Furman’s 16-8 victory over East Tennessee State on Saturday was everything a Homecoming can be except for a football game.

As James McMurtry’s literary character, Augustus Macrae, said, “They’s worse things.”

The Paladins are still in first place in the Southern Conference, and they’re likely to win it if they can defeat Chattanooga next week on the road. A football team never played such a grueling campaign without catching the hiccups at least once.

When Furman declared it Homecoming, East Tennessee State, coached by former Paladin player and assistant coach George Quarles, still tried. That’s the job.

The Buccaneers aren’t as good a team, but they wore their cleats to a nub and their nerves to a frazzle. Beating Furman isn’t easy, and they didn’t.

Like the purple-clad revelers, East Tennessee State gave it the old college try.

Furman (7-1, 5-0 SoCon) never trailed, intercepted three William Riddle passes and limited ETSU to 230 yards of offense.

Not that the game was without its shortcomings. It’s likely dissatisfaction with the performance was polling well in the locker room.

East Tennessee’s defense (2-6, 1-4) was particularly adept at containing Furman’s versatile quarterback, Tyler Huff, who only ran the ball three times for 16 yards. The Orange Park, Fla., graduate hit 21/35 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown.w

The Paladins netted 85 yards on the ground. They ripped off 330 a week earlier at Western Carolina.  Perfection is hard. Winning works, even on the occasion of the lowest scoring output of the season to date.

Huff distributed his passes to seven different receive, all of whom caught at least two. Joshua Harris caught eight.

“There truly weren’t enough designed calls for [Huff] to run it,” said head coach Clay Hendrix. “A few times he pulled the ball to throw it. They definitely did a good job containing him.”

In case you’re wondering how the Mocs fared a week before Furman, it wasn’t too far from the Paladins a week before Chattanooga.  Chattanooga edged VMI, 24-23. The likelihood is that’s how they will play each other.

Ian Williams converted on a pair of first-quarter field goals, including a 52-yarder with 3:48 remaining in the period, to stake the Paladins to a 6-0 lead. ETSU advanced to the locale of  the red zone with under a minute to go in the first half, but Furman’s Cally Chizik stepped in front of a Riddle pass at the two-yard line to preserve the Paladin lead.

 
After Williams knocked through a 32-yard field goal with 3:22 left in the third quarter, Micah Robinson intercepted Riddle at the Bucs’ 42 with 2:38 left in the quarter. Five plays later in a third-and-six situation, Tyler Huff found Joshua Harris on a screen pass that provided the Paladins’ only touchdown with 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter with 46 seconds left.
ETSU got on the board with 11:58 to play when Teddy Wilson blocked Ryan Leavy’s punt, which became a scoop-and-score by Ton’Quez Ball from eight yards out.  Riddle hit Xavier Gaillardetz on a two-point conversion attempt to trim the lead to 16-8.

The Bucs were forced to punt on their next possession. On its final drive, ETSU took over at the Furman 43, but Braden Gilby sacked Riddle on fourth down to force a turnover on downs before the Paladins ran out the clock to clinch the victory.
 
 Dominic Roberto finished with 22 carries for 65 yards on the grounds.

“This was really frustrating for us offensively,” Hendrix said. “I’ve watched how hard they played hard against the run, and they run the ball hard. That showed up today.  It came back to us, and I take personal responsibility. We didn’t get our guys ready to go.

“It was that kind of day. I didn’t think our preparation was poor. This can be good for us. Any time you win a tough game, it’s good for you. We’re going down the stretch.”
 
Furman (7-1, 5-0 SoCon) looks to strengthen its hold on first place next Saturday when the Paladins travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the Mocs (7-2, 6-1 SoCon) at 1:30 p.m.

Check out the stats here.

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