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| Ben Croasdale (25) had 141 yards of total offense in Furman's 32-25 loss to Wofford. Photo courtesy of Furman |
Furman finally scored a first quarter touchdown - albeit on defense - last Saturday.
It finally scored a second quarter touchdown against Division I competition.
It finally scored more than 13 points against Wofford.
It finally scored more than 20 in a game this season.
None of those were enough to finally beat the Terriers again though. After falling behind 29-8 one play into the second quarter, the Paladins kind of dominated the rest of the day. For the third consecutive week, Furman fought to the end but came up short. Wofford held on for a 32-25 win, its fourth consecutive victory in the series. The Terriers, who allowed exactly 13 points in each of the previous three meetings, last won four regular season games in a row against the Paladins from 1968-71.
"We're certainly disappointed in the outcome, which is becoming kind of like a broken record," Furman coach Clay Hendrix said afterwards. "The most disappointing thing for me is that we just continue to hurt ourselves. We don't catch a kickoff. ... We let them dribble an onside kick. ... Balls getting thrown over our heads shouldn't happen, particularly considering the degree that we practiced against those this week."
Saturday marked the first game for assistant Drew Dudzik as offensive coordinator after he took over those duties last week. The offense did seem a bit crisper and Hendrix confirmed that the playbook also got lighter. The problem Saturday was that by the time Furman's offense finally got to touch the ball, Wofford (3-3, 2-2 Southern Conference) already had three possessions and a 15-0 lead.
Last week, Hendrix said he'd be shocked if the Terriers didn't throw a deep ball on their first offensive play of the game. He was wrong. It was their second play. Ethan Drumm connected with Isaiah Scott on a 70-yard bomb. Wofford then got out of its extra point set and Drumm ran for a two-point conversion. After the Paladins (2-4, 1-1) muffed a short kickoff, the Terriers recovered the fumble at the Furman 20-yard line. Six plays later on third-and-goal, Drumm hit Ivory Aikens for a six-yard score to help push the lead to 15-0.
Wofford then pulled an onside kick out of its bag of tricks and kicker Conner Deviney recovered at the Terriers' 46.
"Every one of those (kickoff) situations we practiced for this week. We knew they couldn't kick it in the end zone. We knew the ball was going everywhere," Hendrix said. "We just didn't do our job when the time came."
Furman's defense got a much-needed stop and Furman finally got the ball with 9:19 left in the first quarter.
Ben Croasdale set the tone for his career-high day with a 10-yard run on the Paladins' first play. He carried for another first down a couple of minutes later on a fourth-and-one play near midfield. Three plays later on third-and-two, Croasdale appeared to get Furman on the board with a 44-yard touchdown run. It was wiped out by a chop block penalty though. That also turned third-and-two into third-and-17 and the Paladins punted a play later.
After being denied its first touchdown in the first quarter this season, Furman's defense provided it a few minutes later. Linebacker Ryan Earl returned an interception 21 yards for a score and Croasdale's two-point conversion run cut the lead to 15-8.
"It was good. The ball came right to me and all I saw was green grass," said Earl, who was one tackle away from a long fumble return for a touchdown at Richmond a week early. "I had to score. That was the only option."
The Paladins' momentum lasted all of two plays. That's how long it took for Wofford to take another deep shot and Scott caught an 80-yard touchdown from Drumm.
Furman drove to midfield on its ensuing possession before one of its only drops of the day came on a third-and-four screen pass that would've gotten at least the first down. Gray Gitter's 47-yard punt was downed at the Wofford one-yard line, but the Terriers weren't fazed by the field position.
A 13-yard run by Gerald Modest got Wofford out of the hole. Three plays later, Drumm opened the second quarter with a 71-yard touchdown pass to Aikens. That gave the Terriers 299 yards of total offense and a 29-8 lead. They had 113 yards and three points the rest of the way.
"We knew they were going to throw the ball down the field. We just knew it. ... It's a tough play to defend, but you've just got to continue your technique and do what you've been taught to do. And we run well enough to run with people," Hendrix said. "We didn't play to our standard defensively. Sixty to seventy percent of their offense was on three plays. Those three plays count, but that's just been another frustrating thing.
