-devised scheme. That play, however, would prove costly in the end.

The third quarter started much the way the game had gone for the Paladins, and after being forced to punt again, the defense would be asked to keep the score from getting any worse. It would with just over five minutes left in the third, although the damage was limited to a 30-yard field from Ben Barnes, which increased The Citadel’s lead to 13-0 with 5:30 left in the quarter. The Bulldogs had put together quite the marathon drive, using 17 plays to cover 69 yards, but again Furman’s defense did its job in the red zone.

The Paladin offense would finally show some signs of life late in the third quarter, working the intermediate passing attack with some success, but like the Bulldogs, saw the offense bog down with a negative yardage play in the red zone, and Ian Williams would be forced to come in and provide the first points of the day, as he connected on a 26-yard field goal with just 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter, making it a 13-3 game.

A little over four minutes into the final quarter, The Citadel was given the chance to increase their lead even more and even perhaps put the game out of reach with a touchdown following a muffed Ben Barnes punt by Paladin sophomore receiver and punt returner Colton Hinton. However, he dropped the high, spiraling kick and the Bulldogs recovered at the Furman 34.

Furman’s defense, which at this point, likely should have been weary, stepped up and provided its most significant stand of the afternoon, limiting the Bulldogs to four yards on three attempts and forcing a 44-yard field goal attempt from Barnes, which he easily knocked through to give the Bulldogs the 13-point, 16-3, lead with 8:22 remaining.

That’s when Hedden and the Paladin offense went to work, and just as it had done in the waning stages of the third quarter, found a rhythm once again in the short-intermediate passing game. With Hedden getting a little more time to throw the ball, he dispersed the ball to six different receivers during what culminated in Furman’s first touchdown of the afternoon, and it was the sixth different option—Ben Ferguson—that after review saw the Paladins close the margin to within a TD after Ian Williams’ PAT,  as Ferguson hauled in Hedden’s 10-yard offering in the corner of the visitor’s side end zone to make it a 16-10 contest with 5:39 remaining.

With momentum now having clearly shifted, the Paladin defense went about getting the ball back to Hedden and the Paladin offense as quickly as possible, and after a pair of rush attempts yielded only three yards, and an incomplete pass on third down, the Paladin offense would get the ball back with plenty of time to try and score the go-ahead touchdown.

James Platte would make life tough for Furman’s offense, however, as he crushed a 65-yard punt, which this time Colton Hinton nearly pulled off a catch Willie Mays would have admired, as he was surprised from the Platte blast, however, he would chase it down and run across the field gaining as much yardage as he could before being swarmed by a host of Bulldog tacklers at his own 11.

That’s where Hedden and the Paladin offense went to work with exactly four minutes left. The game-winning drive didn’t come without a scare or two, including one play in which on the final drive, the ball was knocked out of Hedden’s hand and was returned 32 yards for a touchdown by the Bulldogs, however, upon further review, it was deemed that Hedden’s arm was indeed moving forward, which overturned the touchdown.

Though the Paladins weren’t that successful running the ball all afternoon, a pair of key runs that netted Hedden and the Paladin offense 16 yards during the game-winning drive proved especially vital. On a second-and-goal play from the six with 61 seconds left, Hedden found the ever-reliable Jackson Pryor for six-yard scoring strike, as Pryor dove to secure the catch in the back of the end zone to tie the game, 16-16. Ian Williams’ vital PAT gave Furman its first lead and it was on the verge of doing something rather remarkable.

On the ensuing possession, Furman applied heavy pressure on The Citadel quarterback Jonathan Bennett, who misfired on his first attempt on the drive, and after a short completion for a three-yard loss on second down, the game-deciding play come on 3^rd-and-13 from the Bulldogs 22, however, heavy pressure by Luke Clark and Malachi Harrison forced an errant toss, which was picked off by Jaylan Moson near  The Citadel sidelines and the celebrations erupted on the Furman sidelines. The Paladins ran out the final 30 seconds on the game clock in the victory formation to secure their second win of the season and fourth-straight win in the rivalry series with The Citadel.

Furman returns to Paladin Stadium next Saturday with a showdown against preseason league favorite Chattanooga (2-3, 1-1 SoCon), with kickoff for that contest slated for 2 p.m. EST. The Citadel will be on the road in Cullowhee, facing off against Western Carolina (2-3, 1-0 SoCon) at EJ Whitmire Stadium. Kickoff for that contest is slated for 2:30 p.m. EST.