Furman’s Defense Dominates Gardner Webb, But QB Hannon Lost For Season

Game 1 Recap: Aug 30, 2014, Paladin Stadium (7,553)
No. 18 Furman 13 Gardner-Webb 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bl5_LsqnF4&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

GREENVILLE, S.C.–Reigning Southern Conference champion and 18th-ranked Furman limited Gardner-Webb to a meager 25 yards and sacked quarterback Lucas Beatty five times in the second half alone, capping what was a defensive masterpiece, as the Paladins claimed a 13-3 victory, helping head coach Bruce Fowler claim a first season-opening win since taking over as the head coach of the Paladins in 2011, snapping a three-game skid in season openers.

The Paladins held the Bulldogs to a mere 194 yards and just three points en route to a dominating win in the season opener.

I have been to a lot of Furman games over the years, and tonight, for the first time, the game just had that feel again. The feel like old Furman football and in the old style of winning football games when defense ruled the day.

About a week before the season, my dad popped in a tape to the old VCR–yes , people still have those believe it or not, dad and I watched the Furman-Georgia Southern1988 national title game and witnessed a defense that was aggressive, physical and just had that sense about them that they weren’t going to be broken.

Then a strange thing happened on Saturday night at Paladin Stadium, with Gardner-Webb in town to face the Paladins, it was like I was watching the video all over again a week later. The Paladins simply dominated the 13-3 win over Gardner-Webb, which helped the Paladins avenge what was a 28-21 loss in Boiling Springs, S.C., last season.

Head coach Carrol McCray’s Bulldogs certainly have nothing to hang their proverbial heads about, as the Bulldogs came to play on the defensive side of the football as well, and it was a hard-hitting, gritty football game that featured two of the top defensive units in the FCS. In fact, the two teams combined to gain a meager 522 yards of total offense (328-Furman, 194-Gardner-Webb) and just 16 points.

It was maybe the best defensive performance I have seen in person for the Paladins since the Bobby Johnson era, and it least since 2003–a season which Furman fielded one of its best seasons in school history. The game was somewhat reminiscent of the 2004 10-0 win at Elon prior to a monunental showdown with Georgia Southern late in that season, in which the Paladins would claim a Southern Conference title.

This was a Gardner-Webb offense that returned most of its offensive weapons from a year ago, with eight offensive starters back from a team that rolled up 28 points and an impressive 413 yards of total offense last season. A year later, Furman allowed 25-less points and 219 less yards.

The two big stars on that memorable win for Carroll McCray’s club just last year were running back Juanne Blount and NFL prospect Kenny Cook. Blount rushed for a career-high 162 yards and a pair of scores last season on 28 carries, while Cook showed why he was such a highly thought of receiving recruit by the NFL, as the 6-4 wideout hauled in nine passes for 113 yards and a pair of scores in that seven-point win last season.

But oh what a difference made for Fowler’s defense, as Blount was held to about 100 yards less than his total a year ago, rushing for 63 yards on 13 carries. The Paladins seemed to have learned their lesson about Cook, too, swithing coverages and using some press coverage against him. He managed just two catches for 13 yards against Furman’s aggressive, physical secondary Saturday night.

It was a defensive performance worthy of a masterpiece, but in a strange way, it was completely opposite of the matchup last season, and everything that would come out of Saturday night’s win for the Paladins was not all necessarily good news.

Last season, Furman would not even utilize Reese Hannon in the opener after losing him to an Oblique strain early in the week, and would miss the start against the Bulldogs, forcing Dillion Woodruff into the lineup. Woodruff would start the game, however, at some point during the 2012 contest, would suffer a torn labrum, sidelining the true freshman for the remainder of the season.

In a strange, depressing twist, Saturday saw the 2014 season offer a strange twist for the Paladin offense, as senior quarterback Reese Hannon went down with a season-ending broken ankle in the third quarter. Hannon would finish the night and season completing 21-of-30 passes for 221 yards and the lone score of the evening, as he completed a six-yard scoring pass to Jordan Snellings late in the half, which gave the Paladins a 10-3 lead heading to the halftime locker room.

