Furman Sneaks Past William & Mary in 2025 Opener

 Furman 23, William & Mary 21

Joshua Stoneking (left) and Malaki Dobbins (right) celebrating a big play made on defense in Saturday's win over William & Mary (photo courtesy of Furman athletics)

Defensive Grit and Special Teams Proves Decisive in Furman’s Season-Opening Win

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Graduate All-American place-kicker Ian Williams accounted for all nine of Furman’s second half points, as he connected on field goals of 50, 42 and 32 yards, while Furman’s defense limited William & Mary to just 26 yards in the final quarter of play, as the Paladins overcame a seven-point third quarter deficit to take a thrilling 23-21 win in the 2025 season opener before a crowd of 8,347 fans Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium.

In Furman’s loss last year, the Paladins stung the Tribe for 14 quick points, but couldn’t stop bleeding after that, as the Tribe went on to score 27 unanswered points to hold on to take a 27-14 lead and eventually held on for a 34-24 win at Zable Stadium.  

It was rare, however, but Furman place-kicker Ian Williams missed his only two field goals of his Furman career that were inside 30 yards, with both misses coming from 29 yards out against William & Mary in 2024, and though he made a 33 yarder to get the Paladins to within 27-24 with 6:18 left, the Paladins could never get any closer, as Bronson Yoder’s 12-yard scoring run with just under a minute remaining sealed the No. 12 Tribe’s 10-point win a year ago.

With Furman leading 14-7 at the half in the 2025 season opener for both teams, just like last season the Tribe overcame the early deficit to overtake the Paladins by scoring 14 unanswered, using a 1-yard plunge by William & Mary and a 9-yard scoring catch by Sean McElwain to put the Tribe up 21-14 with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter. However, unlike last season, the Paladins made the most of their few chances crossing midfield after the Tribe went ahead.  

The win for Furman saw the Paladins score just one offensive touchdown in the game and had only 237 yards, however. Its opportunistic defense proved to be enough to get the Paladins over the hump and snap a three-game losing streak at home, which dates back to the 2024 season. All told, the Tribe ended up with a 352-237 advantage in total yards. The Tribe held a decisive 190-104 edge in rushing yards, while also posting a 208-179 edge in passing yards.

Furman sophomore signal-caller Trey Hedden finished 21-of-29 passing for 179 yards with a touchdown and no INTs, while William & Mary’s Tyler Hughes completed the game by connecting on 19-of-31 passes for 208 yards, with one touchdown and one INT. Hughes also finished the game with 57 yards and one TD  on 15 rush attempts to lead William & Mary’s ground attack.

The story of the win for the Paladins was defensive grit and its play on special teams—two areas that the Paladins were lacking in last season, mainly due to lack of experience and maturity. In addition to Williams’ three field goals which accounted for nine of Furman’s 23 points, the Paladins utilized a 75-yard kickoff return by Devin Hester Jr. in the second quarter to account for their only offensive TD of the contest.

In holding the Tribe to 352 yards of total offense, it was 130 yards less than the Paladins surrendered in Williamsburg in that 10-point loss to the Tribe last season, which included holding William & Mary’s ground attack to 240 less yards on the ground, and it was an offensive line that returned for of the same five starters up front from last season, including center Ryan McKenna (35-career starts/two-time All-CAA selection) and among the five starters, the Tribe had a combined 71-career starts. The 384 rushing yards by the Tribe in 2024 represented a season-high surrendered by the Furman defense.

Newcomers played impactful roles

Furman had a couple l newcomers star for the Paladins on both sides of the ball, with Lindenwood transfer and defensive back Taylen Blalock shining on defense, while true freshman wideout Evan James was an impact performer in his very first game on the offensive side of the football for the Paladins. Blalock, who transferred to Furman from Lindenwood to finish out his final season of eligibility, proved to be a difference-maker got the Paladins off to a great start in 2025, as his 43-yard INT return for a score gave the Paladins an early 7-0 lead just four plays into the new campaign. 

In addition to that INT return for a score, Blalock also contributed six tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a pass deflection. Blalock’s INT return to the house marked the third time in the past four seasons that the Paladins have recorded a pick-six in the very first game of the season, as the Paladins also did season openers against North Greenville (2022/Cally Chizik) and Tennessee Tech (2023/Travis Blackshear).

James was arguably Furman’s most effective offensive weapon on Saturday, as the true freshman from Apopka, FL by way of Leesburg High School finished the contest with seven catches for 68 yards, and has Furman’s lone offensive TD of the season so far, as he hauled in a short 4-yard pass from Trey Hedden in the second quarter to put the Paladins up 14-7 with 8:08 left in the half.

After having observed the Paladins in person Saturday, it was clear this was a different, more mature football in terms of field experience, but still very young when it comes to class and that’s a good thing for a program that develops players like Furman has been able to do. The tricky part will be keeping those guys a part of the program rather than being lured away in the transfer portal.

