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| Ja'Keith Hamilton hauls in the go-ahead touchdown in Furman's 31-22 win over ETSU Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
On a Saturday in which Furman was missing its most dynamic offensive player, it had its best offensive performance this season. Meanwhile on defense, this year's simple formula of "sacking the quarterback = win" held true as Furman topped East Tennessee State, 31-22, at Paladin Stadium.
Each side of the ball was responsible for two of the wildest plays in program history to first, give the Paladins the lead late in the fourth quarter, and then to seal the win. Furman trailed 22-17 at its own 47. On a 2nd-and-8 play, Trey Hedden was hit as his threw. As the wounded duck of a pass floated high into the air, an interception with less than four minutes left likely would've doomed the Paladins. But on a career-high day for Ja'Keith Hamilton, the sophomore receiver noticed what happened from the start. He raced to the ETSU 46, snatched the ball out of mid-air and went untouched to the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown.
"I knew that when I jumped for the ball I was going to get hit, so I was just bracing for it," Hamilton said of the catch. "But all of a sudden, I stayed up."
Hedden's two-point pass to Luke Clyburn gave Furman a 25-22 lead with 3:57 remaining. The touchdown was a replica of the one Chattanooga scored against the Paladins in the regular season meeting two years ago. Furman rallied from that crazy touchdown to clinch the Southern Conference championship that day. There was no title at stake Saturday, but it appeared that ETSU might be on the same course on its ensuing possession.
The Buccaneers drove to the Paladins' 26-yard line with 10 seconds left. That would've been a 43-yard field goal attempt to tie but on second down, ETSU took one more deep shot for the win. Joshua Stoneking wrapped up another brilliant performance by getting to Bucs' quarterback Jacolby Criswell just as he released the ball. Criswell's pass wasn't as ducky as Hedden's, but it was short and easily picked off by Jordan Miller. Senior linebacker Luke McLaughlin implored Miller to go down, but the freshman wasn't having that. He raced 95 yards untouched for a touchdown as time expired and Furman erupted in celebration.
"When I hit the quarterback and went down, I was just kind of praying for an incompletion or something," Stoneking said. "Then I just heard the crowd roar and I turned around to see J-Mill going down the sideline. I was just like, 'thank goodness.' "
It was a bit of a historic win for the Paladins (4-1, 2-0 SoCon), who rallied from a 22-7 third quarter deficit. That marked the third time this season Furman's come back from a second half deficit to win and it's the fifth-largest comeback victory since 1973.
"I'm proud of our guys. We've got a group that kind of hangs in there and fights and stays together. We've had to do that a bunch of times this year," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said. "I thought we played exceptional defensively and offensively, we did some of the best things we've done all year."
Hedden also put his name in the Furman record book in a much happier fashion than other quarterbacks did before him. The 12 quarterback performances that resulted in at least 26 completions in a single game for an individual prior to Saturday all had one thing in common - the Paladins lost.
Not anymore.
Hedden completed 36-of-49 passes for 358 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. It was the second-highest completion total for a single game and the third-highest passing yardage total. Of the top nine in single-game passing yardage, Hedden is just the second to win.
"What a job Trey did. He's a tough dude," Hendrix said. "I thought we did a really good job of protecting him against a really talented front. Trey's done a good job of figuring out his role and how he fits into everything. I think we're still figuring that out a little bit."
Hedden did it without the services of Evan James, the freshman sensation who leads Furman in receiving this season. After James suffered a shoulder injury at Samford a week earlier, the Paladins had things well in hand but went through a pretty lethargic fourth quarter. Another key pass catcher this year was out with an injury Saturday in tight end Jackson Pryor. There had to be some wonder as to how Furman would respond without James for an entire game against a much better defense in ETSU (2-4, 0-2).
The Paladins responded with a 500-yard day of total offense, the most allowed by the Bucs to an FCS team in two years. Last season, no SoCon team had more than 397 total yards against ETSU. On Saturday, Hamilton finished with 11 catches for 141 yards, while Ethan Harris had 11 for 81. That's got to be one of the very few times, if not first ever, that Furman had two receivers with double-digit receptions in the same game. There are plenty of games in Furman history where that would've been impossible simply because there weren't 20 passes thrown.
Meanwhile, Furman's running game finally had a breakthrough. The Paladins ran for 142 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per carry as a team. Gavin Hall led the way with 101 yards on 23 carries. It was Furman's first 100-yard rusher since Hall ran for 121 at VMI last season.
