Furman takes down two-time defending SoCon champion Mercer
Furman's Defense Forced Five Mercer Turnovers in Fourth-Straight League Opening Win
MACON, GA--In a game defined by defense, it was Furman that had the final say, as the Paladins ended two-time defending SoCon champion and 15th-ranked Mercer’s 12-game SoCon winning streak, with a 20-13, in the Southern Conference opener for both teams Saturday evening at Five Star Stadium.
Despite it being a defensive slugfest, Furman's senior running back Ben Croasdale provided one of the few offensive big plays of the night on either side, and it turned out to decisive in the
outcome of a game defined by defensive physicality, as his 47-yard scamper with 47 seconds remaining allowed the Paladins to take a 20-13 lead in a game that fittingly be sealed shut by Furman's defense on Mercer's ensuing series following Joshua Tarver's INT of Jaylen King's final Hail Mary attempt.
Croasdale’s game-winning run came on a drive, which
saw its previous four plays comprised of three Garcia completions, and a
one-yard rush by the graduate transfer signal-caller, which netted the Paladin offense
the first 28 yards of the drive before Croasdale did the rest by outracing the Bears’
defense to the end zone for what would be the game-winning score.
"I told our guys afterwards that's as good a performance defensively as I've seen," said Furman head coach Clay Hendrix following Furman's 20-13 win over No. 14 Mercer.
"It's easy to say you don't give up you just keep hanging in there and things weren't going very good particularly offensively and we kept getting stops and we would make a few plays but I can't say enough about how our defense did. In fact, the way they were able to finish it on the field...that just kind of sums it up," Hendrix added.
The Paladins improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in
league action, while Mercer falls to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in league play. The
win marks Furman’s first ranked win on the road since a 24-21 win at No. 21 East Tennessee
State back in 2024, as well as ending a two-game losing skid in the series
against the Bears. Furman entered Saturday night's clash against the Bears having lost the last two games to Mercer by 24 (L, 52-28/Nov. 1, 2025) and 26 (L, 49-23/Nov. 23, 2024) points, respectively.
The win marks Furman’s first over Mercer since
knocking off the Bears 38-14 triumph at Paladin Stadium back in 2023. Furman’s win also
gave the Paladins a 7-6 lead in the series since the Bears restarted their
football program following a 72-year hiatus back in 2014. In the all-time series,
the Paladins assumed a 13-10-2 record after Saturday night's victory.
In what was a physical, old-school Southern Conference battle, the Bears ended up with the slight edge in total yards, as Mercer finished the night with a 361-315 advantage in total offense, but Furman’s defense was opportunistic, as it forced five turnovers by the Bears, including picking off quarterback Jaylen King four times, with two INTs coming from Paladin sophomore cornerback Caleb Easterling.
The Paladins entered the third
game of the season having yet to throw an INT, while the Bears had yet to throw
one in wins over both East Texas A&M and Presbyterian. The four picks by Furman's defense were its most since intercepting four passes against Tennessee Tech in a 45-10 win over Tennessee Tech to open the 2023 season.
Furman graduate transfer quarterback Jake Garcia
finished the night connecting on 18-of-28 passes for 158 yards, with one touchdown
and a pair of INTs and was sacked four times. Garcia’s favorite target ended up
being Dartmouth transfer wide receiver Daniel Haughton, who finished the night
with eight catches for 103 yards and a score, including a 46-yard pass with
just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, which gave Furman its first
touchdown of the evening. Luke Shields also hauled in six passes for a key 34
yards.
The Paladins ground attack was led by senior Ben
Croasdale, who finished with 74 yards on six attempts, while both Garcia and running
back CJ Stokes each ran for a tough 27 yards, with Garcia needing 13 attempts
and Stokes reaching that exact same total on nine carries.
Defensively, the Paladins were stout the entire night, with the Paladin defensive front causing havoc all night, using a variety of different fronts and shifts to try and free up Buck Buchanan Award candidate and junior defensive end Joshua Stoneking, who caused Mercer’s offensive front issues from the outset, and despite still looking for that elusive first sack of the season, still managed to finish with eight tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss.
