By MONTE DUTTON

For the past few years, I’ve looked forward to football with buoyant expectations. For the past two seasons, I’ve been right. The Paladins have fulfilled those elite expectations.

This year, I’m fascinated.

The players who propelled Furman are mostly gone. The Paladins are ranked prominently in both the Southern Conference and the FCS beyond. It’s based on what Clay Hendrix and his exceptional assistants have seen, not what the fans have.

The coming season is a leap of faith. I’ve got it. I’m excited at the prospect of what 15 new starters can do. Few whom I’ve known could tell me to jump off a cliff … and I’d consider it. Maybe two hands full. Hendrix is one of them. Tommy Spangler is another.

Oh, yeah, there was a quarter horse named Sunglow Fisher.

The war is going to begin at a Pearl Harbor in the unlikely locale of Oxford, Miss. When I tune in on TV, I’ll be tempted to take a drink. I’ve heard many have a toddy on the convivial grounds of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Until they added Johnny Vaught to the title, Faulkner’s hometown played its football at Hemingway (though not named for Ernest).

I don’t think anyone doubts that Lane Kiffin will hang a hundred if he can. I’ll be proud of the Paladins if they play with composure. Sometimes a cool David makes Goliath antsy.

Regardless, Furman will come marching (okay, flying) home, and the season will become achievable.

Beyond the realm of Furman faithful, few grasp the glory of the Paladins’ fight, and not just in football.

Jenny Jacobson scored a pair of second half goals and Tara Katz netted the game-winner with less than four minutes to play as Furman rallied past Charleston Southern, 3-2, in the women’s soccer season opener for both schools Thursday afternoon in North Charleston.

With Furman trailing 2-1 and less than 13 minutes to play, Jacobson fired a low shot into the left-hand corner for her second goal of the day to pull the Paladins even at 77:01 mark.

Tara Katz, a graduate transfer from the University of Tennessee, found the back of the net at 86:34 on Valentina Mosquera’s second assist of the afternoon to cap the Paladin comeback in her debut.

“It’s always great to start the season off with a win,” said head coach Andrew Burr, now in his 20^th season. “We faced some adversity on the road today and found a way to rally. Jenny Jacobson scored a pair of nice goals and gave us great production when we were missing several players due to injury.”

Charleston Southern grabbed the lead just 7:02 into the match when Elin Persson headed in a lofted cross to open the scoring. The Paladins equalized just after the hour mark as Jacobson took a pass from Mosquera and scored at 60:17.

The Bucs regained the lead at the 73:34 mark on a goal from Danika Burch’s header off a corner kick before Jacobson and Katz provided the late-game heroics to help the Paladins to three points on opening day.

The Paladins dominated the chances by compiling an 18-10 advantage in total shots and 11-5 edge in shots on goal. Freshman Reese DeJong, making her first career start, stopped three shots to earn the victory in goal. Charleston Southern’s Jenna Moran, the reigning Big South Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, turned away eight shots.

Furman (1-0) travels to nationally-ranked South Carolina on Sunday at 7 p.m. before opening its home schedule on Freshmen Frenzy Night versus Presbyterian on Thursday, Aug. 22.

Men’s soccer hosts Lees-McRae on Saturday in a 6 p.m. exhibition contest Stone Soccer Stadium.

Admission is free to Saturday’s match, which serves as the finale tune-up for the Paladins before they host UNC Wilmington in the regular-season opener on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 8 p.m.

Furman was picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference by coaches, and senior Christian Kraus and junior Slade Starnes were selected to the preseason All-SoCon squad. Kraus ranked second in the league a year ago with 10 goals while adding five assists.

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