Battle For Purple Supremacy: Western Carolina hosts Furman in high stakes game Saturday at EJ Whitmire Stadium

 

Setting the Scene:

Furman and Western Carolina are set for the latest battle of Purple Supremacy Saturday, and though it might not be a Top 10 matchup, it's no less important than the one two years ago. 

Once again, the clash between the two purple-clad teams that call the SoCon home will be between two teams with undefeated SoCon marks, with the Paladins and Catamounts both sharing a 2-0 record in Southern Conference play entering Saturday's big showdown at beautiful E.J. Whitmire Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. and it should be a great atmosphere and a sea of some shade of purple on both sides of the stadium.

If you haven't been to E.J. Whitmire Stadium, I can't do the setting justice with words. Simply, it's a beautiful setting for a college football game. 

It's the type of game that will see the morning of Saturday Oct. 11 arrive and it might as well shut down downtown Cashiers as well as Jackson County from the magnitude of the game alone. 

It's not just one game, however, for the people of the small mountain towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Cullowhee, they are chasing history and with each week, the pressure to win a first-ever Southern Conference title grows just a little more, and the stakes are raised.

Western Carolina, which has wins over Samford (W, 50-35) and Wofford (W, 23-21) to open up SoCon play, has never claimed a league title since joining the SoCon in 1976. The Catamounts are red-hot, however, and have won three games in a row, sandwiching those two SoCon wins with a victory over the Campbell Camels, helping the Catamounts avenge a loss to the Camels last season on home turf, which likely kept WCU out of the FCS Playoffs. 

Furman comes into the game off to a surprising 4-1 start coming off a 2024 season that saw the Paladins fall back to reality after winning 10 a year earlier. The Paladins lost 37 of 44 players from its two-deep roster and graduated 46 seniors at the conclusion of the 2023 season, making Furman one of the youngest teams in college football a year ago.

Add to that the fact that the Paladins had the tragic loss of defensive lineman Bryce

 Stanfield just before the start of spring practice, and you have the makings of what was always going to be a difficult season to get through. It was, as the Paladins finished just 3-8 overall and 2-6 in SoCon play.

Furman owns wins over William & Mary (23-21), Campbell (W, 28-24), Samford (W, 31-13) and East Tennessee State (W, 31-22) to open up the 2025 campaign, while the lone loss has come against No. 23 Presbyterian (L, 39-38 OT) in a game in which the Paladins blew a 28-7 second quarter lead. 

Furman holds a 36-14-2 lead in the 52-game all-time series, however, the Catamounts put on a record-setting display in Paladin Stadium last season, posting a 52-20 win. More on that below. 

Record Setting!

This season, Western Carolina is making its presence known nationally, and in particular, quarterback Taron Dickens, who is setting records and taking names along the way. Dickens, a junior signal-caller from Miami, who is affectionately known to his friends and peers as "Tyger", is making up for lost time.

Dickens missed WCU's first three games of the season as a result of eligibility issues, and

 the Catamounts would start the season 0-3, with losses against Gardner-Webb (L, 52-45), at Wake Forest (L, 42-10) and vs. Elon (L, 31-37). 

Since Dickens returned to the lineup against Samford, the Catamount offense hasn't missed a beat, as the Catamounts enter the clash with the Paladins, Western Carolina finds itself in a familiar position statistically, ranking second in the nation in passing offense, as the Catamounts are averaging 355.2 YPG through the air this season through the air, while ranking 10th nationally in total offense (480.0 YPG). 

In case you missed it, Dickens was astonishingly good in WCU's win at Wofford last weekend, and he did something that was truly jaw-dropping, as he connected on his first 46 passes to shatter the NCAA mark for consecutive completions of all levels. The FCS level had been 29, which was most recently set by Princeton quarterback Quinn Epperly back in 2011 in a win over Cornell.

As I tracked Dickens' day of flawless passing against Wofford, it reminded me of the first time I had originally seen a quarterback in the FCS do something like this, and that was some 21 years ago during my time as a student at a different mountain school in rural North Carolina--Appalachian State--when the 21st-ranked Mountaineers hosted the other team in the SoCon located in the Upstate of South Carolina--No. 2 Furman--at Kidd Brewer Stadium in what was a game themed "Black Saturday." 

