By MONTE DUTTON

On Saturday evening at Zable Stadium in historic Williamsburg, Va., Furman plays its most meaningful football game of the season to date against the College of William & Mary.

The opener, a 76-0 calamity at Ole Miss, was the equivalent of a write-off. A 24-20 loss to Charleston Southern was a disappointment. A 48-7 victory over Stetson was enjoyable but predictable.

Now the Paladins have a shot at earning a victory that can restore their stature in the national polls that currently rank the Tribe either 12^th or 13^th. Furman (1-2) prepares to face a likely contender from a comparable conference, the Coastal (nee Colonial) Athletic Association, in advance of its first dive into the Southern Conference.

The Stetson game was a confidence builder that could be the latch key that releases the talent that head coach Clay Hendrix sees in his young team. Early disappointment notwithstanding, he seems energized by nurturing the team.

“This group has been really steady in how they come to work and develop,” Hendrick said Monday, adding later, “I think the biggest focus on the [Stetson] game was just trying to get our confidence back up, especially after Ole Miss and the missed opportunities we had against Charleston Southern.”

Safety Caleb Williams said, “At the (Sunday) meeting, we were talking about who’s played his first game, who’s the second, played the third, and we’ve all played college football now. So there’s no excuses of, well, this is my first year of playing.”

“The way our team is right now,” Hendrix said, “If we’ll stay together, we’ll continue to get better.”

William & Mary (2-1), meanwhile, is facing its third SoCon team, having blasted Virginia Military, 41-7, and bettered Wofford, 28-21.

The Tribe, whose potent ground attack, led by Bronson Yoder (240 yds., 6.0 ypc, 3 TDs), averages 196.7 yards per game.

W&M quarterback Darius Wilson headlines an efficient William & Mary passing game, having thrown for 540 yards and three touchdowns without once being intercepted.

Freshman quarterback Trey Hedden settled comfortably into a Furman starting role, completing 20/27 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for a 13-yard score.  The Tampa, Fla., product’s showing earned him both SoCon Offensive Player of the Week and Stats Perform National Freshman of the Week.

Hedden’s favorite target against Stetson was senior wide receiver Joshua Harris, who hauled in seven passes for a career-high 164 yards and two touchdowns.

“We get extra reps after practice, just trying to work on that timing,” Harris said.

The Paladins ran for 171 yards against the Hatters, led by true freshman Gavin Hall (10 rushes, 72 yds., TD), but the ground-warfare challenge promises to be more intense against William & Mary.

After failing to induce a turnover against Ole Miss and Charleston Southern, Furman’s defense came up with three interceptions against Stetson, including a pair by red-shirt freshman safety Billy Lewis and the other by red-shirt senior linebacker Evan DiMaggio, a preseason All-SoCon selection who leads the Paladins with 20 tackles.

Out to complicate Wilson’s plans is Paladin senior nose guard Xavier Stephens, a Roanoke, Va., product who owns three of Furman’s five sacks through three games.

Furman’s kicking game is a bit simplified by the presence of red-shirt senior Ian Williams as placekicker and punter.

Against Stetson, Williams, from Raleigh, N.C., in more ways than one – he transferred in from North Carolina State – kicked field goals of 47 and 57 (school record) yards and averaged 44.8 yards on five punts.

The one-time SoCon rivals last played in 2000, and Furman holds a narrow 8-7 advantage, having won the last two. The Paladins posted a 34-10 win over the Tribe on Sept. 16, 2000, behind a 232-yard, two-touchdown performance by Louis Ivory, who would go on to capture the Walter Payton Award (top FCS player) that season.  The last time Furman and William & Mary squared off in Williamsburg (Sept. 18, 1999), the Paladins rolled to a 52-6 win — its most decisive in the series — on the strength of 509 rushing yards (9.4 ypc).  The Paladins and Tribe battled in 1989 FCS (formerly I-AA) first-round playoff action in a game Furman won, 24-10, at Paladin Stadium.

“I like to play people who are a little bit like us,” said Hendrix. “I think we’re built similarly. They want to be a physical football team and run the ball, play great defense.”

The game is to be aired over The Fan Upstate and its four stations: 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville and 97.1 FM/950 AM in Spartanburg. The game is to be streamed at FloTV.

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