Furman Sacks Samford...Again

HOMEWOOD, AL--Furman didn't play Samford last season, thanks to Hurricane Helene causing the lights to go out in Greenville for over 90% of the Upstate of South Carolina, and so the last time the two met was at Pete Hanna Stadium in a key mid-season SoCon tilt in 2023, which saw the Paladins sack Samford quarterbacks nine times and leave Homewood with a 27-21 win. 

It was Furman's defensive performance that dimmed the lights for Samford's "Hatch Attack" offense in front of an excited and large Parents' Weekend home crowd, which entered with winning expectations inside the same facility as it had two years ago in the latest installment of the SoCon rivalry between the Paladins and Bulldogs. 

Much has changed in two years for both programs in terms of player turnover, but for much of Saturday's 31-13 win over Samford, however, it had a very similar feel for Furman's current roster of players and loyal fanbase, as the Paladins ended up with seven sacks in Saturday's lopsided verdict, which of course was just two shy of equaling the total of nine sacks by the 2023 Paladins. Furman now has a combined 16 quarterback takedowns in the past two meetings with Samford. 

"We said pressure them and you have got to contain him [Samford QB Quincy Crittendon]  and I thought we did a pretty good job of that and you know you have to get him on the ground and certainly the turnovers are big and one of the best things we did as a defense I thought was we didn't let them run it...I think their longest runs on the day were scrambles and you take a couple of plays out of that game and it's about as well as you could hope to play defensively," head coach Clay Hendrix said of his team's defensive performance in the 31-13 win at Samford.

With a win its Southern Conference opener, the Paladins improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in league play, while Samford remained winless, falling to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in Southern Conference play. The 0-5 start is the worst by a Samford program since 1985, while the 0-3 start to league play marked the worst start to a league season in program history. The win tied last year’s win total, as well as marked Furman’s 301^st win in its Southern Conference history.

In addition to its seven sacks, Furman's defense also forced three Samford turnovers, with one of those contributing directly to a score on a 47-yard pick-six by linebacker Raleigh Herbert just before the half. 

Furman also blocked a field, which effectively negated two Samford scoring opportunities inside the final 90 seconds of the opening half, which effectively took the wind out of Samford's proverbial sails for the rest of the afternoon, though the Bulldogs would try to make things interesting early in the fourth quarter, the game was never really in doubt. 

A good crowd was on-hand for a warm, late-September Saturday at Pete Hanna Stadium, as 7,749 fans were on-hand as a part of the Family Day festivities. 

Similar to how it looked for much of the first half in Furman's lone loss against Presbyterian earlier this month, the Paladin offense had a rhythm, and it was both creative play-calling, as well as a cohesive unit that allowed the Paladins to take a 21-7 lead into the halftime locker room. 

In fact, the Paladins were able to dominate the opening quarter of play, out-gaining the Bulldogs 157-43 in the opening 15 minutes of football. Despite that huge advantage, Samford would end up out-gaining the Paladins in total offense 389-377 in total offense in the contest, as the Paladins were outgained 140-35 in the final quarter of play, allowing the Bulldogs to make up the yardage disparity. For the first time all season, the Paladins were able to enjoy an advantage in rushing yards, out-rushing the Bulldogs, 105-70, on the day. 

One of the reasons the Paladins were able to see Samford stay alive longer in the contest was directly due to careless penalties by Furman, which contributed as a direct result for the game staying closer on the scoreboard than it should have. Furman was charged with eight total penalties on the afternoon, with only six accepted for 65 yards, including 30 yards one of Samford's two scoring drives in the game. 

While Furman's offense was the story for much of the opening half, the second half belonged to the Furman defense, which stopped the Bulldogs cold on seven of their eight total drives in the second half.

The Paladins were led offensively by quarterback Trey Hedden, who continued to shine through the early portion of the season, as he finished the afternoon, completing 28-of-41 passes for 272 yards for a couple of touchdowns and no INTs.

His counterpart, Quincy Crittendon, finished the contest by connecting on  28-of-42 throws for 252 yards a pair of touchdowns. The Furman defense sacked Crittendon six times in the game. Brady Stober finished 4-of-5 passing for 67 yards and one INT.

Furman true freshman wideout Evan James, who led the game late in the third quarter with an upper body injury and did not return, finished the game with another stellar game on the offensive side of the ball, affecting the game in multiple ways in Saturday's win. 

He had the two longest rushes from scrimmage for the Paladins this season, with one of those going for a 17-yard touchdown on Furman's first possession of the game.  All told, James rushed the ball twice for 35 yards and a touchdown, while also leading Furman's receiving efforts in terms of yardage, hauling in seven passes for 88 yards. 

As far as receptions were concerned, the leading man for Furman was East Carolina transfer Kerry King, who helped set the tone early on in much the same fashion as he did in Furman's opening scoring drive at Campbell, finishing the contest with eight catches for 81 yards. 

"It's my job to get these guys in whatever ways I can, especially this group of receivers I am playing with now and this group is collectively so talented and that makes you want to do your part even more and make sure you are contributing the best to the things you are responsible for doing to make it all work," King said after Furman's win over Samford.

"I think this group here is special because we are all bought in from the youngest guy to the oldest guy like I am the oldest guy in the room...I am 23...we're all bought in from practice and since camp and even to the weight room like and we really enjoy to come out here and do this regardless of win or loss because this is our passion," King added.