Woodruff would come in and relieve Hannon, and it will now be Woodruff’s team for the remainder of the season. And just like the Paladins last season in Boiling Springs, the Paladins would turn the tables on the Bulldogs this season, yielding just 25 yards in the second half en route to the resounding win.

The Paladins held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half of play, and it marks a somewhat remarkable trend at Paladin Stadium over the past couple of seasons, which has now seen Furman hold four of its last six opponents to pay a visit to Greenville scoreless in the second half of play (Wofford, Gardner-Webb, PC and Elon). The Paladins are 3-1 in those games, with Elon producing the only win of the four aforementioned opponents being Elon, which scored 28 first-half points in a 28-25 win last season.

Furman would be relentless in getting pressure on quarterback Lucas Beatty, who finished the contest completing 15-of-31 passes for 125 yards and an INT. Last season, Beatty picked the Paladin secondary apart, to the tune of 22-of-31 passing for 276 yards and a pair of scores.

The Paladin defense would set the tone early, picking off a Beatty deep ball, as Marcus McMorris went up high to steal the ball away from Deonte Swinton, and the Paladins, who led the SoCon with 29 created turnovers last season, nullified the Bulldogs’ opening possession with a turnover.

But the Paladins would find it tough treading against the Bulldogs most of the night, and after four-straight punts –two for each offense–the Paladins would finally breakthrough and get the first score of the day, as new freshman placekicker Jon C. Hollingsworth might have had the biggest shoes of anyone to fill coming into the season, having to replace All-American Ray Early, who turned in one of the best single seasons by a kicker in the history of Furman football in 2013.

But Hollingsworth stepped up in a big way, and he showed why he was such an important find in the recruiting process for coach Fowler and staff. Hollingsworth’s 28-yard field goal capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive to give the Paladins a 3-0 lead with 54 seconds to play in the opening quarter of play.

After back-to-back punts, the Bulldogs would mount their most impressive drive of the night to account for the team’s lone points in the game, as Gardner-Webb covered 72 yards in 10 plays, as Paul Schumacher connected on a 19-yard field goal, tying the football game, with 7:42 remaining in the half.

The Bulldogs would as close as the 1-yard line after a seven-yard run by Blount and set up a second-and-goal, however, the Paladin defense would stiffen on the next couple of plays to force a Schumacher field goal. It would mark just one of two trips inside Paladin territory in the entire game for the Bulldogs.

But Furman would respond with maybe the most important drive of the football game just before the half, as the Paladins needed just six plays to cover 56 yards, capped by a Hannon six-yard scoring pass to wideout Jordan Snellings, who eluded a defender right at the goal line before calming stepping into the end zone, giving the Paladins a 10-3 lead with just 1:08 remaining in the opening half.

The lone score of the second half would come from the Purple and White, as Holligsworth showed off a Ray Early-like leg, when he split the uprights with a 47-yard line-drive, which had plenty of leg to give the Paladins a 13-3 lead with 6:32 remaining in the third quarter.

The Paladin defense got a huge performance from preseason First Team All-SoCon selection Gary Wilkins, who posted 2.5 of the team’s five sacks in the contest, with defensive linemen Ira McCune and Brian Ross responsible for a sack each, while Chattanooga, Tenn native John Mackey contributed half-a-sack. Furman’s five sacks were the most since a 20-10 win over No. 3 Appalachian State on Nov. 10, 2012, and the Purple and White also racked up an impressive 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage in the opener.

Offensively, Furman was led by true freshman running back Antonio Wilcox, who rushed for 50 yards on 14 carries, while junior wideout Jordan Snellings hauled in eight passes for 51 yards for the game. Woodruff was solid in relief of Hannon, connecting on 3-of-4 passes for 28 yards, while rushing once for 24 yards.

Now, Furman heads into Southern Conference play next Saturday with a mouth-watering matchup against Mercer and former Paladin player and coach Bobby Lamb. The Bears, now in their second season, will be playing in their inaugural Southern Conference game, and head into the contest a perfect 9-0 all-time at MU Stadium. Kickoff for next Saturday’s contest is set for 6 p.m. in Macon.