On that afternoon, Williams completed 28-straight passes and went 40-of-45 passing (88.9%) for 413 yards with two touchdowns, while also scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 13-yard scoring run with 35 seconds remaining, as the Mountaineers posted a thrilling 30-29 win over the Ingle Martin-led Furman. All told, Williams accounted for 440 yards of total offense (a school record at the time) and was responsible for all three App State scores in the game. 

I remember thinking at the time what I had witnessed was something remarkable and truly special.

Now fast-forward almost 21 years to the day and to Oct. 4, 2025, as Dickens put on a performance that may well never be broken against Wofford. In fact, Dickens completed 46-straight passes to open the game against Wofford, and dating back to WCU's previous win over Campbell a week earlier, which saw him complete his final four passes, it was a string of 50-straight accurate throws before his first pass missed late in the third quarter against Wofford. 

His streak of 50-straight completions was 14 more perfect throws than the next closest mark of 36-straight completions by ECU quarterback Dominique Davis in 2011 against Navy, and like Dickens' streak, Davis' consecutive completions mark also stretched back to the previous week against Memphis. 

Dickens was unsurprisingly the FCS National Player of the Week according to STATS Perform FCS, as well as being the SoCon's Offensive Player of the Week. All told, Dickens finished his day completing 53-of-56 passes for 378 yards and three touchdowns, with  no INTs. 

Dickens also set an all divisions record for completion percentage in last Saturday's win over Wofford, connecting on 94.6% of his throws for the game. Dickens, who also rushed for 44 yards, totaled 422 of WCU's 466 yards of total offense in the win over Wofford by himself!

Through three games, Dickens has connected on 114-of-142 passes for 1,387 yards, with 13 TDs and no INTs. In seven-career starts for the Catamounts, Dickens has connected on an astonishing 238-of-307 (77.5%) for 2,753 yards and 24 TDs and only three INTs. He is 6-1 in his starts, with the only loss coming in the Blue Ridge Border Battle against East Tennessee State last season in a game in which he was sacked eight times. In three games this season, he has been sacked seven times, with the Catamounts having surrendered 16 through the first six games of the 2025 season. 

Dickens has never lost a game as a starter at EJ Whitmire Stadium. In last season's 52-20 domination of Furman, Dickens tacked on the final tally of the game for the Catamounts, tossing a beautiful spiral to the corner of the end zone, which would be hauled in for a score by Malik Knight for a 32-yard connection. 

Furman defensive linemen Garrison Butler and Joshua Stoneking pressure ETSU signal-caller Jacolby Criswell on the final play of the game

Sack Masters and Opportunistic on Defense

If Dickens is going to be effective Saturday, the Catamounts will need to find a way to somehow limit or take away the threat of Joshua Stoneking, who comes into Saturday's matchup at EJ Whitmire Stadium leading the nation in sacks.

Through the first five games this season, Stoneking is putting up some rather impressive totals, as he comes into the contest against the Catamounts tied for the team lead in tackles, having posted 32 tackles to go along with 13.5 tackles-for-loss and 9.5 sacks. He also has forced a fumble, posted a pass breakup and blocked a kick through the first five games of the 2025 season. 

In Saturday's win over ETSU, Stoneking finished the game with seven tackles and registered three of Furman's four sacks in the game. The redshirt sophomore is responsible for over half the Paladins' total of 18 quarterback takedowns through the first five games of the season. 

The Paladins' 18 sacks as a team through five games is currently only two behind the 20 sacks tallied by the Paladins in 11 games last season. Since the start of the 2022  season, the Furman defense has upped the ante when it comes to getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, posting 107 sacks in the past four seasons, which is 2.5 sacks-per-game in its past 42 games. 

The Paladins' 18 quarterback takedowns through five games this season ranks fifth nationally and second in the SoCon, as Furman is averaging 3.60 quarterback takedowns per game. Sacramento State currently leads the nation with 22 sacks in five games in 2025. Furman's only game in which it failed to record at least one quarterback sack this season also accounts for its lone loss this season, which came against No. 23 Presbyterian. The Paladins failed to record a sack in 41 pass attempts by the  Blue Hose in what was a 39-38 loss.

The Catamounts come into Saturday's contest having allowed a total of 16 sacks through the first five games this season, which is among the highest in the league through the early portions of the season. 

