Western Carolina's Defense Shines in Win Over Furman

WCU defensive back Ken Moore Jr. picks off one of his two passes in Saturday's win over Furman (photo courtesy of Catamount athletics)

CULLOWHEE, N.C.—For a second-straight season, the number 52 was Purple Magic for Western Carolina, as the Catamounts hammered Furman, using a defensive performance that forced five Paladin turnovers, which included a 64-yard INT return for a score by Ken Moore Jr., and the Catamounts claimed a demonstrative, 52-7, win in a battle of SoCon unbeatens Saturday afternoon at EJ Whitmire Stadium.

With its fourth-straight win, Western Carolina improved to 4-3 overall and 3-0 in Southern Conference play, while the Paladins fell to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in SoCon. Furman’s 45-point loss to the Catamounts marks its first loss by such a margin to an FCS foe since 2014, when the Paladins dropped a 45-0 homecoming contest to Samford. 

Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, the Catamounts are 14-5 in SoCon games, which included winning six SoCon games in 2024 for the first time since joining the league in 1976. With Saturday's result, the Catamounts are now halfway to equaling that standard set just last season. Western Carolina is also chasing its first-ever Southern Conference football title and are off to a flying start with Dickens back under center. 

Western Carolina, which handed Furman a 52-20 loss last season at Paladin Stadium last season, has now outscored the Paladins 104-27 in the past two seasons. The Catamounts improved to 15-36-2 all-time against Furman and have now won consecutive games in the series for the first time since winning back-to-back games against the Paladins in 2014 and ’15 seasons, respectively. The 45-point margin of victory also marks the largest ever in 15 Catamount wins over the Paladins, and Western Carolina also became the first SoCon member to ever score 50 or more points in consecutive seasons against Furman. 

Record-setting quarterback Taron Dickens continued to rip up the competition and has now gone four starts without throwing an INT, as he finished the game by connecting on 17-of-24 passes for 220 yards, with four TDs. He also rushed for 48 yards and on seven attempts. Dickens was sacked twice in the game. Dickens had scoring tosses of 50, 9, 41, and 6 yards to help power another prolific afternoon for the Catamount offense.

Furman sophomore quarterback Trey Hedden finished the contest connecting on 18-of-35 passes for 208 yards, with one TD and 3 INTs. He was sacked three times in the game.

The Catamounts ended the day holding a 522-356 in total offense, which included out-gaining the Paladins 302-137 on the ground. Patrick Boyd Jr. led a balanced Western Carolina ground attack, as he finished with 68 yards on 11 rush attempts. The Catamounts also held a slight advantage in passing yards (220-219). Furman held slight advantages in total snaps (75-69) and time of possession (30:16-29:44), while both teams were 50% or better on third down in the game, with the Paladins finishing 8-of-16 on third down conversions, while the Catamounts were slightly better, at 8-of-15.

Both teams were even on first downs (23-23). One of the biggest keys of Western Carolina’s winning formula was forcing five Paladin turnovers that directly led to 21 points for the hometown shade of Purple.

Western Carolina’s well-balanced ground game was led by Patrick Boyd Jr., who finished the contest with 68 yards on 11 attempts, averaging an impressive 6.2 yards-per-carry.

Dickens’ favorite target in the passing game was James Tyre, who hauled in four passes for 29 yards, while freshman MJ Rossin was impressive having hauled in two passes for 59 yards and a score. Ten different receivers caught a pass on the day for the Catamounts, showing the total versatility of the Catamount offense.

Ken Moore Jr. added a tackle-for-loss to go with his two picks and one INT return for a score. Fellow Catamount defensive back Hassan Sykes recorded six tackles, a sack, a tackle-for-loss and an INT.

Furman was led defensively by linebacker Raleigh Herbert's eight tackles, while the nation's leader in sacks was neutralized effectively by the Catamount offensive line for most of the day, as Joshua Stoneking finished with five tackles and one sack.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Western Carolina won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half, and so Trey Hedden and the Paladin offense would get the first crack at things on a beautiful fall Saturday at EJ Whitmire Stadium.

The Paladins would start their first possession of the day at their own 15. The Paladins would go three-and-out on their opening drive, giving the ball to the Catamounts at the Furman 41 to start the game.

The Catamounts would drive to the Furman 14, however, on 4^th-and-1, Patrick Boyd Jr. was stopped for no gain and the Paladin offense would get the ball for a second time in the game.

Both teams experienced their fair share of mistakes in the opening quarter, with Furman’s Trey Hedden picked off in the end zone after Kerry King having the ball wrestled the ball away from him by Catamount defensive back Hasaan Sykes. Furman’s Taylen Blalock dropped a clear INT at the 31 that would have likely resulted in a touchdown. Later, WCU star quarterback Taron Dickens found a wide Patrick Boyd Jr., who dropped a deep ball that would have surely resulted in a Catamount touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, Western Carolina would draw first blood when freshman kicker Marcus Trout on a 45-yard field goal with 14:23 left in the half, as the Catamounts finished off a short 18-yard drive to take a 3-0 lead, which was set up by shanked Ian Williams punt.

