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| Raleigh Herbert (24), Demetrius Baldwin (93) and Joshua Stoneking (95) celebrate during Furman's 28-24 win at Campbell Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Even though Furman's defensive line was hundreds of miles from home Saturday, it celebrated the Paladins' first ever meeting with Campbell by throwing a house party. "Home" is that unit's affectionate term for the opponents' offensive backfield. Furman spent much of Saturday ringing the Camels' doorbell with no answer. Whenever it was needed the most though, Joshua Stoneking metaphorically busted through the front door, raided the refrigerator and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.
Stoneking had 4.5 of the Paladins' 11 tackles-for-loss, including 2.5 sacks. The last sack came with 16 seconds left and sealed Furman's 28-24 victory.
"It's satisfying and gratifying to finish like we did," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "It was really big for our defense to just hang in there and what a sack on that last play."
In the Paladins' season-opening 23-21 win over William & Mary, their defense had 10 tackles-for-loss, including four sacks. The last of those four came from Stoneking on a third-down play with less than seven minutes to play and led to Ian Williams' game-winning field goal. In Furman's 39-38 overtime loss to Presbyterian a week later, the Paladins had just four tackles-for-loss and no sacks.
"Coach (Duane) Vaughn did a good job with he play call (on the last sack). It just let me go out there and play hard," said Stoneking, who earned Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. "We got home a lot the first week and won. Last week, we didn't get home and we didn't win. The burden falls on us up front in the trenches, so we took that hard and got better throughout the week."
While a new rising star helped Furman's defense finish off the win, a new one on offense put the Paladins ahead minutes earlier. True freshman Evan James caught 10 of 11 passes thrown his way and the last one resulted in a 30-yard touchdown from Trey Hedden with 4:50 left that helped Furman take a 28-24 lead.
On a day in which James shattered the freshman single-game receiving record with 134 yards, he caught a pair of third-down passes on the game-winning drive. While the first one only gained seven yards on 3rd-and-11, Furman caught a break when 12 Camels took the field for the punt return. The penalty extended the drive and the Paladins took advantage. Four plays later, James caught an eight-yard pass into Campbell territory on 3rd-and-6. Hedden then found Devin Hester for a 16-yard gain to the 30.
On the next play, James lined up in the left slot and went straight after the snap. James faked to his right, making a Camels' safety bite that way and then went left to the end zone all by himself. He simply turned around and waited for Hedden's game-winning pass to arrive like he was fielding a punt.
Following a typical Ian Williams' touchback through the back of the end zone, Campbell quarterback Kamden Sixkiller guided the Camels down the field. Campbell didn't face a third down until it reached the Paladins' 35-yard line and on that 3rd-and-3, Sixkiller beat Furman's blitz with a screen pass to running back JJ Cowan for six yards. On 3rd-and-3 at the Furman 22, Cowan took a delayed draw handoff for seven yards.
On 4th-and-5 from the 10, Stonefield rushed to the right forcing Campbell's left tackle into the backfield. After curving his way toward Sixkiller, Stonefield shifted left and devoured the quarterback as the Paladins erupted in celebration.
"We had a bunch of guys step up. ... We're not a finished product by any means, but we keep playing a little better each week which we will have to," Hendrix said. "I'm excited for the (bye) week because there's some things we can get better at. I think we can really have a chance to get healthy as we head into the conference schedule."
Furman found a path to victory after what was shaping up to be a frustrating first half offensively. It didn't look that way initially. On the first play of the game, Hedden hit Kerry King for a 19-yard gain. The Paladins first running play was a 10-yard carry by Gavin Hall into Campbell territory. Later on that opening drive, Hedden threw a 26-yard pass to Ja'Keith Hamilton down to the Camels' five-yard line. A false start prior to the next play pushed the Paladins back for the first time and they ended up settling for a 23-yard field goal by Williams.
Trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter, Furman had a first down at the Campbell 30. After a toss sweep to James, he pulled back to pass. King was a step ahead of his defender with nobody else between him and the end zone. James' pass went behind King though and right to the Camels' Chase Arrington for the lone turnover of the game.
That miscue could've buried the confidence of a lot of players who were playing high school football 10 months ago, but James was unfazed.
"I've got a great coaching staff and great teammates, who just uplifted me, told me to keep my head up and just go on to the next," said James, who earned Stats Perform FCS National Freshman of the Week honors. "Forget about that play and go make more plays."
