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| Ben Croasdale's 47-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left lifted Furman to a 20-13 win at Mercer Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman |
MACON, Ga. - The Mercer game was going to be the one that revealed more about this year's Furman football team than any other so far this season. While there's no final verdict after the first game against a fellow FCS opponent, there were three obvious takeaways Saturday:
- Furman's offense is still a work in progress, but has big-play ability.
- Opportunistic might be the best word to describe Furman's defense. Opportunities come thanks to big-time playmakers in the trenches, at linebacker and in the secondary.
- Whatever "it" is, this Furman team may have "it." That "it" factor Saturday was the ability to persevere and thrive during hard times.
"I told our team afterwards that it was as good a performance as I've seen. Just a group hanging in there and finding a way for a great win," said Furman coach Clay Hendrix, whose face was still sweating in our interview outside the locker room at 10 p.m. Saturday night. "Things weren't going very good, particularly offensively, but we kept getting stops. ... I told them all week this was going to be a big boy game. It was one of those kinds of games and I'm just really proud of our team.
"That was a heck of a football game."
The game was tied 3-3 after one quarter and remained that way until midway through the third quarter. That's when disaster seemingly struck Furman when its second consecutive possession ended on a Jake Garcia pass being intercepted. This one set up Mercer at the Paladins' 34-yard line.
Just as it did after Furman's other two turnovers - the previous interception and a lost fumble on the game's opening possession - the defense stood tall. The Bears had to settle for a 47-yard field goal by Simon Zeidan to take a 6-3 lead with 8:14 left in the third quarter.
It was still 6-3 with 1:18 left in the third when Demetrius Baldwin slightly deflected a Mercer pass that sailed right to Caleb Easterling for his second interception of the game. While Mercer called timeout to try to stem the momentum following the turnover, Furman came back with a vintage shot of Paladin football that would've made Dick Sheridan proud.
After runs for minute gains between the tackles all night, Garcia finally faked a handoff and finally rolled to his right. After barely overthrowing open receivers headed to the end zone twice earlier in the game, rolling out allowed Garcia time to find Daniel Haughton. Haughton made a great leaping grab at the Mercer 11 before spinning around and racing to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown.
"Our mindset was just to pick up our brothers. We know we're a strong defense, but we're a strong team as a whole," Easterling said. "We know when our brothers on offense are struggling to get their rhythm, we always have their back and they know that too. The love and chemistry we have on this team, we're a very tight-knit group."
While Furman's offense could not take advantage of opportunities created by the defense numerous times prior to that score, the Paladins' defense finally had its only letdown on Mercer's ensuing possession. The Bears drove 74 yards and capitalized on their lone visit to the red zone, which was one more than Furman had. Backup quarterback JP Pickles snuck into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the one to give Mercer a 13-10 lead with 13:20 left in the game.
Furman drove past midfield on its next possession before a stretch of holding, false start and back-to-back sacks left it with a punt on fourth-and-31.
Once again, the Paladins' defense answered the bell. It forced a three-and-out after Joshua Tarver's open field tackle on a second down screen and Easterling's perfect coverage on the intended receiver on a third-down incompletion.
Tarver, the grad transfer from Yale who took over punt return duties after Connor Morin was knocked out of the game earlier, delivered a huge 42-yard return to the Mercer 34. After Garcia was stopped for a gain of one on third-and-two, Nathan Chapman drilled a 43-yard field goal to tie the game at 13-13 with 4:53 left.
With Furman's two starting inside linebackers, Raleigh Herbert and Caleb Ellison, on the sidelines nursing injuries, Mercer found some running room on its next possession. The Bears neared midfield but on a third-and-three play, Joshua Stoneking was somehow unblocked and his pressure on Mercer quarterback Jaylen King forced a short, low pass that was caught for a gain of two. After coming out of the two-minute timeout with its offense on the field, the Bears' attempt to get the Paladins to jump offsides failed and they punted after a delay of game penalty.
Tarver made a fair catch at the Furman 15 with 1:54 left. The Paladins' first five play calls were passes, three of which were caught by Haughton for a total of 37 yards. After all those passes, Furman took a shot on the ground. A pretty brilliant call that figured to get you closer to field goal range and shave a few more seconds off the clock, while still leaving you plenty enough to work with. But after all those fruitless runs up the middle by the Paladins all night, Ben Croasdale delivered a juicy, Georgia peach of a carry this time. Croasdale raced untouched up the gut for a 47-yard touchdown with 47 seconds left.
"That's the same play that CJ Nettles popped on them last year for about seventy (yards)," Hendrix said.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the touchdown caused Furman to kick off from its own 25. Following a squib kick that Mercer somehow returned five yards in only four seconds, the Bears took over at their own 40 with 43 seconds remaining. Mercer reached midfield before King's Hail Mary pass on the game's final play was picked off by Tarver at the eight-yard line. Tarver got a nice, little 31-yard return before sliding to the turf to set off Furman's celebration.
"I wanted to return it, but once I took a peek to the sidelines and saw everybody telling me to get down it was like, 'hey man, it's time to go down,' " Tarver said with a laugh afterwards.
Croasdale's long run gave Furman a balanced offensive night with 158 yards passing and 158 rushing. Haughton caught eight passes for 103 yards, while Croasdale was the leading rusher with 74 yards on six carries.
In addition to his key 42-yard punt return, Tarver also had a 16-yard punt return, to go with his 31-yard interception return and five tackles on defense. Tarver said he had no idea he was in for such a night, but that you've got to be ready when your number is called.
"I just wanted to do what the coaches told me to do to help my team win," Tarver said. "We're one team. Offense and defense, we're not separate. We're all Paladins. That's what helped us tonight."
Stoneking led the Paladins with nine tackles including two tackles-for-loss and half a sack, two quarterback hurries and a pass breakup. Despite missing much of the fourth quarter, Herbert had eight stops, including one-and-a-half sacks. Easterling and Braylon Peebles had seven tackles apiece, and Trevor Short had two sacks. One of those was a strip sack that Short also recovered the fumble on.
After accounting for six touchdowns - in the first half - of Mercer's 62-3 win over Presbyterian a week earlier, King accounted for five turnovers Saturday. In addition to Short's fumble recovery, Easterling's two interceptions and Tarver's one, Jordan Miller also had a pick for the Paladins (2-1, 1-0 SoCon).
"I just can't say enough about the job our defense did," Hendrix said. "For them to be able to finish it on the field like they did (with the interception) just kind of summed it up."
Travion Solomon caught six passes for 120 yards, while Zahmari Palode-Gary ran 13 times for 84 yards to lead Mercer (2-1, 0-1)
Furman will next host 18th-ranked South Carolina State (3-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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