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| Ian Williams hits the game-winning field goal in Furman's 23-21 win over William & Mary Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Saturday's rematch with William & Mary offered a perfect opportunity for Furman to exorcise some demons from its devil of a 2024 season. Nobody who took the field at William & Mary last year and at Paladin Stadium in the season opener wanted that opportunity more than Ian Williams.
Now in Williams' fourth season of kicking for Furman, the all-American has missed two field goals of 30 yards or less in his career. Both came in that 34-24 loss in Williamsburg, Va. last September. On Saturday, Williams aced every shot he was given to bury that night in the past. Williams accounted for all of the Paladins' scoring in the second half with three field goals. The last of those gave Furman the lead with 2:43 left and the Paladins held on for a 23-21 win.
Saturday was a tale of redemption for some, resolve for others and nothing but guts for the entire team.
"I thought the strength of their team was clearly up front on both sides of the ball and that was obvious for much of the day ... but man, I thought we won the fourth quarter. That fourth quarter completely changed," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "Some many guys made plays, but Ian Williams. ... I've said he's the best (kicker) in the country and he is. We just trust in him.
"I'm just really proud of our team. That's about as much of a team win as I've been a part of in a long time."
The "team win" talk wasn't just cliche. It was literally true on the scoreboard as the Paladins got a defensive touchdown, an offensive touchdown and those three field goals on special teams. While all three phases were critical to winning, special teams was the most consistent part throughout the game.
In the first half, Furman had just 95 yards of total offense including seven rushing. Those numbers were a bit skewed by a pair of fumbles that netted 35 lost yards, but still a pretty paltry total. However, the Paladins held a 14-7 lead at the half thanks to Taylen Blaylock's 43-yard interception return less than two minutes into the game and Trey Hedden's four-yard touchdown pass to Evan James midway through the second quarter.
That touchdown was set up by Devin Hester's 75-yard kickoff return following William & Mary's lone score of the first half.
"That was a big, big-time return," Hendrix said.
Furman was poised to take a bigger lead into halftime when it put together its longest drive. The Paladins marched from their own 15 to the William & Mary 18 before disaster struck. Hedden was hit from behind as he was going to throw and the fumble was recovered by the Tribe 23 yards back up the field. It was the second time in which Hedden fumbled on a play where his arm could've possibly been going forward, but neither went to a video review. After Furman was flagged for pass interference, possibly on purpose with just a few seconds left, it avoided an extremely tough pill to swallow when William & Mary missed a 28-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
It was a different story in the third quarter. A questionable lack of a pass interference call on third down helped end Furman's opening drive of the second half. After the punt, the Tribe's first play resulted in a questionable pass interference call that was made. William & Mary quarterback Tyler Hughes threw the same deep ball again on the next play and this one was hauled in by Deven Thompson for a gain of 46 yards. That led to Hughes' quarterback sneak to help tie the game.
After a three-and-out by Furman, Hughes went on the attack again. He completed 4-of-5 passes on the next drive, including a nine-yard touchdown throw to Sean McElwain to put the Tribe ahead 21-14 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
Honesty compels me to report that it was at this moment that I turned to a colleague in the press box and said, "this reeks of a 31-14 final."
Silly me.
Too many memories of last season for me I suppose. While this is still a young team and many on it went through some hard growing pains here last season, quite a few key parts of the 2025 Paladins are new to Greenville.
One of those is James, the true freshman, whose 19-yard reception on a third-down play on Furman's ensuing possession got the ball to the Tribe 34. That's well within Williams' range and he drilled a 50-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-17 going into the fourth quarter.
"Opening up the season with a 50-yard field goal is definitely a fun thing to do," said Williams, who was Saturday's game captain in addition to the three season-long captains. "I give credit to Riley (Smith) and (Gray) Gitter. That was their first field goal snap and first hold, so congrats to them too."