Veteran linebacker and Cumming, GA product Raleigh Herbert paced Furman’s
defense with 11 tackles, two tackles-for-loss and finished with one of the
Paladins’ three sacks on the evening. Herbert left the game in the fourth quarter
with an injury and did not return.
Furman’s other two sacks came from rush end Trevor Short,
who was also among Furman’s most influential defenders in the game, as he also
forced a fumble, had two fumble recoveries and had two quarterback pressures,
with one of those forcing the first of five miscues on the evening for the Bears,
as Jordan Miller ended up with the INT after Short broke through to apply heavy
pressure just as King got rid of the football Easterling, a native of Richmond
Hills, GA, finished the night with five tackles to go along with his two INTs.
A week after accounting for six touchdowns in a half and helping lead a Mercer that went for over 600 yards for just the seventh time in its history, Jaylen King was made to look very mortal by the Furman defense, as he finished the evening connecting on 18-of-35 passes for 196 yards and couldn't find the end zone by air or by ground, but was picked off four times and sacked three more by Furman's Purple Swarm defense.
In addition to Easterling's two INTs, Miller and Tarver also came up with INTs for the Paladin defense.
Zahamari Palode-Gary led the ground efforts for Mercer, rushing for 87 yards on 13 attempts, while King added 31 yards on 15 rush attempts.
Travion Solomon was the Bears' top offensive option for the evening, as he hauled in six passes for 120 yards, while Eric Rasheed also caught four passes for 40 yards.
The Bears were led defensively by West Georgia transfer Jyarius Carter, who finished the night with 11 stops to match Furman's Herbert for game-high honors, while also adding three quarterback hurries and a pass breakup.
Mercer's defense would record six tackles-for-loss, four sacks and forced three Paladin turnovers, including picking off Garcia twice. The Bears would get INTs from Cameron Goggins and Justin Ferguson.
How It Happened:
Furman found itself trailing 13-10 early in the fourth quarter following an impressive Mercer drive, which covered 74 yard in nine plays and was capped by backup signal-caller JP Pickles' 1-yard scoring plunge to give the Bears the 13-10 lead with 13:20 remaining in the game.
Furman would see what seemed to be a promising drive on the ensuing possession compromised due to a pair of penalties and a couple of Mercer sacks, forcing William Pendegrass on to punt the ball back to Mercer.
The Paladin defense, however, came up with a much-needed three-and-out, forcing Senin Seymour on to punt the ball away for the Bears. His 43-yard punt was then returned 42 yards by Furman's Joshua Tarver, setting ball just outside the red zone for the Paladin offense at the Mercer 34 with 6:59 remaining.
The Paladins would move it to the Mercer 25, but could get no further, as Nathan Chapman was forced to come on and attempt a 43-yard attempt on 4th-and-1, which split the uprights to tie the game, 13-13, with 4:53 remaining.
Furman's defense would force Mercer to punt on its next possession, and following Seymour's punt, took over the football at their own 15 with 1:54 remaining. Garcia got the drive started with three completions to Daniel Haughton, which covered 15, 17 and five yards, respectively, as the Paladins moved the ball to the Mercer 47.
On the next play, Croasdale took the handoff from Garcia and sprinted past the Bears defense for a 47-yard scoring jaunt put the Paladins back on top, 20-13, following Chapman's PAT with just 47 seconds remaining.
On Mercer's final drive of the evening, which started at its own 40 after a squibbed kickoff by Chapman, the Bears could only move the ball a total of 13 yards, reaching the Paladin 47 before King's desperation throw with time winding down was intercepted by Tarver and returned 34 yards before eventually sliding to the Five Star Stadium turf, as the Furman sideline erupted in celebration.
The first three quarters saw more action on both sides than actual points. To open the game, Mercer won the toss and deferred.
Furman looked promising on its first offensive series of the evening, but after two first downs
Jake Garcia was pressured and hit, by Nigel Gay, who forced the ball free from behind and the ball was also recovered by CJ Favors at the Mercer 47.
Mercer drove it to the Paladin 23, but was opted to
go for it on 4th down and the Paladin defense stood strong and held
the Bears on four downs, as Joshua Stoneking and Eli Lipscomb combined to stop Jaylen King on a quarterback sneak and the Paladin defense came up with a big early stop.