Then after another three-and-out by the Paladin offense, which saw Furman come up about a foot short of the first down and after opting to punt, Taron Dickens engineered what was a 7-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a beautifully thrown spiraled pass down the sideline for freshman wideout MJ Rossin to run under, increasing the WCU advantage to 10-0 with 10:05 remaining in the half.

Western Carolina’s next touchdown would be set up by Furman’s first turnover of the day, as Gavin Hall fumbled near the visiting sideline and Samaurie Dukes forced the ball free and Justin Wallace was in the right place at the right time to pounce on the football for the Catamounts at the Paladin 28.

Four plays later, the Catamounts increased their lead to 17-0 with 7:39 remaining in the half when Taron Dickens connected with Joshua Perry for a 9-yard touchdown and a lofted pass towards the corner of the end zone.

On Furman’s next possession, Western Carolina Ken Moore Jr. picked off Hedden’s pass and raced 64 yards for a score, which was capped by an impressive front flip into the end zone with 1:38 left in the half to make it a 24-0 game. It was Furman’s third turnover of the half, including the second INT for Trey Hedden in the first half.

Furman’s offense finally found a spark late in the half, driving 75 yards on their final possession of the half to get within 24-7, as Hedden found Joshua Burrell for an 8-yard scoring strike with 13 seconds to play in the opening half. It would, however, be the only points of the afternoon produced by the Furman offense.

The Catamounts got the ball to open the second half, and it wouldn’t take long for the Purple and Gold to find their first points of the second half, as Malik Knight hauled in a 41-yard pass from Dickens down the near sideline for a 41-yard scoring connection to make it a 31-7 game just 96 seconds into the latter 30 minutes of football.

Furman would mount a promising drive on its first possession of the second half, reaching the Catamount 11-yard line. However, Hedden’s pass on 2^nd-and-8 aimed for the corner of the end zone and tight end Joshua Burrell didn’t have enough air under it, and Moore leapt to intercept his second Hedden pass of the day, ending Furman’s most promising drive and giving the Catamounts all the momentum.

Western Carolina then drove 80 yards in 12 plays, with Markel Townsend finishing off the final 12 by carrying Furman defenders into the end zone to make it a 38-7 game with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Furman would again drive deep inside the Catamount red zone, and once again were turned away with nothing, as on fourth-and-goal, Hedden was blindsided by Sykes on a ‘CAT’ or corner blitz and the ball was forced free but the ball bounced out of bounds, but it didn’t matter as the Catamount defense had once again stymied the Paladins.

It would ultimately set up Dickens’ final scoring drive of the afternoon, as Dickens found Josiah Thomas on a 6-yard scoring pass to culminate a 9-play, 83-yard drive with 9:25 remaining to make it 45-7.

Following another stop by Western Carolina’s defense, backup quarterback Isaac Lee put the finishing touches on the blowout win, as he raced 66 yards for a score, out-racing the Paladin defense for the final Catamount tally of the afternoon, setting the final score, at 52-7 with 6:20 left in the game.

Up Next:

Furman (4-2, 2-1 SoCon) will look to rebound next Saturday when it travels to face I-85 rival Wofford (1-5, 0-2 SoCon) at Gibbs Stadium, with kickoff set for high noon next Saturday. Western Carolina will be in Charleston to face off with The Citadel (3-3, 2-1 SoCon) in a game set for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Johnson-Hagood Stadium. Both the Terriers and Bulldogs are coming off non-conference wins this past Saturday, with Wofford picking up its first win of the season, downing Michael Vick’s Norfolk State Spartans 31-14 at Gibbs Stadium, while The Citadel garnered a 38-14 win over Gulf South and NCAA Division II power Valdosta Saturday this past Saturday. Wofford has won the past two meetings with Furman, winning by the scoreline of 19-13 in each of the past two meetings.

Quotable:

Clay Hendrix on how he manages his team’s focus moving forward towards Wofford next Saturday and not letting the loss linger

“The right ones will come back and at the end of the day if you lose by a bunch or lose by a few it doesn’t really matter…Yeah it hurts your pride a little bit when you execute like that…We just have to find guys that we can count on to do the things we need to do and I think we will always look at what we’re doing and what we’re asking guys to do and we have to be who we are and it’s not like everything is going to change drastically and you can always tweak some things and refine some things and we will continue to look at those kinds of things and it’s like I just told them ‘we can’t get an edge on somebody and we can’t set an edge on somebody’ and that is frustrating to me and to see another quarterback take of scrambling because we run past him and their guy is phenomenal and I don’t know how many plays he just kept alive…I don’t even know if he realizes how many plays he actually made by just keeping the ball alive and just making some throws and you have to credit them…they wanted it more than we did out there today and they played that way.”