The teams traded three-and-outs before a huge defensive stand by Furman gave the Paladins the ball back at midfield. On 3rd-and-2 at the Campbell 49, Cowan was stopped for one yard by senior linebacker Luke McLaughlin, who was making his first career start in place of injured starter Ryan Earl. On 4th-and-1 at the 50, Sixkiller was stopped for no gain by McLaughlin and Billy Lewis.
After disastrous final possessions of the first half that resulted in turnovers - and scoring opportunities for opponents - each of the first two weeks, Furman's offense got this one right Saturday. On 3rd-and-6, Hedden waited just long enough for tight end Jackson Pryor to get open over the middle for a 24-yard touchdown.
"We got a little lucky there. We tried to get them to jump. They didn't really jump enough to get a penalty, but Chris (Luna) snapped it anyway and we executed the play," Hendrix said. "Jackson had a high ankle (sprain) and we weren't even sure if he was going to play. He was really limited."
One of the most impactful plays of the game followed. After Campbell was flagged for offsides on the PAT, Furman's offense took the field again. With Hedden under center, 278-pound defensive tackle Demetrius Baldwin - who had one of those 11 tackles-for-loss - entered at fullback, while 310-pound noseguard Joseph Perez-Garibay came on as sort of an H-back to the left. With those two big blockers leading the way, Jayquan Smith ran for a two-point conversion as Furman took an 11-7 lead with 1:26 left in the half.
That successful two-point conversion certainly came in handy on Campbell's last possession when it had to go for it on fourth down rather than trying a game-tying or game-winning 27-yard field goal.
"The two-pointer was big the whole game because I kept thinking they might chase some points earlier on, but they didn't," Hendrix said.
Campbell did manage to steal some momentum before halftime when Alex Crabb hit a 34-yard field goal on the half's final play to cut the lead to 11-10 at the break.
The Camels took all the momentum when they opened the second-half with a 13-play touchdown drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. After Cowan's one-yard touchdown run, Campbell kicked the PAT for a six-point lead.
Furman answered with an 84-yard drive of its own. It included a pair of third-down conversions that resulted in a 19-yard catch by James and a 28-yard gain on an inside screen pass to Hamilton. With the ball at the one, Baldwin and Perez-Garibay checked in again and Smith easily ran into the end zone behind them as Furman took an 18-17 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter.
Campbell regained the lead on the second play of the fourth quarter when Cowan scored from seven yards out. The Camels again kicked the PAT to take a 24-18 lead. Furman cut the lead in half on its ensuing possession when Williams drilled a 28-yard field goal. The Paladins then forced Campbell to punt for the first time since early in the second quarter, which set up the game-winning drive.
"Props to our offense. There were some moments there where we'd let them score, but they'd come back and score and keep us in the game," Stoneking said. "We kept telling the offense that we were going to give them the ball back and we did in the end."
Hedden earned SoCon Offensive Player of the Week honors after finishing with a career-high 314 yards on 26-of-35 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. It was Hedden's first game without a turnover since the 48-7 win over Stetson last Sept. 14.
In addition to James' 134-yard day, Hamilton finished with 105 yards receiving on seven catches. It marked the first time two Paladins had more than 100 yards receiving in the same game since Jordan Snellings (118) and Andrej Suttles (103) did so on Nov. 15, 2014. On that day, PJ Blazejowski completed all 15 of his pass attempts in a 31-14 win over Wofford.
"Trey obviously had a big day and I thought we protected him great," Hendrix said. "Evan obviously had a big day as well, but Ja'Keith Hamilton really had a couple of big catches too."
McLaughlin finished with a game-high 11 tackles, while Lewis had 10 tackles, including one tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup. McLaughlin will be asked to continue to step up as Earl, who led Furman in tackles with 14 over the first two games, is out for the season with a torn ligament in a finger. The nature of the injury was such that Earl needed immediate surgery to avoid the tear becoming more serious.
The Paladins were also without starting safety Caleb Williams due to injury. AK Burrell made his first career start and saw his first action since 2023 after missing all of last season and spring practice this year because of a knee injury.
Stoneking had six tackles and also forced a fumble. The sophomore ranks second in the country in tackles-for-loss (8.5) and third in sacks (4.5). The only players ahead of Stoneking have played one more game than him.
Furman (2-1) has a bye this week and will open SoCon play at Samford on Sept. 27 at 3:30 p.m.
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