On the ground, sophomore running back Gavin Hall was the most efficient option, finishing the game with 65 yards on 16 rush attempts. 

In addition to Crittendon and Stober under center, the Bulldogs  got another strong day receiving from Jaden Gibson,who hauled in 10 passes for 61 yards. Preston Bird led all Samford wideouts in yardage, finishing the contest with five receptions for 97 yards and a score. 

Bird's third quarter 70-yard catch-and-run was the best offensive highlight of the afternoon on a day when the Samford offense struggled to generate much in the way of a scoring threat against a solid Paladin front seven. 

Samford running back CJ Evans, who transferred into the program from Tennessee State, finished the game with three catches for 36 yards, which

A big day defensively for Furman was once again led by linebacker Luke McLaughlin, who made his second start in as many games, finishing the contest with 11 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

Joshua Stoneking continued his strong start to the 2025 season, finishing the contest with six tackles, two sacks and blocked a key field goal just before the half. Through four games, Stoneking has 25 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 6.5 sacks, one pass breakup, a forced fumble and a blocked kick.  

The Paladins had several shining stars along the defensive line in the game, as along with Stoneking, Appalachian State transfer Garrison Butler was credited with a late interception of Stober, with Samford driving for more points. 

Just as Herbert's INT had come before the half, Butler's INT would come by virtue of a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. Furman's lone fumble recovery of the day was made possible by redshirt freshman defensive tackle Demetrius Baldwin, who also added a pair of tackles. 

Samford ended the afternoon being led defensively by linebacker Jaden Mosley, who finished with 10 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss in the contest.

How It Happened:

Samford won the toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Furman offense the first crack at scratching out the game's first points. 

It would take the Paladins just a little less than three minutes into the game before the Paladins got the first touchdown of the game, as Evan James found the end zone on an end-around on a 17-yard scamper to give the Paladins the early 7-0 lead. The 17-yard scamper by the true freshman wideout was the longest rush of the season-to-date by the Paladins.

Furman would increase its advantage to 14-0 late in the opening quarter, as quarterback Trey Hedden found tight end Joshua Burrell for a short 7-yard scoring strike with 1:21 left in the opening quarter. The reception marked Burrell's first scoring reception as a Paladin, however, he would be shaken up on the scoring play. That would remain the score as time expired in the opening 15 minutes. 

The Paladins dominated the opening quarter of football, outgaining the Bulldogs 157-43 in total offense. 

With just over nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, Samford, which was aided by two 15-yard infractions against Furman--a facemask and a roughing the passer penalty somehow after the play had not been ruled dead due to encroachment--CJ Evans ended the 83-yard  scoring drive by finishing off the final 27 yards, following a short reception from Crittendon, in the end zone to slice Furman's lead to 14-7 with 9:08 remaining in the first half. 

The Paladins drove into Bulldogs territory on the ensuing possession, however, Ian Williams missed a 54-yard field goal wide right, bringing an end to a streak of 12-consecutive made field goals--a streak, which dated back to the 2024 season. 

With about a minute left in the half, Raleigh Herbert batted a Quincy Crittendon pass up in the air at the Samford 47 and plucked it clean returning it for a score, changing the momentum of the game just before the break and giving the Paladins a 21-7 lead with 48 seconds remaining in the half.

The Paladins committed a costly holding penalty late in the half, setting up a Samford field goal attempt from 32 yards out from Jake Garner, however, Joshua Stoneking broke through to block the kick, negating any perceived momentum that might have been gained following Samford's quick advancement down the field.

Samford looked to strike quick on its opening drive of the second half, however, on 4th-and-2 at midfield, Furman's defense stopped Crittendon for no gain, giving the Furman offense outstanding field position.

The Paladin offense made the most of the shorter distance and needed only five plays to cover the 50 yards, increasing their advantage to 21 points when Hedden found Ja'Keith Hamilton on a 4-yard scoring strike with 10:37 remaining in the third quarter, increasing Furman's advantage to 28-7.

Ian Williams, who uncharacteristically missed a pair of field goals and his streak of 12-straight field goals come to an end, connected on Furman's final points of the afternoon, connecting on a 40-yard attempt to make it a 31-7 Furman lead with 1:15 left in the third quarter.

Samford attempted to make it interesting early in the fourth quarter when Crittendon found Preston Bird on a short pass, and he did the rest breaking free off a Furman tackler, before out-maneuvering another en route to scampering 70 yards for the score, bringing the crowd, which hadn't much to cheer about all afternoon, thanks to Furman's excellent defensive work, to its collective feet for one of the few times in the game. 

The Bulldogs failed to convert a two-point conversion after the touchdown, as Herbert provided the big hit on Gibson to stop him stone-cold just short of the goal line after hauling in a short pass from Crittendon. That left the score, at 31-13, with 11:52 remaining. Furman's defensive would do enough to make that result hold.

Furman returns to action next Saturday, Oct. 4, when it welcomes East Tennessee State (2-3, 0-1 SoCon) to Paladin Stadium for a 2 p.m. EST contest. Samford will be on the road next Saturday, as it goes in search of its first win of the season against a suddenly hot Mercer (3-1, 3-0 SoCon) team at Five Star Stadium. Kickoff for that contest is slated for 4 p.m. EST.