By MONTE DUTTON

In Spartanburg on Nov. 18, the day was as lovely as the place and time made possible, and a horror movie broke out.

On Saturday at Paladin Stadium, Wuthering Heights could have been filmed nearby, and Furman played a playoff football game as picturesque as a David Lean epic.

The Wofford disaster may still be fresh in the minds of the Terrier faithful, but the 26-7 victory over Chattanooga made it old news in Greenville. Furman (10-2) is on to the FCS quarterfinals, and the prize is an all-expenses-paid December trip to Missoula, Mont., for a Friday-night game.

Pack the overcoats, Myrna.

The Paladins take no timidity to the wilds of the West. Clay Hendrix said on Monday that the Grizzlies – this Griz tag I find awkward – remind him of the Paladins. He and his players couldn’t be more blithe if it was Christmas morning.

They’re good. We’re good. Let’s play.

Montana. Makes me think of Randolph Scott. I thought of an old song and changed the words:

I was famous in Montana / Everybody knew my name / From Bozeman to Missoula / How I loved to play the game.

Montana (11-1) slaughtered Delaware (9-4) in the Washington-Grizzly Stadium snow, 49-19, shortly after Furman bounced Chattanooga (8-5), 26-7, in the Paladin Stadium murk.

This team takes me back to the 1980s. This team has that togetherness. Players on this team remind me of players on those. They routinely refer to one another as brothers.

Frequently Clay Hendrix talks about how much he enjoys coaching intelligent players. I feel the same way writing about them. Two players join Hendrix each week at a media conference. On Monday, they were Wayne Anderson Jr., and Hugh Ryan.

After the Wofford game, trudging up the hill to the locker room, Anderson consoled me. The memory makes me smile.

“It’s not so bad.”

Usually, I bump into a player in the halls or in the parking lot. What’s unusual about that is that such contact is frowned upon at many places. I could imagine some places where all conversations in halls and parking lots are monitored via video.

Campus Public Safety. An interview is ongoing in Sector Five. Intercept at once!

Furman kids love to talk with writers. So many times I ask a question and get more than I’m expecting.

It’s usually good news when a reply begins, “Funny you should mention that …” or, “I was just thinking about that yesterday. …”

Hendrix and staff deserve more credit than they get for the glorious anachronism they have constructed. Furman develops players. Furman loses relatively few transfers. Furman gains relatively few transfers. Graduates with remaining eligibility join in to further hone their skills and academic accomplishments.

Meanwhile, all around, some of the best players leave to play for larger schools, and disappointed players from those schools replace them.

The glue that holds Furman football together is players who love where they are.

Enjoy. It’s fleeting. It’s a rare and precious thing.

Thanks so much for the recent contributions.

I used to list an address to send a check (DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325). I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable amount to DHK Sports on Venmo.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making, if you choose, a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a little is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.