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| Joshua Stoneking had two of Furman's seven sacks in the Paladins' 31-13 win at Samford Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
HOMEWOOD, Ala. - For the second time this season, Furman was shut out in the fourth quarter Saturday. This time, it didn't matter. Over the first three quarters, the Paladins were solid on offense and spectacular on defense as they opened Southern Conference play with a 31-13 win at Samford.
Despite seven sacks by Furman's defense, the Bulldogs actually had the statistical edge offensively as they finished with 389 total yards while the Paladins had 377. That was thanks to a fourth quarter in which Samford outgained Furman, 140-35. That final quarter reeked of the Presbyterian fiasco in week two. Unlike that day, it seemed that both teams knew the game was essentially over when Furman took a 31-7 lead to the fourth quarter Saturday.
The Paladins (3-1, 1-0 SoCon) would've certainly liked to have run the ball better, especially in the fourth quarter against what probably should've been a worn down defense on a very hot afternoon in Alabama. But the bottom line is Furman had its least stressful game this season and it's most lopsided road win since thumping VMI, 41-3, on Oct. 22, 2022.
"A bunch of guys showed up, a bunch made plays and a bunch pressured the quarterback. I think we're getting better. Offensively, we're a little inconsistent," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "Our guys are working hard. We've got to practice a little better. There's some things we can do there with attention to details. We're still getting our best personnel guys where they need to be.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but it's nice to go home with a win. We've won here four times in a row. That's hard to do, so I'm proud of our guys."
In terms of starting and ending a half, the Paladins had their best game of the year. Furman was in danger of going three-and-out to start the game but on 3rd-and-11, Trey Hedden hit Kerry King for a 12-yard gain. Two plays later, Hedden found freshman sensation Evan James for a 34-yard gain and added another 12-yard pass to King on the next play. On 3rd-and-2 from the Samford 17, James went in motion, took a handoff from Hedden, turned the corner and raced untouched to the end zone. It was the Paladins' longest run this season.
Later in the first quarter, Gavin Hall had a pair of 14-yard runs, James had a 15-yard catch and Ethan Harris - in his first game since the opener - had a 14-yard reception. Those were sandwiched around a 4th-and-1 conversion by Jayquan Smith. That all led to Hedden's seven-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Burrell for the tight end's first score as a Paladin.
Samford got on the board midway through the second quarter on a drive in which it was gifted 30 yards to start as the SoCon tradition of horrific officiating in this series continued. On the first play, Furman defensive end Malaki Dobbins was offsides but also flagged for roughing the passer after sacking quarterback Quincy Crittendon. The official said it was "forcible contact above the shoulder." Replay showed it was not. No part of the 6-foot-3 Dobbins hit the 5-foot-11 Crittendon above the shoulder. It was a perfect form sack, although it would've been wiped out by the correct offsides call. That would've only been five yards rather than 15.
On the next play, Dobbins got to Crittendon again as did Luke McLaughlin. He was able to spin away from both though and threw it away as a flag flew in the secondary. Furman safety AK Burrell was penalized for a 15-yard personal foul facemask. There was no replay to see what happened, but you typically don't see any kind of facemask call in the secondary. Much less on a ball that's thrown away.
The Paladins still had a chance to get off the field on 4th-and-4 later in the drive, but Crittendon scrambled for seven yards. On the next play, CJ Evans turned a simple swing screen pass into a 25-yard touchdown.
Furman looked to answer on its ensuing drive, which began with a 23-yard kick return by Devin Hester who was driven several yards out of bounds with no flag. A screen pass to Hall on 3rd-and-6 resulted in a four-yard loss and the Paladins settled for a 54-yard field goal attempt. Ian Williams' kick sailed wide right ending his streak of 12 consecutive made field goals.
Defense and special teams gave the Paladins a huge boost going into halftime. With less than a minute left in the half, Furman sophomore captain Raleigh Herbert batted a pass, collected the ball and returned the interception 47 yards for a touchdown.