The Paladin offense would seize upon that momentum established by the defense and the would get the first points of the night, as Nathan Chapman connected on a 44-yard field goal to make it a 3-0 game with 6:27 remaining. Furman drove the ball 50 yards in 10 plays before settling for the Chapman's trifecta.
The Bears would answer with a solid drive of their own, as the Bears
drove it 33 yards in seven plays, but had to settle for a 54-yard field goal Simon Zeidan field goal with 2:41 left in the second quarter, tying the game, 3-3. Zeidan now has field goals of 55 and 54 yards, respectively, this season.
Furman's defense would force three turnovers in the second quarter, with two of those preventing the Bears from taking a lead into the halftime locker room. Trevor Short's strip sack of King would end one Mercer scoring opportunity, while Caleb Easterling's INT in the waning seconds of the half would keep the Bears for putting more points on the board just before the half, as the Paladin offense would tack a knee and run off the final seconds of the opening half, as the two teams went to the locker room tied, 3-3.
The other turnover would set up Furman's offense in good territory, however, the Paladins couldn't capitalize. Furman on the opportunity after Short put heavy pressure on King forcing a hurried pass, which would be intercepted by Paladin cornerback Jordan Miller and set up the Furman offense at the Mercer 32 with just over seven minutes left in the half. However, the Mercer defense would stand tall and force Chapman into another long field goal from 46 yards out, which he missed with 4:55 remaining in the half.
Mercer assumed its first lead of the night in the third quarter, as Simon Zeidan connected on a 47-yard field goal with just over eight minutes remaining in the frame allowed the Bears to take a 6-3 lead. The drive would be set up by the Bears defense, which saw heavy pressure force Garcia into an errant throw and the ball was picked off by Cameron Goggins, which was his second in three games for the Bears.
The momentum would shift again back in favor of Furman late in the third quarter when Caleb Easterling picked off Jaylen King for his second INT of the evening, setting up the Paladins at the Mercer 46.
On the very next play, Garcia found Daniel Haughton between two Mercer defenders, as he high-pointed the ball and snagged it out of the air and covered the remaining short distance with his legs to the orange-painted end zone, giving the Paladin offense both its first big play and touchdown of the evening, as Furman assumed a 10-6 lead with 1:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Furman returns to action next Saturday, as the Paladins will step back out of conference to host No. 22 South Carolina State (3-0) with kickoff set for 7 p.m. EST. The Bears will be on the road at Bobby Dodd Stadium to face off against Georgia Tech (0-2), with kickoff slated for noon.
Oct. 21, 2023 at No. 8 Western Carolina W, 29-17
Nov. 4, 2023 at No. 13 Chattanooga W, 17-14
Nov. 16, 2024 at No. 21 East Tennessee State W, 24-21
Sept. 12, 2026 at No. 14/15 Mercer W, 20-13
--Mercer entered having won 12-straight SoCon games and 32 of its last 40 league games over the past five seasons. The Bears had also won 22 of their last 26 games at Five Star Stadium prior to the Paladins' 20-13 win in the league opener. The Paladins improved to 25-15 in SoCon games since the start of the 2021 spring season.
--It was Furman's 12th ranked win under head coach Clay Hendrix. Six of those ranked wins have come on the road, with four of those having been regular-season triumphs.
--In a strange similarity to 2026, Furman opened the 2022 season with a win over an NCAA Division II foe (North Greenville), then faced a nationally-ranked FBS foe that wore a shade of Orange (Tennessee) before traveling to defeating the reigning SoCon Champion and nationally-ranked FCS foe (East Tennessee State) under the direction of a first-year head coach (George Quarles).
--The win marked Furman's 305th SoCon win, while Mercer fell to 55-40 all-time since joining the SoCon in 2014.
--Furman assumed a 13-10-2 all-time series edge, while also taking a 7-6 series lead since Mercer resurrected its football program after a 72-year hiatus back in 2014.
--Furman's four INTs marked the most since Aug. 30, 2023, when the Paladins picked off Tennessee Tech four times in a 45-10 season-opening win.
--Furman improved to 7-3 in SoCon openers under head coach Clay Hendrix, including having won four-straight league lid-lifters.
Comments
Post a Comment