The Paladins matched William & Mary’s physicality in the trenches all afternoon, and the thing that might have been the biggest difference on a mild, but humid season opener was Furman appeared to be the fresher team in the fourth quarter, and after hitting a lull in the third quarter, seemed re-energized in the fourth. My immediate thought was that it’s absolutely due to the work done by former Furman strength and conditioning coach Andre’ Bernardi and new strength and conditioning coach Joe Novotasky. Bernardi left in the summer to become the new strength and conditioning coach at Western Michigan, and the transition to Novotasky, who served under Bernardi, was seamless. Furman got stronger as the fourth quarter progressed, creating its own energy and feeding off big plays on the defensive side of the ball.

Jay’Quan Smith’s marks return with game-sealing first down run

Finally, I also observed a great deal of perseverance when it came to overcoming adversity. That was no more evident than considering just how far running back Jay’Quan Smith has come and the journey has traveled since over the previous 692 days (Oct. 7, 2022) to get to day 693—or Aug. 30, 2025. In what was a 28-14 home win for the fourth-ranked Paladins over The Citadel, Smith suffered what could best be described as a horrific, career-threatening injury.

Smith had posted a promising start to his Paladin career, and that included having factored into Furman’s 38-14 win over No. 21 Mercer a couple of weeks earlier, rushing for 46 yards and a touchdown on six carries in the win over the Bears. He had also rushed for 18 yards and his first-career TD in Furman’s season-opening win over Tennessee Tech in his first-career game as a college football player in the 2023 season opener.

On Oct. 7, 2022, however, Smith’s career trajectory would suddenly be altered. With four-and-a-half minutes remaining and with Furman sporting a comfortable lead of arch-rival The Citadel and the Paladins looking to run out the remaining time on the clock, Smith took a handoff from then Paladin quarterback Tyler Huff on a 3^rd-and-11 play and after gaining five yards, he was hit high by The Citadel defensive back Jabravion Woodard and low by fellow defensive back teammate Justin Preaster, and the hits were such that, it bent Smith’s knee and leg in a manner it shouldn’t go, and it caused a severe knee injury that proved career-threatening. The knee injury was so serious that it kept Smith from the field last season, and he was still making sure it was up-to-par during spring practice.

By the time fall camp for the 2025 arrived, Smith was finally ready to play and he found himself challenging to play a big role as a part of the Paladin running attack, along with teammate Gavin Hall. With Myion Hicks and Grant Robinson both leaving the program after the 2024 season, it meant Smith’s role became increased.

The coaching staff initially looked for a running back in the portal in the spring when Smith’s status and health were unknown at running back for the 2025 season, however, once the knee was deemed by physicians to be healthy enough to participation full-contact in the summer, the staff did not pursue a running back and that’s important. It shows trust and loyalty to the player originally brought in from Braselton, GA, by way of Cherokee Bluff High School.

Smith’s contributions Saturday weren’t something that proved record-breaking for a ground attack that struggled to churn out 104 yards Saturday, however, the significance of Smith’s 8-yard run on 3^rd-and-3 with time winding down in the game and the Paladins clinging to a two-point lead was something that didn’t go unnoticed for many reasons.

On a surface level, Smith’s eight-yard run sealed a confidence-building win to open the season, but on a much deeper level, it had a much more sentimental meaning to Smith, his teammates and staff. 

The run, which required a second-effort to push through to gain the needed yardage, and then spin forward for five more yards on second effort, was the kind of run that helped personify the personality of the player gaining those yards, as Smith never gave up or gave in over those 692 days it took to return to the field. He finished the afternoon with three rush attempts for 15 yards.

How It Happened: 

For the second time in three seasons, the Furman football season began with a score on the defensive side of the ball…A pick-six to be exact. The 2025 season began with a bang, as Taylen Blayock stepped in front of a Tyler Hughes pass on the fourth play of the game and returned it 43 yards for a score to put Furman ahead 7-0 just a little over 90 seconds into the season.

While it would be a good early start for the Paladins, the 2025 season opener against William & Mary would prove to be anything but easy. The Tribe would eventually find their way back into the contest in the second quarter, as VMI transfer running back Rashad Raymond would score on a 3-yard run to make it 7-7 with 10:18 remaining in the half.

Furman’s response would be swift, using a 75-yard kickoff return to set up the Paladin offense in great field position. Four plays later, Trey Hedden found freshman wideout Evan James for a four-yard scoring pass, as he stretched the ball over the nearside pylon before going out of bounds to put Furman back on top by seven 14-7 with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Tribe had their chances, but the Furman defense did its part. The Tribe missed a 28-yard field goal just before the half and botched another on a bad snap that forced an errant pass, which resulted in an intentional grounding with a little over two minutes remaining in the opening quarter, squandering a pair of scoring opportunities and leaving six points on the field. Those six points would prove to be very costly.