"We had a pressure off the edge. I went up for the play, saw the quarterback kind of staring at me while he threw it. I got a hand on it and saw it floating up in the air a little bit," Herbert said. "Thankfully I had this new set of gloves on from the equipment staff and I was able to take it home.
"I looked back and saw the quarterback kind of tailing me, so I said, 'man, I gotta kick on the burners.' I'm not too fast. When I saw him kind of tail off, I knew it was scot-free."
Samford tried to answer in those remaining 48 seconds of the half. Backup quarterback Brady Stober scrambled for 13 yards to the Furman 40. The ball moved to the 30 when cornerback Keon Jones was penalized for holding on a flag that flew at the end of Stober's run. On the final play of the half, the Bulldogs attempted a 36-yard field goal but it was blocked by Joshua Stoneking preserving Furman's 21-7 lead.
Samford got the ball to start the second half but its drive ended on 4th-and-2 at midfield when Crittendon was stopped for no gain by Marc Hernandez and McLaughin. It was the second consecutive game that McLaughlin was part of a big fourth down stop at midfield.
King caught passes for 14 and 24 yards, respectively, on Furman's ensuing possession. That led to a four-yard touchdown pass from Hedden to Ja'Keith Hamilton, pushing the lead to 28-7.
"At halftime, we made a big deal about the start of the second half," Hendrix said. "We get the stop at midfield and offense goes right down and scores. I think that was big."
The Bulldogs' next two drives were stopped thanks to sacks by Caldwell Bussey and Stoneking and their next by Stoneking dropping Crittendon for no gain on 3rd-and-2.
On Furman's ensuing possession, Hester caught a 35-yard pass but fumbled. Smith made a great hustling play to race down the ball and recover it. That led to Williams' 40-yard field goal that pushed the lead to 31-7 with 1:08 left in the third quarter.
The scoring drive was also helped by a great 21-yard catch by James, but he was injured on the play. After leaving the injury tent with his pads off, James went to the locker room. He came back out with his left arm in a sling.
"It's a shoulder deal. He's going to miss some time," Hendrix said. "How much? I don't know, but we've had worse. It will just be a matter of how quickly he can recover."
Half of Samford's 140 yards in the fourth quarter came on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Crittendon to Preston Bird with 11:49 left. There was a flag in the offensive backfield on the play, but there was no holding. A winless Samford team that allowed seven sacks and attempted 47 passes was never guilty of holding Saturday. Instead, an illegal hands the face on Furman made for a 1.5-yard two-point conversion attempt for the Bulldogs. It remained 31-13 though as Herbert and McLaughlin hammered Samford receiver Jaden Gibson short of the goal line.
The lethargic final quarter came to an end when Furman was finally able to kneel out the clock thanks to an interception by freshman defensive tackle Garrison Butler.
Hedden finished with 272 yards on 28-of-41 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. It was the second consecutive game with no turnovers for Hedden as Furman enjoyed a 3-0 advantage in turnovers Saturday. James had seven receptions for 88 yards along with two carries for 35 yards, while King finished with eight catches for 81. Hall led the rushing effort with 65 yards on 16 attempts.
"I play the z, x and h (receiver), so whenever a guy's tired or needs to go out, I can step into any of those roles," King said. "I just lean on those guys and we just do our thing. ... Each of us (receivers) have our unique abilities but each of us can go out and do the same thing. We can all play those different positions because of how coaches prepare us."
Stoneking, who earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, finished with six tackles, including two sacks. He leads the country in tackles-for-loss (10.5) and sacks (6.5) this season. McLaughlin had a game-high 11 tackles, including one sack and a forced fumble.
"Defensive, we were really solid all day. You take a couple of plays away and they didn't get much of anything," Hendrix said. "We made some bad decisions and lost a guy (on the long touchdown) back there and we've got to clean up a few penalties. I'm kind of interested to see a few of those penalties though."
Furman returns to action Saturday when it hosts ETSU at 2 p.m.
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