All three phases power Furman past Citadel

Furman's Taylen Blaylock tackles Citadel's Quentin Hayes. Blaylock had 10 tackles,
including 2.5 tackles-for-loss, in the Paladins' 24-14 win. Photo courtesy of Furman

Coming off back-to-back rough losses on the road, Furman returned home Saturday with a belief that four quarters of smart, hard-played football could turn things around. As it turns out, three-and-a-half sufficed.

On offense, one Paladin returned from an injury and picked up right where his terrific debut season stopped a month earlier while another returned to the scene of a gruesome injury suffered two years ago in triumphant fashion. Outside of a six-minute stretch to start the second half, Furman's defense was outstanding. Meanwhile, Ian Williams did Ian Williams' things on special teams. It all added up to a 24-14 win for the Paladins, their fifth consecutive victory in the 105-game series with rival The Citadel.

"Certainly thrilled with a win in a tough, tough ball game, like I knew it would be. Like many of them before, especially the 32 I've been a part of," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said in the postgame press conference. "I'm really proud of our team. They were resilient and it really took everybody. Our defense played really, really well, especially if you take a few plays away which you can't do."

Freshman sensation Evan James returned to action after missing the past three-and-a-half games with a shoulder injury. He wasted no time getting back to what he's done best. On the third play of the game, James converted a 3rd-and-7 when he caught a 36-yard pass from Trey Hedden. That led to a 45-yard field goal by Williams.

Furman's defensive tone for the day was set on Citadel's second play. Taylen Blaylock, who said after Saturday's game that he'd never faced an option team before, looked like he's faced nothing but option teams when he dumped Bulldogs' quarterback Cobey Thompkins for a loss of three. That helped lead to the first of six three-and-outs forced by the Paladins (5-3, 3-2 Southern Conference).

Furman leading rusher Gavin Hall was injured on the opening series and didn't return. With second-leading rusher CJ Nettles also banged up, Ben Croasdale was the next man up. The junior, who never played this season until junk time at Western Carolina two weeks ago, made the most of his opportunity. Croasdale carried five times on the Paladins' ensuing possession and Kerry King had a big 27-yard catch, which led to a 36-yard field goal by Williams.

"I knew I was going to have a bigger workload because we didn't have CJ. Then Gavin goes down on the first drive, so I knew I had to step up. I knew me and Jayquan (Smith) could get it done for us today," Croasdale said. "We just kept our head down and fought hard."

Early in the second quarter, the Paladins' defense looked to have stopped Citadel once again deep in its own territory and Blaylock had a fair catch of the punt at the Bulldogs' 47. However, Furman was flagged for leaping over the three-man shield that protects the punter. The personal foul gave Citadel (3-5, 2-3) its first first down and a bit of life. The Bulldogs drove to the Furman 30 where they faced a 4th-and-3 and went for it. Raleigh Herbert pressured Thompkins forcing a quick throw to Javonte Graves-Billips, who was immediately stopped by Blaylock for a loss of two.

Late in the half, Croasdale's 27-yard run set Furman up at the Citadel 12. On the next play, Croasdale ran left to the end zone but the score was wiped out by an illegal shift penalty on the opposite side of the field. The Paladins once again had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Williams. Despite a 203-88 advantage in total yards and a 9-3 edge in first downs, Furman took just a 9-0 lead into halftime.

"I felt like we should've been up 17-0," Hendrix said. "Other than some wasted opportunities, we played well offensively. We've just got to clean up those penalties and other things that are causing them."

With Furman's self-anointed status of being a "one half team on defense" lately, there had to be a feeling the Paladins might pay for not cashing in more on their first half chances. Those fears came to fruition quickly after halftime.

Citadel opened the second half by matching its number of first half first downs with three in only four plays. The last one resulted in Jihad Marks simply running past his man to catch a 46-yard touchdown pass from the Bulldogs' left-handed quarterback Quentin Hayes.

Furman's offense responded with a three-and-out, which included a second down sack in which Hedden held the ball too long. The Bulldogs took over at their own 42 and three plays later, Hayes and Marks once again connected for a 46-yard touchdown that looked. It took just 5:17 off the second-half clock for Citadel to take a 14-9 lead and to completely erase that statistical advantage in total yards that Furman had in the first half.

