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| Furman's Luke Clark celebrates after a sack during the Paladins' 17-16 win at The Citadel Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
CHARLESTON - Much like real life the past week, Furman's offense spent much of Saturday afternoon in the dark. But when the lights finally came on, the Paladins shined bright like a diamond (F). Freshman quarterback Trey Hedden threw a pair of touchdowns in the final six minutes as Furman rallied from a 16-3 deficit for a 17-16 win over rival The Citadel at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
After putting up 93 yards of total on offense on 30 plays over the first three quarters, Furman upped the tempo and had 181 yards on 27 plays in the fourth quarter. While the Paladins' defense kept them in the game for much of Saturday, it was especially outstanding in the fourth as Citadel was held to nine yards on 13 plays.
"You talk about a frustrating first half. ... Credit our kids for hanging in there and executing. ... Credit our coaches for the adjustments that were made. The way they were playing, we felt like we needed to go to some tempo on offense," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "It's always fun to win down here, but it's always fun to win period. Hopefully, this is kind of that big step we've needed to continue to grow up.
"It was a challenging week and we had some inconveniences, but nothing compared to what people are going through. Our thoughts and prayers are still with all of them. ... I'm just really proud of our kids."
Furman (2-3, 1-0 Southern Conference) trailed 13-0 late in the third quarter when its offense finally showed a pulse. The Paladins had just 36 yards of total offense and two first downs when they began a possession at their own 25-yard line with 5:30 left in the third. Furman's first trip to the red zone ended on a 26-yard field goal by Ian Williams to cut the lead to 13-3 with 52 seconds left in the quarter. Seeing as how it was still a two-score game, there may have been a thought of going for it on fourth-and-four.
Furman's defense made sure the field goal was the right decision. It forced a three-and-out on the Bulldogs' ensuing possession when Evan DiMaggio stuffed Citadel running back Garrison Johnson for no gain on third-and-one.
Citadel's next possession resulted in another three-and-out, but the punt was muffed by Colton Hinton and the Bulldogs recovered at the Furman 31. The Paladins' defense answered the bell again as Citadel had to settle for Ben Barnes' third field goal of the day. His 44-yard kick extended the lead to 16-3 with 8:27 left to play.
Hedden's first three passes of Furman's ensuing possession moved the ball from the Paladins' 22 to the Bulldogs' 24. The third of those was a perfect throw down the right sideline to Devin Hester, who made a great over-the-shoulder catch for the 26-yard gain. On second-and-18, Hinton appeared to catch a 19-yard touchdown pass but it was wiped out by a questionable illegal man downfield penalty. Two plays later, Hedden found Ben Ferguson for a 10-yard touchdown with no flags on the play as Furman cut the lead to 16-10 with 5:39 left.
After yet another three-and-out forced by Furman's defense, a 65-yard punt by Citadel's James Platte led to the Paladins beginning possession at their own 12-yard line with four minutes left. It appeared Furman's comeback effort was all for naught when Hedden was hit as he threw and officials initially ruled it a fumble that the Bulldogs returned for a touchdown. Replay showed that Hedden's arm was moving forward before the ball was knocked loose and after a review, it was ruled an incompletion.
The game was delayed further after Citadel called timeout to argue that it should've been third down after the incompletion, even though it came on a first-down play. Officials inexplicably reviewed what down it should be for a few minutes before correctly leaving the upcoming play as a second down.
After that foolishness subsided, Hedden went back to work. He hit Hinton for gains of 14 and 12 yards sandwiched around a 24-yard throw to Ferguson. After Furman entered the red zone with two minutes remaining, its beleaguered running game was called on and Hedden made a great fake handoff before taking off for an eight-yard gain. Two plays later, Grant Robinson had a four-yard run on third-and-one. The Paladins lined up in the beautiful I-formation on the next play. After Hedden faked a toss to the left, he rolled right and found fellow true freshman Jackson Pryor for a six-yard touchdown with 1:01 left. Williams' extra point gave Furman the 17-16 lead.
"That's a play that we've been working on all week. Getting those reps in makes it easier to do in the game," said Pryor, who's a native of Boone, N.C. "It's been kind of a roller coaster of emotions, but my whole family's safe. They actually made the trip down here a couple of days earlier as they were fortunate to have power back home."
Williams' fourth touchback in as many kickoffs gave Citadel the ball at its own 25 with two timeouts remaining. On first down, Luke Clark's hurry forced an incompletion. On second down, Jeremiah Jackson's hurry forced a short pass that resulted in an off-balance catch and a three-yard loss. On third-and-13, Clark's hurry led to an easy interception by freshman cornerback Jaylen Moson to seal the win.
It was a well-deserved pick for Moson, who's had some tough luck with warranted - and unwarranted - pass interference penalties this season. Unfortunately for Moson, he was injured while being tackled on the play and his right arm was in a sling after the game.
"I landed on my shoulder and they think it's my collarbone," Moson said. "I'm hurting right now, but hopefully the results come back and I'm okay."
Furman somehow only trailed by 10 at the half after a truly horrific showing in the opening 30 minutes. On the Paladins' second offensive play, Hedden ran eight yards for a first down on an option keeper. Furman had one more first down the rest of the half.
Citadel (2-4, 0-3) jumped out to a 10-0 lead two possessions in. After Barnes kicked a 48-yard field goal to open the scoring, the Bulldogs' Dervon Pesnell turned a third-and-10 screen pass into a 48-yard touchdown. The touchdown drive was assisted by an offsides penalty on a fourth-and-one play from the Bulldogs' 37-yard line. With two seconds on the play clock, Xavier Stephens moved forward, didn't make contact and got back with the ball never being snapped. It was ruled that his movement caused a Citadel lineman to move though, extending the drive.
For the first half, the Bulldogs had 185 yards on 43 plays while the Paladins had 34 yards on 17 plays. Citadel, which is no longer a run-heavy, ball control offense, also had a 21:49 to 8:11 advantage in time of possession.
"We played hard in the first half. We just kept hurting ourselves," Hendrix said. "Effort without execution doesn't equate. You've got to have both. ... The last thing I told them at halftime was the best thing going for us is that it was 10 to nothing. ... When we don't hurt ourselves and play confident football, we've got a chance to play with anybody."
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, it didn't look like much had changed. Furman opened the third quarter with a pair of shotgun handoffs up the middle and an incompletion on third-and-eight. Citadel took its opening possession of the half 69 yards on 17 plays, shaving more than eight minutes off the clock before Barnes' 30-yard field goal pushed the lead to 13-0.
At that point, the Bulldogs had 239 yards on 60 plays. They had 18 yards on 15 plays the rest of the way.
DiMaggio had a game-high 12 tackles, while Clark had eight, including three tackles-for-loss and a sack. Clark was officially credited with Furman's only two hurries of the day even though he was in Citadel's offensive backfield all afternoon.
"Our defense held strong the whole second half. Holding them to a field goal after that muffed punt ... helped change the game completely as well," Hedden said. "We're down two scores and they just kept giving us (the offense) a chance.
"When you're a young football team that wins a game like this, it's like 'oh my gosh, we can do it.' I think that's really going to help us moving forward. We're going to be more confident when it's time to go win football games."
Hedden withstood being sacked five times to finish with 246 yards on 23-of-33 passing with no interceptions.
Furman returns to Paladin Stadium next Saturday to host Chattanooga at 2 p.m.
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