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| In his final collegiate game, Even DiMaggio had a career-high 18 tackles in Furman's 49-23 loss at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
MACON, Ga. - A week after going on the road and spoiling East Tennessee State's hopes for an FCS playoff bid, Furman could not spoil Mercer's hopes for an opening round bye Saturday. The eighth-ranked Bears piled up more than 500 yards of offense to cruise to a 49-23 victory in the regular season finale at Five Star Stadium.
The loss brought an end to a long, tough year for the Paladins (3-8, 2-5 Southern Conference) as Clay Hendrix suffered his first losing record in a full season as a head coach. Meanwhile, the win gave Mercer (10-2, 7-1) its first outright SoCon championship and that opening round bye as the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.
This was a rare game this season in which Furman actually won the turnover battle, 4-3, as the Paladins' defense had an interception and three fumble recoveries. But when it comes to turnovers, what you do with them is all that really matters. The Bears had two touchdowns off their three forced turnovers, while Furman had just one touchdown off its four.
"I've never been part of a team that's maybe made as many mistakes as we've made and they've been catastrophic," Hendrix said. "That's a good team we played and congrats to them, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a team get as many bounces as they have (all season). That's what good teams do though."
That one score the Paladins got off a turnover opened the scoring. After Evan DiMaggio forced a fumble. freshman safety Max Eubanks pounced on it at the Mercer 42. Three plays later, running back Gavin Hall took a handoff and made a perfect throw to the end zone to a wide open Colton Hinton for a 30-yard score as Furman took a 7-0 lead.
As it seemingly did all day, Mercer had a swift, powerful response. The Bears drove 75 yards in two-and-a-half minutes to tie the game. Furman answered with a 14-play drive that took more than five-and-a-half minutes, but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Ian Williams to take a 10-7 lead.
Less than two minutes later, the Bears got a 46-yard touchdown pass from Whitt Newbauer to Adjatay Dabbs to take a lead it never gave up. The lead ballooned to 21-10 just 20 seconds later when disaster struck Furman. As freshman quarterback Trey Hedden was wrapped up in a sack, he inexplicably tossed the ball over his head with his back to the defense. Mercer safety Tommy Bliss plucked what was ruled a fumble out of mid-air and ran 35 yards for a touchdown.
As dreadful as some parts were in the first half, Furman was still somewhat within striking distance after another Williams' field goal cut the lead to 28-13 at the half.
The Paladins' defense forced a three-and-out to start the second half and a penalty on the punt return set Furman up at the Bears' 41-yard-line. As has been the case eight other times this season, the Paladins' opening drive of the second half lasted all of three plays and produced little to no yardage. This time it was three yards, but this three-and-out resulted in points when Williams matched his career-long with a 57-yard field goal.
Field goals from that long are pretty impressive, but they're still only worth three points unfortunately for Furman. While each team had the same number of scores, the Paladins trailed 28-16 after the long field goal.
"The margin of error is so thin for us. We get chances to score touchdowns, but we don't. ... The red zone has hurt us all year." Hendrix said. "We get the chance to get off the field (defensively), but we don't. ... I don't know how many times we've gotten a pass interference (penalty) and let them catch it, so we give them 40 (yards) rather than 15."
Mercer once again responded facing only one third down on its way to a 75-yard touchdown drive that ended on a 16-yard run by Dwayne McGee. One play later, the Bears got it right back when Hedden's pass was picked off by T.J. Moore. Three plays later on a third-and-four, Newbauer and Dabbs connected on a 31-yard touchdown. That pushed the lead to 42-16 and while there was still more than five minutes left in the third quarter, it sure felt like the game was over.
The teams traded fourth quarter scores. Ethan Harris hauled in the first touchdown of his career on a 47-yard pass from Hedden midway through the fourth to complete the scoring.
On the final play of the game, Furman backup quarterback Nehuel Garcia was sacked for a two-yard loss on third-and-one. It was a fitting end to a season in which the Paladins took far too many sacks and converted far too few short-yardage plays.
In 43 years as a player, assistant and head coach, this is just the seventh losing season that Hendrix has experienced. It's Furman's first losing season since also going 3-8 in 2016 and in 2012. The Paladins reached the second round of the playoffs the next year following each of those seasons. While there's plenty of things to fix, it's not unfathomable that this young team couldn't get right back to contending for a SoCon title and a playoff bid next fall.
"I think this group is going to stick together. They've learned and worked and I really thought we've been pretty close (to a turnaround)," Hendrix said. "When I was at Air Force, we went 2-10 one year and 10-3 the next. ... I don't think we're that far away."
Hedden completed 19-of-41 passes for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Hinton posted a career-high nine receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown, while Harris finished with 86 yards on four catches. Hall led the ground game with 53 yards rushing on 11 carries.
In his final game as a Paladin, DiMaggio posted a career-high 18 tackles including 10 solo stops. He also had 2.5 tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.
"Evan's just a Furman man - smart, tough, great leader. He doesn't say a lot, but he may be the most respected guy on our team," Hendrix said. "He takes care of his business in everything. He wants to have a chance to play at the next level and it will be interesting to see how it all goes.
"We may have a way to keep him around in the winter while he's doing that (training). It'd be great for our young guys."
Five Paladins make All-SoCon team
DiMaggio was one of five Paladins who made the All-SoCon teams, while eight made the All-Freshman team. Joining DiMaggio on the first team was fellow senior defender Luke Clark, Williams at placekicker and Hinton at return specialist. Offensive lineman Luke Petit was the lone Furman player on the All-SoCon second team.
The eight freshman honored included Hedden, Hall, tight end Jackson Pryor, defensive tackle Caldwell Bussey, linebacker Ryan Earl, cornerback Jaylen Moson, safety Billy Lewis and long snapper Riley Smith.
DiMaggio led the SoCon with 120 tackles this season including 10.5 tackles-for-loss and two sacks. He finished with 285 tackles in his career. Clark, who missed two games due to an injury, had 45 tackles including 8.5 tackles-for-loss and three sacks. Clark ended up seventh on Furman's career sack chart with 15.
"My career has meant a lot, but it's more than just being a football player. You go practice every day with these guys and get super close to them," DiMaggio said. "I know they'll continue on and get things how we're supposed to be around here.
"I'm just thankful to be a Paladin."
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