While Furman has featured a strong pass rush over the past four seasons, it's ability to be opportunistic on defense has also been a differentiator for the Paladins, as Furman has nine pick-sixes over the past four seasons, with freshman Jordan Miller's 95-yard return for a score to seal last Saturday's win over ETSU tying for the third-longest in program history. 

Record-Setting Offense:

Former WCU quarterback Rogan Wells

 Kerwin Bell, who is now in his fifth season at the helm of the WCU football program, has led a Catamount offense that has been nothing short of remarkable.

In 4.5 seasons as the head coach, the Catamount offense under Bell has featured in 51 games, gaining 24,610 yards (482.6 YPG) and scored 1,718 points (33.6 PPG). Catamount quarterbacks have passed for a combined 16,527 yards (324.0 YPG) and 132 TDs (2.5 passing TDs per game). 

The Catamounts have gained more than 5,000 yards of total offense in each of Bell's four seasons as the head coach, and at the midway point of the 2025 season, the Catamounts are well on their way to making it five straight with that ending total. Prior to Bell's arrival as the head coach in 2021, in 54 seasons WCU offenses had only eclipsed 5,000 yards of total offense four times at the end of a season (1983, '94, 2017, '18)

In each of the previous four seasons under Bell, the Catamounts have set new school records for total offense and are on the way to a fifth-straight, having gained 2,880 yards of total offense through six games. If the Catamounts should duplicate such a feat over their final six games, the Catamounts would end the season with 5,760 yards of total offense, which would of course be yet another all-time school record. 

A snapshot of that record-breaking offense could be found in WCU's 52-20 win over the Paladins last season, as the Catamounts set SoCon and Catamount program records for total yards offense (801 yds) and passing yards (652). 

New Crop of Wide Receivers Stepping Up For Both:

As you might expect, both the Catamounts and Paladins cite wide receiver as a primary strength of their offense entering Saturday's clash at EJ Whitmire Stadium, with both teams.

Both teams came into the season missing veteran contributors at wide receiver, with Furman having been without Ben Ferguson since the start of the season, while Western Carolina has also been without one of its top wideouts all season, in AJ Colombo--a dynamic speedy wideout, who is forced to miss the entire season with a preseason knee injury.

Both new and young receivers have stepped and made themselves known for wide receiving (16 rec, 223 yds, 2 TDs, 13.9 YPR) units this season, with redshirt sophomore James Tyre (40 rec, 428 yds, 6 TDs, 10.7 YPR), Malik Knight (28 rec, 354 yds, 1 TD, 12.6 YPR), Old Dominion transfer Dominic Dutton (15 catches, 201 yds, 1 TD, 13.4 YPR), freshman Michael Rossin (8 rec, 205 yds, 25.6 YPR) and Dartmouth transfer Painter Richards-Baker (16 rec, 223 yds, 2 TDs, 13.9 YPR) stepping up for the Purple and Gold so far this season, while  Furman has also had a litany of new primary receiving options, in redshirt sophomore Ja'Keith Hamilton (25 rec, 305 yds, 4 TDs, 12.2 YPR), East Carolina transfer Kerry King (23 rec, 187 yds, 8.1 YPR), Ethan Harris (15 rec, 128 yds, 8.5 YPR), Devin Hester Jr. (12 rec, 146 yds, 12.2 YPR) and true freshman Evan James (32 rec, 379 yds, 2 TDs, 11.8 YPR) have certainly been in great form for the Paladins so far this season. 

Both Western Carolina and Furman lost top wideouts to the transfer portal from a year ago, with the Paladins seeing the likes of Colton Hinton to Coastal Carolina, while DeAndre Tamarez (Marshall), Zion Booker (Tulsa) and Isaiah Johnson (Cincinnati) all transferred out of WCU's program. 

The amazing thing about WCU under Kerwin Bell is its ability to seemingly replace major losses at the wide receiver position, as well as the skill positions at-large seemingly every season, as it seems when each experiences a little success in such a talented offense, they take those big offensive numbers put up and highlight them in the portal to the highest FBS bidder. Furman isn't immune either, as in its 3-8 campaign a year ago, its biggest offensive weapon--Colton Hinton-- chose to continue his career at Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are 2-3 through five games, with Hinton having caught three passes for eight yards. 