William & Mary opened the second half in strong fashion, and it would get a lift from its defense, which surrendered a pair of first downs to Furman, but eventually forced the Paladins to punt.

On the Tribe’s opening drive of the second half, William & Mary would start by going after Paladin defensive back Eddie Jackson III on consecutive plays, with the first resulting in a flag thrown against Jackson for pass interference to yield 15 yards. On the second long pass, Hughes found Deven Thompson for 46 yards on a beautifully thrown deep pass to get the Tribe all the way to the Furman 19.

Then Hughes found Carson Jenkins on a short dump pass, which he caught at the 11 before advancing another 10 yards to get the ball down to the one-yard line. On the next play, Hughes plunged over for the score to make it a 14-14 contest with 9:46 left in the third. The Tribe had covered 80 yards in four plays and all of the sudden, the momentum had switched sides.

Momentum would remain on the side of the visitors for most of the third quarter, and after the Tribe defense forced Furman’s offense into a three-and-out on its second possession of the second half, the William & Mary offense would seize control of the game and take its first lead of the day when Hughes found talented veteran tight end Sean McElwain for a 9-yard pitch-and-catch, concluding an eight-play, 64-yard drive with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter.

Furman slowly began to get going after that, and it was the offense that help start to re-ignite the spark for the Paladins. A nine-play, 41-yard drive would set up the first of three Ian Williams field goals over the final 16:37 of the game. 

His first was his most challenging, as he connected from 50 yards out with room to spare, getting the Paladins to within four, at 21-17. The 50-yard connection marked the fourth field goal conversion of 50 or more yards in Williams’ career, including his third in the past two seasons. He connected on a pair of school-record 57-yard attempts last season.

From there, the Paladins would slowly chip away at the lead thanks to the efficiency of Williams and Hedden continuing to make the right decisions with the Paladins, as the latter did a nice job of taking care of the football. 

The Paladin defense continued to do its job and on the next possession, Furman's defense again came up with a stop. A 39-yard punt by the Tribe was returned 12 yards by Blaylock to the Furman 35. 

From there, Furman would inch even closer on its next possession, as the Paladins saw a promising drive end with having to settle for another field goal. Williams concluded a six-play, 39-yard field goal by booting through a 42-yard field goal to make it a 21-20 game, with 10:55 remaining. 

Another big stop was made by the Furman defense, as a holding penalty on the Tribe proved costly, ultimately forcing another Carter Boyd punt. 

Furman would move into range of the winning points courtesy of Hedden connecting on three-straight passes, as he engineered a seven-play, 43-yard drive that ultimately set Williams up for the winning kick. Hedden's final completion on the drive was a five-yard completion to tight end Joshua  Burrell, and that got the Paladins to the William & Mary to set up a 4th-and-2 situation with just under three minutes left.

Furman settled for Williams' third field goal in a short period of time, as he connected from 32 yards out this time, giving the Paladins their first lead since early in the third quarter, making it a 23-21 game with 2:43 remaining. 

It would be up to the Furman defense to eventually shut the door for good on the Tribe, and the Paladins would do exactly that, as the Paladins got a pair of huge plays on third and fourth downs by Blaylock to preserve the win. On 3rd-and-1, Blaylock timed the snap count perfectly on a safety blitz, and just about the time Hughes placed the football into the waiting arms of his running back Rashad Raymond, Blaylock delivered a leveling hit almost simultaneously, forcing Raymod to lose four yards.

Then on 4th-and-5, it was Blaylock that provided the blanket coverage on former VMI wide receiver Isaiah Lemmond, breaking up Hughes' pass, and forcing the Tribe to turn the ball over on downs. The Paladin offense took over with 1:56 remaining at the William & Mary 30. The Paladins would get the game-sealing first down on a 3rd-and-3 play when Jay'Quan Smith gained eight yards to bring the a roar out of the 8,347 fans in attendance, with Furman notching its first win of 2025.

Furman will return to action next Saturday when it welcomes Presbyterian (1-0) to Paladin Stadium for another 2 p.m. EST matchup at Paladin Stadium. The Blue Hose will be riding high after knocking off reigning SoCon champion and No. 11 Mercer, 15-10, Saturday night at Five Star Stadium in Macon. It will mark Furman's first game against the Blue Hose since 2014--a game PC won, 10-7, in Clinton.

William & Mary also returns to action next Saturday, opening the home portion of its slate by hosting Maine in a 6 p.m. in what will be the Tribe's final CAA opener at Zable Stadium.

Postgame Press Conference: 

(Head coach Clay Hendrix, QB Trey Hedden, DE Joshua Stoneking, WR Evan James, and DB Taylen Blalock)