"We've got a depth in that (wide receiver) group. We've played a lot of guys there and it's not like they haven't been productive. ... Clyburn stepped up today with Jackson Pryor out," Hendrix said. "And that's all helped the running game. ... We didn't have quite as many safeties in the box this week."
Those big offensive numbers didn't translate on the scoreboard in the first half Saturday. In the first quarter, Furman possessed the ball for 13:02 and outgained ETSU, 155-8, but trailed 8-7. The Bucs opened the scoring when Cole Keller blocked a punt and then fell on the loose ball in the end zone. It was the first blocked punt suffered by the Paladins since ETSU's last visit to Greenville two years ago. On the PAT, the Bucs' kicker shifted to a slot position, the holder took a shotgun snap and ran to his right for a two-point conversion.
Furman responded with a 12-play, 83-yard drive. Despite starting with a false start prior to the first play for the second consecutive possession, the Paladins never faced a third down until 3rd-and-goal from the one-yard line. That's where Hedden snuck in for a touchdown to help cut the lead to 8-7.
After former Iowa starting quarterback Cade McNamara started the game for the Bucs, Criswell - a former North Carolina starting quarterback - came on in the second quarter. He promptly led ETSU on a touchdown drive on his first possession and played most of the rest of the game.
It was a frustrating second quarter for the Paladins. They drove to the ETSU 38 before Hall was dropped for a three-yard loss on 3rd-and-2. After Stoneking sacked Criswell on a fourth down at the Furman 45, the Paladins drove to the Bucs' 15. They had to settle for a 33-yard field goal try by Ian Williams, but it sailed wide right.
Stoneking sacked McNamara on the final play of the half to go into halftime with the Bucs leading 15-7.
"I was a little ill with our guys at the half," Hendrix said. "I just thought we spent a lot of time in the first half trying to find ways to beat Furman."
Eleven seconds into the second half the lead stretched to 22-7. That's how long it took ETSU's Devontae Houston to race 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play.
Furman never faced a third down on its ensuing possession. The eight-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Hedden to Hamilton. If the Paladins had to punt at that point after allowing a big play to fall behind by 15, who knows what the rest of the game might've played out.
"I think maybe that was the biggest drive of the game," Hendrix said. "To come out and answer after the long run."
Furman forced a three-and-out on ETSU's ensuing possession when McLaughlin and AJ Burrell stopped Houston for no gain on a 3rd-and-1 play. The Paladins followed with another scoring drive as Williams made a 44-yard field goal to cut the lead to five with 6:51 left in the third quarter. The Bucs looked to answer Furman's field goal with one of their own, but Caldwell Bussey blocked it to leave the score at 22-17 heading to the fourth quarter.
The final quarter began with some kind of miscommunication when Hedden's pass was intercepted with no Paladin near the ball for the first turnover of the game. It was negated when Furman's Demetrius Baldwin sacked Criswell on a third-down play forcing a punt.
On its ensuing possession, Furman drove to the ETSU 19. After a 3rd-and-6 pass was caught by Kerry King for three yards, the Paladins went for it on 4th-and-3. In a "pound your head against the wall" kind of moment, Hedden's pass was complete to Devin Hester ... for one yard.
"We just had a lot of faith in our defense. ... I debated about kicking a field goal and making it a two-point game, but it's 4th-and-3," Hendrix said. "Once again, we just didn't run a deep enough route. ... Either way, we were going to have to stop them again on defense. So even if we didn't make it there, I was confident we'd get the stop and get the ball back and we did."
Once again, Furman's defense forced a punt which led to the Paladins' go-ahead score.
Not to be lost in the celebration of Miller's interception to end the game should be what Miller did three plays earlier. ETSU took its first shot to the end zone and Criswell's pass was nearly caught by Karim Page. Page got both hands on the ball as he crossed into the end zone before Miller popped the ball out with his left hand for an incompletion.
"Obviously, the last play is going to be the one that gets seen, but that was an easy pick for J-Mill," said safety Billy Lewis, who was the closest other defender on the breakup. "The play before was just a heck of a defensive back play. If they score the touchdown there, we're down with 30 seconds left."
The victory likely wouldn't have been possible without Furman cleaning up its play along the way. After six penalties for 50 yards in the first quarter, the Paladins had just one penalty in each of the last three quarters.
In addition to his big pass breakup and interception, Miller had four tackles and earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors. Lewis finished with a game-high nine tackles, while Stoneking and Bussey each had seven, to lead the defense. Stoneking finished with three sacks, padding his FCS-leading total to 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles-for-loss this season. With eight games left in the regular season, Stoneking already has the seventh-highest sack total for a season in school history.
Furman will travel to Western Carolina next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
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