Hinton was about Furman's lone offensive spark in last season's game between the Catamounts and Paladins, as posted nine catches for 114 yards and also posted a 96-yard kickoff return to open the second half in Furman's 32-point (52-20) home loss to WCU last October.

Hamilton helped key Furman's win over East Tennessee State last Saturday, as he was one of two wideouts to have 11 catches in last Saturday's win for the Paladins, and he hauled in a pair scoring passes from Hedden, as he was instrumental in helping spark Furman's offense with just under five minutes remaining in last Saturday's 31-22 win over the Bucs, as his 53-yard scoring reception, which he plucked out of the air and took away from ETSU defensive back William Wells in the process and snagged the ball out of mid-air like a rebound in basketball then raced 53 yards for the go-ahead score to give Furman its first lead of the game with 3:57 remaining. 

He also hauled in a 10-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter to help the Paladins get back to within a TD of ETSU. Hamilton would end his afternoon hauling in 11 passes for 143 yards and 2 TDs. Ethan Harris was Furman's other wideout with 11 catches, as he finished the day with 11 receptions for 81 yards in the win. It marked the first time in school history that two different wideouts for the Paladins have caught 11 passes in the same game. 

WCU has gotten a big boost from redshirt sophomore James Tyre this season, and though Taron Dickens has had all the headlines, the player most likely getting overlooked most has been Tyre. In last Saturday's win over Wofford, Tyre made 13 catches for 103 yards to go with hauling in all three of Dickens' scoring tosses in last Saturday's contest. Tyre hauled in scoring grabs of 2, 5, and 4 yards, respectively in the win over the Terriers. 

Tyre has now strung together a pair of 100-yard receiving performances, as he also hauled in six passes for 101 yards in WCU's 45-38 road win. Through six games this season, Tyre leads WCU's prolific passing attack with 40 catches for 428 yards and six TDs.  

With 40 catches already at the midway point of WCU's 2025 schedule, Tyre would need 50 catches in his final six games of the season to surpass Eric Rasheed's mark of 89 receptions set over the course of 15 games back in 1983. As for receiving yards, he needs 781 yards to surpass former great Eddie Cohen, who accounted for 1,208 yards in Kent Briggs' final season as head coach back in 2007. 

James, who will likely not be in uniform once again Saturday against the Catamounts after suffering a minor upper-body injury at Samford a couple of weeks ago, was well on his way to at least threatening Isaac West's single-season school receiving yards (1,006 yds in 2004) record prior to the injury, and would need 628 receiving yards over Furman's final six or seven games, depending on when he returns, to set a new school single-season mark for yards. 

Both teams have also made a habit of throwing to their tight ends, with WCU's Brayden Blackmon having hauled in 11 passes for 58 yards and a TD this season, while Furman's Joshua Burrell has hauled in 18 passes for 129 yards and one TD through the first five games of the season for the Paladins. 

Last Time They Met

Oct. 19, 2024

Western Carolina 52, Furman 20

Eighth-year  Furman head coach Clay Hendrix has prided himself on making his football program a developmental one in a time when the easy thing to do is go to the transfer portal for all your season-by-season needs, however, as Furman is finding out this season, that developmental aspect of building a program can sometimes come with a huge dose of humility--at least in the short-term. 

The 2024 season has had its share of strange and mostly negative occurrences for Furman's football program, and the latest came Saturday against Western Carolina, which handed Furman as thorough of a beating as they have had since the season-opening setback vs. Ole Miss (L, 0-76), on what turned out to be a record-setting Homecoming Saturday for all the wrong reasons, as the visiting Catamounts rolled to a 52-20 win over the Paladins before a crowd of 9,987 fans on-hand at Paladin Stadium.

Cole Gonzales passed for a SoCon record 620 yards and five touchdowns, as WCU rolled up a league record 801 yards of total offense en route to leading to the historic day for the visitors.

The Paladins were never in the game, and it was quite apparent from the opening drive of the game of Saturday's "Battle for Purple Supremacy" that the game was going to be a very one-sided contest, as it took WCU just three plays to cover the opening 75 yards to put their first of seven TDs on Saturday, with six of those coming via the air.