After getting outgained 326-154 over the first three quarters, something just clicked and the Paladins dominated the final quarter. It started on the second play of the quarter. Furman freshman defensive end Malakai Dobbins, who had been grabbed, twisted and turned by William & Mary's offensive line much of the day, finally drew a flag for holding against the Tribe. On second-and-19, sophomore defensive end Joshua Stoneking had a sack and William & Mary punted one incompletion later.
On Furman's next possession, James caught another key pass to get into Williams' range. His 12-yard catch led to Williams' 42-yard field goal, which sliced the lead to 21-20 with 10:55 left.
William & Mary's ensuing possession ended when Dobbins swatted down Hughes' second-down pass and Stoneking sacked Hughes for a loss of nine on the next play. The Paladins outgained the Tribe, 83-26, in the fourth quarter and much of that success was due to the disruptive chaos caused by Furman's defensive line.
"I think it goes back to Coach (Duane) Vaughn and the preparation he put in with showing a bunch of different looks to the offense and confusing the offensive line," said Stoneking, who finished with another tackle-for-loss in addition to the two sacks.
After an eight-yard punt return by Blaylock, Furman's next possession began at its own 43. On the first play, Hedden threw deep to Hester for a gain of 24 to get back into Williams' range. All of a sudden, those running lanes that were clogged all day saw some daylight as Tribe defenders looked tired. It appeared that Furman was on its way for touchdown before a false start on third-and-two nixed that. Perhaps it was fitting that it left it up to Williams to drill the 32-yard game-winning field goal.
"It's a great feeling. ... The boys fought hard today. They're the ones out there fighting all game, so I just have to go in and do my job of putting the ball through the uprights," said Williams. "Going back to the offseason, this was a big game circled for me and I feel like it was for everybody. ... I wanted this one for sure.
"I love the guys on this team. They're the reason I came back another year. ... Plus I didn't feel like last year was the one to end on."
While the Paladins had the momentum, the Tribe still had a shot. On third-and-one on their ensuing possession, Blaylock provided a bit of a knockout for Furman. The grad transfer went untouched on a safety blitz and lit up William & Mary's Rashad Raymond for a four-yard loss. On fourth-and-five, it was the Paladins who finally got a benefit of the doubt on a close interference non-call when Blaylock broke up the pass.
"That (safety blitz) was all on Coach Vaughn just having the trust to make that great play call for us," Blaylock said. "He made the call, so we had to go make the play."
Furman still needed one first down to completely seal the win and this is where the "resolve" part of Saturday's victory came. Jayquan Smith, who was competing for the first time since suffering a horrific knee injury in October of 2023, was called on for that final drive. He ran for six yards on first down and one yard on second. On third-and-three, he took the handoff and powered his way for an eight-yard gain and victory formation followed.
"Just watching our team today, they are who I thought they were. I thought they we're going to be tough group, that's going to hang in there and has some ability," Hendrix said. "We're nowhere near where we've got to be, but I'm just really proud of how they hung in there and played. We stayed positive. The sideline was that way the whole day in all areas. We just kept making plays to give ourselves a chance."
Hedden completed 21-of-29 passes for 179 yards. He had no interceptions after throwing two at William & Mary last year. His favorite target was James, who finished with seven catches for 68 yards in his collegiate debut.
"In warmups before the game, I was a little nervous. As I got into the game, I got more comfortable though," James said. "When the ball came to me, I just made the plays that I knew I could make."
Ryan Earl had a team-high eight tackles for Furman, while Blaylock and Raleigh Herbert each had six. Five of those were solo stops for Blaylock, who had two tackles-for-loss in addition to his interception and pass breakup on the final defensive play. Herbert and Caleb Williams each had one sack.
Williams will probably need to make room on his trophy case for Southern Conference or national special teams honors this week. In addition to his 3-for-3 showing on field goals, he averaged 46.6 yards per punt with a long of 61. Five of his six kickoffs sailed through the end zone for touchbacks. The only one returned only reached the William & Mary 19.
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