After failing to convert on 3rd-and-1 near midfield, the Paladins had another three-and-out. One of the biggest plays that won't really be remembered followed when Williams' punt was downed at the six-yard line. A holding penalty against the Bulldogs backed it up to their three.

"That was huge. I think we've done a much better job covering (punts) lately. Caleb Easterling is a guy that just came out nowhere," Hendrix said during his weekly press conference Tuesday. "He's had a couple of tackles-for-loss on punt returns. That's really hard to do and I think that gets in people's heads a little bit."

Dylan Chiedo just missed forcing a safety on the next play as he dropped the Citadel's Corey Ibrahim for a two-yard loss to the one. The Bulldogs ended up punting from their end zone and Blaylock returned it 11 yards to the Citadel 40.

On the next play, Furman remembered that its offensive MVP this season was back as James caught a 16-yard pass. That was followed by a beautifully-designed play in which Hedden threw to Hester for a 20-yard gain. Two plays later, Smith finally got the Paladins in the end zone with a two-yard run. After Citadel was offsides on Furman's first failed two-point conversion attempt, Smith successfully converted the next try as Furman took a 17-14 lead with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

After Citadel missed a 48-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, the teams exchanged punts before the Paladins delivered a knockout blow. For the third time in the game, a Furman scoring drive began with a big catch by James. This one went for 38 yards to the Citadel 42.

"It felt good to be out there for my team making plays again," James said. "It's been hard sitting on the sideline watching the past couple of weeks, but I just tried to encourage my teammates. ... Today, I felt like our running backs helped us a lot. Their running helped open up the passing game."

Croasdale ran twice before Hedden found James for a 10-yard gain to convert a third down. Croasdale ran twice before Hedden found James for a seven-yard gain to convert another third down. Furman's last third-down conversion came courtesy of a seven-yard touchdown run by Smith to help push the lead to 24-14 with only 3:21 remaining.

On the Citadel's ensuing possession, the Bulldogs drove to the Furman 34 before Joshua Stoneking had a strip sack that Herbert recovered. After scoring the go-ahead touchdown and the game-sealing touchdown, Smith's six-yard gain for a first down allowed the Paladins to kneel out the clock.

It could not have been a more fitting way to end a victory over Citadel. Two years ago on the same field against the same foe, Smith tore every ligament in his knee and was sidelined until preseason camp this year.

"It means a lot to just be able to prove to myself and others that it's possible to return to this level of play. It's also a testament of my faith to still trust in God with the plan, even when it's up in the air," Smith said. "I'm just blessed to be in this culture, in this locker room with these coaches and teammates that are like a family to me."

Hedden completed 16-of-22 passes for 211 yards and most importantly, no turnovers. James finished with 126 yards on eight receptions. While he wasn't heavily involved in the passing game with one catch Saturday, Ja'Keith Hamilton (ankle) also returned to action. Croasdale finished with a career-high 91 yards on 19 carries, while Smith ran 11 times for 52 yards.

In addition to making all three of his field goals, Williams put five of his six kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks and pinned three of his five punts inside Citadel's 20-yard line. The effort led to Williams earning SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the third time this season and sixth in his career.

Blaylock and AK Burrell shared the team lead in tackles with 10 each, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss for Blaylock. Stoneking had four tackles, two sacks, 2.5 tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry to also claim his third SoCon Defensive Player of the Week award this year. Stoneking still leads all the FCS in sacks (12.5) and tackles-for-loss (18) and he's also second on the team in tackles (47).

Furman's defense held Citadel to 133 rushing and 3.8 yards per carry. The only teams to hold the Bulldogs to a lower yards-per-carry average this season have been North Dakota State and Mercer.

"The way we practiced this week, shout out to our scout team. They gave us a great look all week," Blaylock said. "So when we went out there, it was slow motion. We knew exactly what we were going to get and everybody played their gaps soundly.

"That's the key to stopping the option - everybody doing their job. It may look like I've made a play, but if you like inside, you see a d-lineman holding his gap and making the run bounce (outside) and I just happen to be there."

Next up for Furman will be a test against the first-place team in the SoCon as the Paladins host Mercer Saturday at 2 p.m. The Bears (6-1, 5-0) are coming off a SoCon-single game record performance with 834 yards of total offense in a 62-0 win over VMI Saturday.