"If we just play deep balls better, then we're probably in a really good spot. It doesn't matter what you do if you allow people to do that to you."
Furman got its first second quarter touchdown against Division I competition this year when CJ Stokes ran for a seven-yard touchdown with 4:13 left in the half. The 53-yard drive was set up by a 24-yard punt return by Joshua Tarver.
The Paladins' best efforts at moving the football this season have come in their two-minute offense. That appeared to continue Saturday after Furman began its final possession at its own 15-yard line with 1:48 left. It drove to the Wofford 36, but on fourth-and-seven, Connor Ackerley's pass doinked off the back of Ethan Harris's helmet. Efforts by Harris to turn around was hindered by him being hugged by his defender.
No flag appeared much to the ire of Hendrix. Hendrix complained to officials and continued to as Wofford let the first half clock expire. As the teams were leaving the field at halftime, an official got his feelings so hurt that Hendrix was flagged and the second half started with Wofford kicking off at midfield.
"I obviously wasn't very happy with how that drive ended," Hendrix said. "I saw (the play) and I think I'm justified. But you know, if we'd gotten some points there ... ."
Furman drove to the Terriers' 10-yard line to open the half, but a holding penalty killed the drive. The Paladins settled for a 29-yard field goal by Nathan Chapman to cut the lead to 29-18.
Late in the third quarter, Furman lost a fumble that Wofford recovered at the Paladins' 21-yard line. The Terriers had first-and-goal at the two and three plays later, a personal foul on Furman gave Wofford a first-and-goal at the one. Furman managed to keep the Terriers out of the end zone and Deviney kicked a 22-yard field goal to push the lead back to 14 with 11 seconds left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Wofford shaved 6:01 off the clock on one drive, but Caldwell Bussey's third-down sack forced a punt. The punt went out of bounds at the Furman nine. The Paladins responded with a 91-yard scoring drive that took only 3:27. It was capped by Ackerley's 18-yard touchdown pass to Harris. That cut the lead to 32-25 with 4:47 left.
Furman's defense forced a three-and-out on Wofford's ensuing possession when AK Burrell and Bussey dropped Modest for a loss of one on a third-and-one play. After a punt and a personal foul on the Terriers, the Paladins took over at their own 34 with 2:39 left.
A 25-yard catch by Harris and a 17-yard reception by Croasdale helped Furman reach the Wofford 26. On fourth-and-seven from the 23, Furman called a timeout with 1:12 left. Somehow coming out of the timeout, there was a miscommunication as Ackerley's pass to Luke Shields sailed incomplete to the end zone while Shields cut off his route at the six-yard line.
Furman still had two timeouts with 1:08 left, but Modest got seven yards on second-and-seven to help the Terriers kill the clock.
"We've just got to continue to work and Drew worked like crazy on some red zone stuff. Stuff where you've got to be able to get touchdowns," Hendrix said. "I thought we had a really good plan. ... We just ran out of time twice, at the end of each half."
Drumm finished with 301 yards and four touchdowns on 14-of-21 passing for Wofford before missing most of the second half. Scott finished with 193 yards on seven receptions, while Modest had 83 yards on 24 carries also for the Terriers.
Ackerley completed 27-of-43 passes for 264 yards with one touchdown and no interception. Harris caught seven passes for 81 yards, while Shields had seven catches for 80 yards. Croasdale had career highs in rushing (93 yards), carries (21), receptions (7) and receiving yards (48).
"I thought Connor was solid and we protected well. I think we only had two negative plays and one of those was just a bad decision by our running back," Hendrix said. "We'd been living in a world of negative plays (this season). I think it was an offensive day to build upon.
"That energized me a little bit today. ... It's been a frustrating few weeks, but I'm frustrated today in a different way."
In addition to his pick-six, Earl had a team-high nine tackles including 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Nick Simmons and Burrell had eight tackles apiece.
Furman returns to action Saturday when it plays at Tennessee Tech at 3:30 p.m. The 15th-ranked Golden Eagles (4-1, 2-1) are coming off their first loss of the season as they fell at Western Carolina, 44-20, last week.
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