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| Colton Hinton (1) makes an ETSU defender miss to convert a fourth down that helped Furman wrap up a 24-21 win Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - There will be no championship celebrations for the Furman football team this season, but for about seven-and-a-half minutes on Saturday it sure looked like a champion. It looked like one of those old school teams that could grind out a victory that Clay Hendrix has been part of as a player, assistant and head coach.
The kind of team that when leading late in a game could tell an opponent, "Punt it to us if you want, but there's a good chance your punter's foot is the last thing that touches the ball for y'all today." Such was the case on Saturday. An offense that hasn't generated a ton of yards this season - or on Saturday - generated enough to run the final 7:18 off the clock as Furman stunned No. 21 East Tennessee State, 24-21.
"The last drive was so satisfying in the fact of the way we did it. There were some really good runs and really good conversions. We overcame a first-and-20. We had a couple of crucial penalties late in the game and we overcame those," Hendrix said. "It was truly a team game today. ... That game had a lot of twists and turns, but credit to our kids for hanging in there and finding a way to get it done."
After Ian Williams' 21-yard field goal gave the Paladins a 24-21 lead with 9:08 remaining, Furman's defense forced a three-and-out. Redshirt freshman linebacker Ryan Earl, who was making his second career start, was in on all three tackles including solo stops on second and third down. With all three of its timeouts remaining, ETSU punted and Furman took over at its own 24-yard line with 7:18 left.
On the first play of the drive, Colton Hinton took a push pass from Trey Hedden for a 15-yard gain. After a holding penalty wiped out the next play, Hedden found tight end Brock Chappell for 14 yards on 1st-and-20. Myion Hicks carried for seven yards and a first down on the next play. Three plays later, Hedden and Chappell connected for a six-yard gain on 3rd-and-4. ETSU called timeout after each of Furman's next three plays - all runs. That left the Paladins with a 4th-and-3 at the Bucs' 31 with 2:30 remaining.
"We weren't going to punt. I didn't want to take a chance on getting a (field goal) kick blocked and we were playing good defense," Hendrix said. "I told our coaches if we get a first down here, the game's over. We got it to one of our best players and he's in a one-on-one. How many times this season have we been in that situation and gotten tackled? But what a heck of a play he made."
Coming out of the Bucs' last timeout, Furman's offense had a beautifully designed play that started with Hedden in an empty set with every receiver bunched up right next to both ends of the offensive line. After the snap, Hinton came in motion and Hedden threw to him in the left flat. When the play was developing, it appeared Hinton was easily going to get the first down, but ETSU reacted quickly. The speedy Hinton made that one defender miss though and got four yards before another defender could make the tackle.
The only clock stoppage left came at the two-minute mark. Coming out of that break, the Paladins went into victory formation. They capped the 14-play drive with three kneel downs to run out the clock and improve to 11-5 against FCS ranked opponents since 2021.
"I was just running under the line trying to get a man look there and beat them with speed. I knew if he threw it, it was the right look," Hinton said. "After I got the ball, I'm just trying to make one miss because it was only a few yards needed.
"It feels awesome. This is what our entire team knew we could do all year and we finally made it happen. Defense stepped up big. That helps the offense so much."
The first half Saturday was eerily similar to Furman's last road trip two weeks earlier at VMI, only with the roles reversed. Despite being outgained 253-112 in the first half, the Paladins held a 14-7 lead at the break - their first halftime lead against an opponent that has football scholarships all season. They held the lead after a first half in which they had no turnovers and no penalties. Amazing what can be done without mistakes.
After forcing just one turnover over its previous 10 quarters and having just four interceptions all year entering Saturday, Furman's defense came up with three picks. However, the first "turnover" Saturday came with a turnover on downs on ETSU's opening drive. After Evan DiMaggio and Earl stopped Bucs' leading rusher Bryson Irby for no gain on 3rd-and-1, the Bucs lined up three backs in a T-formation on 4th-and-1. Furman wasn't fooled by the ancient look as Hyson Dalton and Luke Clark stopped ETSU linebacker Teddy Wilson for no gain.
The stop set the Paladins (3-7, 2-4 Southern Conference) up at the Bucs' 34-yard line. Hicks ran for 12 yards on Furman's first offensive play and Gavin Hall made a great catch on a screen pass and ran to convert a 3rd-and-8. The drive ended when Hedden threw a quick pass left to Ben Ferguson, who meandered his way to the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown. Hedden rejoined the starting lineup Saturday after Carson Jones was diagnosed with a concussion last Tuesday.
ETSU (6-5, 4-3) responded quickly when Devontae Houston raced 64 yards untouched for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 10:31 left in the first quarter.
