By MONTE DUTTON

Oh, Evan DiMaggio was the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week, and Tyler Huff miraculously wasn’t the offensive recipient.*

Dominic Roberto plundered Western Carolina for the last time with perfect marks in his career against the Catamounts. Cally Chizik and Hugh Ryan made key interceptions. Saturday’s 29-17 victory was memorable, in John F. Kennedy’s words, “not because it is easy but because it is hard.”

On Monday, head coach Clay Hendrix, DiMaggio and Wayne Anderson Jr. expressed nothing but the highest respect for Western Carolina (6-2, 5-1 SoCon), which was in the game until Huff took them out of it with a 53-yard sprint with 54 seconds remaining.

“You know, we’re getting better,” Hendrix said of his third-ranked FCS power. “The kids are working hard. We’re good. We’ve got good health. Everybody’s beat up at this time of year.

“This is going to help us down the stretch. We’re excited to be back home, get a chance to get another conference win and get a little better.”

East Tennessee State (2-5, 1-3) visits Paladin Stadium on Saturday for Homecoming at 2 p.m.

George Quarles is in his second season coaching the Buccaneers. He is a Furman graduate who was Hendrix’s offensive coordinator before he left for ETSU. It hasn’t gone well. At the moment, Quarles is more popular in Greenville than in Johnson City.

Friendships are one thing. Winning is another.

“They’re getting better,” said Hendrix of the Bucs, “but I think it’s just about us and what we need to do, which is prepare to play well.”

The Paladins won on the road, in front of a raucous crowd and despite a Furman rarity, a lousy day for special teams. Furman experienced a missed field goal by virtue of it going wide and another by virtue of the snap going awry. The one that mattered, though, Ian Anderson made.

A long Huff touchdown pass was called back by a hold. The Paladins let none of their failures get in the way of victory. They never trailed.

“We knew adversity was going to happen,” said Anderson. “Adversity happens every game. I wish we played a perfect game of offense, and we talk about it every week, how we can get better.”

Anderson, who, in tandem with Dom Roberto (155) and Huff (89), totaled 329 of Furman’s 334 rushing yards, is a prime example of “just doing our jobs.”

For most of the season, the graduate from Prosper, Texas, has played wide receiver. He moved back to running back to add depth and give the fierce Roberto some help.

“Honestly, I just like being on the field,” Anderson said. “I like being a player who can do it all.”

What mattered was where Furman (6-1, 4-0) excelled throughout.

“It was a black and blue game, one we came out of pretty [well],” Hendrix said.

“Stopping the big play is something we talk about all the time,” DiMaggio, a junior from Buford, Ga., said. “We had a big interception by Cally (Chizik) at the one-yard line.

“We work on getting turnovers. We get turnovers in practice, so we wind up getting turnovers in the games, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

The chief obstacle to winning the SoCon title outright is at Chattanooga (6-2, 5-1) on Nov. 4, but the Paladins can ill afford to take lightly East Tennessee State at home, VMI (Nov. 11) at home, and Wofford (Nov. 18) on the road.

Bryson Irby leads ETSU in rushing with 478 yards, a 5.3 per-carry average and five touchdowns. Five quarterbacks have combined to complete 44 percent of their passes, while combined opponents have hit at a 67 percent norm. Will Huzzie leads the team with 21 receptions.

Chattanooga defeated the Buccaneers, 34-3, last week.

“I think the biggest thing is sticking with the game, playing, just doing our jobs,” Anderson said.

If the Paladins do that, all will be fine.

Furman is 8-3 against ETSU since the Bucs resurrected football and rejoined the SoCon in 2000.

*The SoCon’s offensive recipient was Samford’s Jay Stanton, who rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-14 victory over VMI.

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