Furman has now been outscored 93-30 over the past two Saturdays against SoCon Opposition at Paladin Stadium.

The 93 points are the most ever given up in back-to-back home games at Paladin Stadium, and the combined 63-point margin of victory by both Chattanooga (41-10) and Western Carolina (52-20) over a two-week span also is a standard for margin of victory in Furman's home facility in back-to-back home games in the same season.

It also marks the first time since 2016 the Paladins have lost back-to-back home games, which saw the Paladins in the middle of a six-game losing streak in contiguous seasons, which also included losses in the Paladins final two home games of the 2015 campaign.

The Catamounts snapped a two-game losing skid in the series against the Paladins, dating back to a 43-42 win in Cullowhee in Kerwin Bell's first season as the head coach of Western Carolina back in 2021. Bell evened his record to 2-2 all-time against the Paladins.

WCU registered its seventh win all-time in Greenville, and now have the second-most wins at Furman among Southern Conference foes, with only Chattanooga's eight wins in Greenville accounting for more by a SoCon foe. Interestingly, it was just the third win by Western Carolina in Greenville since 1993, with the other two coming in 1994 and 2014.

The Catamounts outgained Furman 801-294 in total offense, with 620 of that coming through the air. The Paladins failed to reach at least 300 yards of total offense for the fourth time this season, including the third-straight game. In fact, the Paladins have yet to reach 300 yards of total offense against a Southern Conference opposition this season.

Gonzales' passing total marked the seventh-highest passing mark in FCS Football history and is also a Southern Conference record for single-game passing yards. He finished the day connecting on 35-of-55 passes for 620 yards and five scores, without an INT. Meanwhile, backup Taron Dickens added one completion for 32 yards and a touchdown. The combined 652 passing yards by the two QBs is a SoCon record.

Furman's Trey Hedden finished the day connecting on 22-of-34 passes for 239 yards, with two TDs and an INT. Gonzales had several favorite targets in a game in which he passed for such a gaudy passing total, with Isaiah Johnson hauling in six passes for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Zion Booker hauled in eight passes for 103 yards and one score. 

Jai Boyd also hauled in three passes for 102 yards. Malik Knight had two catches for 69 yards and a score, while Branson Adams had two catches for 48 yards, which included a 49-yard scoring catch out of the WCU backfield.

Hedden's favorite target in the passing attack was Colton Hinton, who hauled in nine passes for 114 yards, while his two touchdown tosses went to true freshman Jackson Pryor and John Holbrook, with both equaling three yards in distance. 

The nine catches for 114 yards were both career highs for Hinton. For Pryor, it was his second-career scoring catch as a Paladin wideout, while Holbrook hauled in his first as a Paladin. Hinton finished the game with 293 all-purpose yards, which includes 162 kick return yards, with his 96-yard return in the second quarter marking the first by a Paladin since Wayne Anderson Jr. returned a kick 97 yards against Western Carolina back in 2022.

WCU finished the contest with an 149-55 advantage in rushing yards, with Branson Adams pacing the Catamount ground game with 70 yards on nine carries. Patrick Boyd Jr. finished the contest with 41 yards on three rush attempts, while Jalynn Williams rushed four times for 39 yards and a score.

Furman was led on the ground by Grant Robinson, who rushed for 23 yards on nine carries, while Myion Hicks added 22 yards on five attempts before leaving with an injury.

Defensively, the Catamounts posted five sacks and were led by Hayward McQueen, who finished with 11 tackles, three tackles-for-loss, half-a-sack and had a pass breakup.

Furman finished the contest with four sacks and were led by senior linebacker Evan DiMaggio, who finished with a game-high 14 tackles, two sacks and two tackles-for-loss.

The 32-point win by WCU over the Paladins marked the second-largest win by the Catamounts in the 52 meetings between the two teams, with only the 38-point win by the Catamounts in 2015 (48-10) at EJ Whitmire Stadium marking a bigger margin of victory. The Paladins hold a 36-14-2 all-time series edge, as the Catamounts improved to 7-19-1 all-time in Greenville.

The 32-point home loss by the Paladins is the second largest home defeat in the 44-year history of the facility, with only the 45-0 win by Samford on Homecoming eclipsing that margin. The 52 points scored by Western Carolina are tied for the second-most by a visiting foe, along with Kennesaw State (52 in 2016), Appalachian State (52 in 2009) and The Citadel (52 in 1994). Only ETSU's 58 points in a 58-28 win over Furman in 1997 eclipses that that total.