The Bucs, who have the the top-ranked run defense in the SoCon, returned the favor of the fourth-down stop on Furman's next drive. Hicks was tackled for no gain on 4th-and-1 at the Bucs' 42. With the excellent field position, ETSU drove to the Furman 26. A third-down sack by Luke Clark forced a 49-yard field goal try that missed.
Early in the second quarter, the Bucs drove to Furman's 14-yard line. On 3rd-and-17 from the 22, Caleb Williams came up with an interception which he returned 35 yards to the Paladins' 40.
Furman put together a 13-play scoring drive that took 6:45. On 4th-and-1 at the ETSU three-yard line, Hicks converted to the two. Hicks scored on the next play to give the Paladins a 14-7 lead with three minutes left in the first half.
It appeared that ETSU answered again when freshman quarterback Baylor Hayes threw a 42-yard pass to A.J. Johnson. Johnson would've scored if not for a touchdown-saving tackle by Billy Lewis at the five-yard line. On 3rd-and-goal from the one, Irby easily got into the end zone but ETSU was flagged for holding. Lewis' tackle got bigger when he couldn't hang on to an interception, but did break up the third-down pass to the end zone. His tackle became huge when the Bucs missed a 27-yard field goal to leave the score at 14-7 going into halftime.
"The receiver caught the ball, but you've just got to try to limit the yardage. If you can stop him for one yard less, you've got to do it," Lewis said. "That last drive was awesome. You're on the sideline with almost eight minutes left expecting to go back out there, but the offense kept making the play every time."
On the first play of the second half, Hedden was sacked. That set the tone for yet another Furman first drive after halftime that produced nothing but a three-and-out.
ETSU began to take command as it scored to tie the game on its ensuing possession. After another three-and-out for the Paladins, their next drive lasted just one play due to Hedden's lone mistake. He took a deep shot to Hinton, but threw off his back foot and the underthrown ball was easily intercepted by Jaden Woods at the Bucs' 43. ETSU made Furman pay for the mistake with a scoring drive to take a 21-14 lead with 6:13 left in the third quarter.
A holding penalty on the kickoff return had Furman's ensuing possession begin at its own nine-yard line, but the Paladins - and Hedden - responded. On 3rd-and-7 from the 12, Hedden hit Ethan Harris for a gain of 37. On 3rd-and-1 at the ETSU 42, Hedden found Devin Hester for seven yards. On 3rd-and-5, Hedden threw a slant to Hinton. Hinton got out front of every defender and there was nobody catching him from behind on a 30-yard touchdown to help tie the game 21-21 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Prior to that 91-yard scoring drive, Furman had been outgained 368-119 in total offensive yards. Starting with that drive, the Paladins outgained the Bucs 163-57 the rest of the way.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Lewis jumped a route along the sideline and returned an interception 16 yards to the Furman 46. The Paladins couldn't take advantage of that turnover, but ETSU's next drive ended with an interception by Maurice Perkins. Perkins returned his pick 18 yards and was taken down by his facemask. The penalty set Furman up at the ETSU 11-yard line and led to what turned out to be the game-winning field goal by Williams.
Hedden completed 23-of-28 passes for 210 yards with the two touchdowns and one interception. The sack he took to start the second half was the only one surrendered by Furman all day. Holding the ball too long, taking sacks and turning the ball over are problems that Hedden has been plagued by this season, but not Saturday.
"The way Trey responded. I think a lot of guys wouldn't have responded like he did given the circumstances (of not starting the past two weeks)," Hendrix said. "And credit to Carson for coming to us and telling us something didn't feel quite right when he did."
Hicks ran 21 times for 65 yards, while Hinton caught six passes for 62 yards and Harris had 61 yards on three receptions. Defensively, Evan DiMaggio had a game-high 13 tackles including 2.5 tackles-for-loss. Earl finished with eight tackles, including two tackles-for-loss, while Luke Clark and Amaah Achina each had seven stops.
That touchdown-saving tackle was one of a career-high nine for Lewis, who also had a forced fumble in addition to his third interception and the pass break-up. On Monday, the redshirt sophomore was honored by being named the Stats Perform National Freshman Player of the Week and the SoCon's Defensive Player of the Week.
"You talk about a guy making the most of his opportunity. ... Billy came up big," Hendrix said. "He has great instincts and really good ball skills. That's a good combination for a guy back there at safety."
The victory was the 41st SoCon win for Hendrix, who's in his eighth year as head coach. That's the same amount that Dick Sheridan and Bobby Johnson had in their eight seasons as head coach, two more than Jimmy Satterfield had in his eight seasons and two fewer than Bobby Lamb had in his nine seasons.
Furman will try to make it back-to-back upset wins when the Paladins visit eighth-ranked Mercer Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff.
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