By MONTE DUTTON

I sat in the press box of Bailey Memorial Stadium on Saturday, nervously keeping tabs of Furman-William & Mary on the cell and watching a revised version of the same football game.

Unusually rested because Friday night’s high-school road trip was buffered by the college battles taking place Saturday night, I watched as Presbyterian remained in the game against Gardner-Webb until the fourth quarter, there to succumb, 42-21. When a day game follows a night game, it’s with bleary eyes and frequent yawns that I hop in the truck and shoot for Paladin Stadium by early afternoon.

Next Saturday offers an opportunity for a Saturday doubleheader. The Paladins play Samford at 2, and the Blue Hose take on Davidson at 7. I don’t expect to see the kickoff at Bailey.

I was once present at 39/40 NASCAR races in Bristol, Tenn., but in the one Kyle Larson captured on Saturday night, I never saw a lap.

One of my better buddies, leaving Williamsburg, Va., and headed north, called me at PC and asked what I thought. I said I followed it online but was presently covering another game.

He said he was pleased at the way Furman matched up. I’ll learn more from Clay Hendrix on Monday morning.

Considering that Clinton High lost to Daniel, Furman to William & Mary and Presbyterian to Gardner-Webb, I’m holding up reasonably well.

The good news out of Williamsburg on Saturday evening was that a young Furman team matched up well against William & Mary, 12^th in one FCS national poll and 13^th in another.

The bad news was that the Tribe spotted the Paladins an early 14-0 lead but wound up defeating them, 34-24.

William & Mary rushed for 384 yards and scored 27 straight points to erase the early Furman at Zable Stadium.

The above paragraph is notably over-simplified. Furman (1-3) squandered several second-half opportunities and was in it till near the end.

The Paladins took a first-quarter lead on Trey Hedden touchdown tosses of 14 yards to Brock Chappell and 84 yards to Colton Hinton, but the Tribe reeled off 27 consecutive points to build a 27-14 lead when Hollis Mathis hauled in a 15-yard Darius Wilson touchdown pass with 11:47 to go in the third quarter.

Grant Robinson scored on a four-yard run on the Paladins’ next possession to trim the margin to 27-21 with 7:27 to go in the quarter.

Furman had a chance to further cut into the William & Mary lead, but Ian Williams missed his second field-goal attempt of the night on the Paladins’ next possession from 29 yards out. After the Tribe intercepted Hedden in the red zone on the following Paladin drive, the Furman defense forced a fumble and Williams converted from 33 yards to cut the deficit to 27-24 with 6:18 to play.

The Tribe answered and put the game away by marching 75 yards on 11 plays, capped by Bronson Yoder’s 12-yard run with 57 seconds remaining.

Yoder rushed for 166 yards on 24 carries while Wilson ran for 155 and a touchdown. Wilson also threw for a pair of touchdowns as the Tribe rolled up 482 yards of total offense.

Hedden went 13/26 through the air for 264 yards and two touchdowns but also threw two picks and fumbled on the final drive. The Paladins posted 348 yards of total offense and converted on three of five trips into the red zone. William & Mary was flagged for 11 penalties covering 127 yards while Furman committed 10 penalties for 120 yards.

Furman (1-3) returns to Paladin Stadium next Saturday to host the Bulldogs for Family Weekend. Kickoff for the Paladins Southern Conference opener is scheduled for a 2 p.m. kickoff.

Take a look at the stats here.

Back on campus, sophomore Audrey Ryu (-1) shot a 1-under 71 to move into a tie for eighth Saturday in the second round of the Lady Paladin Invitational.

A product of Dublin, Ohio, Ryu birdied three of her first six holes, scoring birdies on Nos. 1, 4 and 6.  She turned at 2-under then added an additional birdie on No. 15 to finish the round five strokes behind individual leaders Casilda Allendesalazar (-6) of North Florida and Kara Carter (-4) of Xavier, each at 6-under after 36 holes of play.  

Freshman Jenna Madden (+3), playing as an individual, paced the Paladins with a 68.

Xavier (-1) leads the tournament by two strokes over UNC Wilmington (+1). Western Kentucky (+6) sits in third, followed by Furman (+9) and Old Dominion (+10).

The final round began with a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday.

Volleyball went 1-1, falling to Clemson, 3-0 (16-25, 22-25, 20-25) on Saturday after defeating Kennesaw State 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-20) at Alley Gymnasium the night before..

Furman falls to 6-5 on the season while Clemson improves to 8-3 overall. The Owls are 3-8.

Against the Tigers, Ava Augustson provided eight kills and eight digs, while Mary Beth Headley killed seven and dug out a team-high 13.

Neea-Maria Joki (16) and Kennedy Wagner (13) combined for 29 kills to pace the Tigers.

Headley was one of six Paladins to have over six kills versus Kennesaw State.
Headley’s 10 kills came on .304 hitting as the Paladins finished with a season-best .361 clip. Lindsay Walch contributed eight kills while Izzy Castelloe had seven and three had six apiece.

Manu Johnsen led all players with 16 kills for the Owls, and Leah Freeman contributed 10 digs. Kaeley Walz registered a double-double of 31 assists and 12 digs.

I hope you like the site. At least one story has been posted for 54 straight days.

Wellpilgrim.com surpassed the 100,000 mark in page views in the wee hours of Saturday.

Advertising alone will not keep me going, but there’s room for a few more. Every ad is inset in every story.

You can support my site in several ways.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who support my efforts, not to mention those of the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

Please donate whatever you consider appropriate via Venmo at DHK Sports. You may also reach me by mail at 11185 Highway 56 North, Clinton  29325.

If you choose, make a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

In the off chance you’d like to read my novels and other books, they’re available on Amazon and many prominent bookseller sites. You can read them on your phones and other devices for a modest cost. I make a bit more if you purchase the actual books, but what I mainly want is for folks to read them.

Read my freewheeling tale of a young stock-car racing phenom, Lightning in a Bottle. Download it for $3.99, or order it in paperback for $15.95. An audio version is also available.

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

Thanks for putting up with me.