Though leading just 17-6 at the half, one glance at the stats sheet and it would have appeared that the Catamounts left points on the field in the opening half of play, as Western Carolina went to the half with a whopping 394-61 advantage in total yards. Back-to-back turnovers in the opening frame helped keep the margin closer in the opening frame.

The Catamounts took the opening kickoff and needed just three plays to cover the 75 yards and took an early 7-0 lead following Isaiah Johnson's 15-yard catch down the near sideline at the 14-minute mark of the opening quarter. The Catamounts were put in good position when a 56-yard pitch-and-catch from Gonzales-to-Jai Boyd, which put the Catamounts at the Furman 34 on the opening play from scrimmage.

Those two first quarter turnovers would at least delay the inevitable for a little while for the Paladins, and it wouldn't be until early in the second quarter when the Catamounts would find the end zone for the second time, as Gonzales found Isaiah Johnson on a 62-yard scoring strike with 9:25 left in the half. The score came after the Paladins had a little momentum, having forced a WCU punt, however, a roughing the punter penalty on 4th-and-6 gave the Catamounts and automatic first down. Gonzales made it 14-0 on the next play with his bomb to Johnson.

Following the score, Furman's Colton Hinton electrified the Paladin homecoming crowd briefly, returning Paxton Robertson's kickoff 96 yards for a score, however, Ian Williams missed the PAT, leaving the score 14-6.

The final points of the opening frame would be provided by Robertson, who connected on a 26-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half, as the Catamounts went to the half holding the 17-6 lead.

The Paladins got the ball to open the second half, however, couldn't get anything going and were forced to punt.

Western Carolina, meanwhile, started the second half much like it started the game by getting on the board. WCU covered 76 yards in eight plays, with DeAndre Tamarez capping the scoring drive with a 23-yard scoring catch over the middle, as the Paladin defense parted like the Red Sea, and the Catamounts assumed the 24-6 lead with 11:07 left in the quarter.

Western's lone rushing score of the day would come later in the quarter, as Jalynn Williams scored on a 4-yard run to make it 31-6 following Robertson's PAT with 4:31 left in the third.

The Paladins would then put together their most successful offensive drive of the day, as John Holbrook would haul in his first scoring pass as a Paladin on a three-yard slant from true freshman quarterback Trey Hedden, making it a 31-13 game with six seconds left in the third.

However, the Catamounts would quickly restore order in the fourth quarter, as Gonzales continued to fatten his passing totals. He 20-yard scoring pass to Zion Booker in the right corner of the end zone, as Booker went up the ladder to come down with a beautiful scoring catch made it 38-13 and concluded a short five-play, 75-yard drive with 13:17 left.

Gonzales would cap his monster day with just under six minutes remaining, as he helped engineer an impressive nine-play, 99-yard drive, which was capped by running back Branson Adams, who hauled in a 48-yard scoring pass out of the backfield with 5:40 remaining. That made it 45-13.

Furman would tack on its final score of the game with 2:57 remaining, as Hedden hooked up with true freshman wideout Jackson Pryor for a 3-yard scoring connection to make it a 45-20 game, concluding what was a nine-play, 79-yard drive.

That probably should have been the end of the scoring, however, it wasn't. In contrast to Chattanooga, who the week before took a knee well inside Furman territory and didn't throw the ball much after Chase Artopoeus turned over the reins of the offense to backup Luke Schomburg in the fourth quarter of Chattanooga's 41-10 win at Paladin Stadium, however, the Catamounts didn't feel their 25-point lead was safe with less than two minutes left.

After Furman's failed onsides kick attempt and instead of going into the victory formation with the game well in hand and Gonzales icing his throwing arm, the Catamounts opted to dial up one more deep ball for good measure, as backup quarterback Taron Dickens found Malik Knight on a 32-yard scoring pass, as Knight showed off his tremendous athleticism, high-pointing the ball and coming down with it over the outstretched arms of Maurice Perkins to make it 52-20 with 1:57 left.

All told, Furman would be outscored 112-43 at home against SoCon foes in 2024, finishing 0-3 in those games.