By MONTE DUTTON
The game before was a triumph of will. Furman’s 37-3 victory over Virginia Military on Saturday was a coronation.
The Paladins were marvelous.
“When you’ve got that target on your back you’r,e supposed to win every game, and everybody’s gonna play you hard,” Matt Sochovka said. “We won it (the SoCon’s automatic playoff bid) last week, so let’s go take it outright. We had nothing to lose. Let it all hang out. We’ve still got another record to chase next week.”
It’s the first non-shared SoCon title since 1990, the ninth straight home win and a record-tying 13th straight conference victory. That’s the record to chase next week.
The game that clinched Furman’s 15th Southern Conference championship, outright, was in doubt for 3 minutes, 53 seconds, which was how much time it took Carson Jones to find Mason Pline for a 14-yard pass that put the Keydets on the skids.
Of course, the Paladins were bound to win. Furman (9-1, 7-0 SoCon) was the conference’s preseason favorite. It passed every test. VMI (4-6, 3-4) overachieved in Danny Rocco’s first year as head coach and was coming off a come-from-behind, 31-24 victory at East Tennessee State.
There wasn’t any way on Saturday, though. The team that passed every test wasn’t going to flunk any final exams.
“I think some people thought this could be kind of a trap game,” said Furman head coach Clay Hendrix. “I heard this and that, but we had great preparation. Our kids were locked. You could feel it from the start. It was really satisfying the way we played in the first half.”
Carson Jones again subbed expertly for the injured Tyler Huff at quarterback. The redshirt freshman from Maryville, Tenn., completed 18/23 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers: Pline, Kyndel Dean, Luke Shiflett and Nick Cannon. Nine different receivers were the recipients of Jones’ largesse.
The Paladins were not extravagant on offense: they were economical. They rushed for 125 yards; the Keydets had 30. Furman passed for 226 and limited VMI to 159. Furman put up 34 points in the first half. The Keydets salvaged a 27-yard Caden Beck field goal with 2:04 to play because, apparently, scoring meant that much to them.
Only Wofford (1-9, 1-6), which defeated The Citadel (0-10, 0-7), 11-3, stands between the Paladins and a perfect SoCon record. Oh, how the Paladins’ rivals have fallen.
The season has seen its share of drama as Furman went on the road to vanquish Samford, Western Carolina and Chattanooga. Occasionally, near-perfection is nice. Furman won the stats in every measure, including fair-catch yards.
The ferocious Furman defense sacked VMI quarterback Collin Shannon eight times. Luke Clark had two. Braden Gilby, the leading tackler with 11, Xavier Stephens, Raleigh Herbert, Sirod Cook, Sochovka and Caden Richards each crunched Shannon once. Dan Scianna intercepted Shannon, who hit 14/27 throws for 148 yards.
VMI needed 33 carries to net 30 rushing yards. Thanks to the sacks, Shannon had minus-50.
It was an entertaining game for most of the 9,277 wearing purple. No drama is nice every now and then.
Sochovka has gone through injury, COVID and grad school. Gilby has played in more games than anyone in school history.
“I saw a bunch of old guys around here today,” Sochovka said. “It’s still important to them, too. I can see that. It’s pretty cool to work in a place like this.”
Gilby added, “We prepare all week to win. We expect to win when we get out there.
This Furman team fights till hell freezes over, and then lays siege on the ice.
Don’t believe it? Take a look at the stats here.
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