By MONTE DUTTON

The week hasn’t been a total loss.

I saw Daniel J. Travanti, Furillo many years later on Hill Street Blues, trying and failing to get away with murder on an old Perry Mason.

Also, I watched a splendid movie, “Cry, Beloved Country,” starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris, set in South Africa during apartheid.

The election is next week, and this is a time at which millions are in mortal dread of what might happen if the other side wins.

As my late friend Jim McLaurin used to say, other’n’at, ain’t much hap’nin’.

Coming off a well-timed weekend off, Furman travels to Lexington, Va., with hope of regrouping against Virginia Military in a 1:30 p.m. game at Foster Stadium on Saturday.

Furman (2-5, 1-2 SoCon), coming off a 52-20 home loss to Western Carolina on Oct. 19, hopes to rebound against VMI (0-8, 0-4 SoCon), which dropped a 31-10 road verdict at Chattanooga on Saturday. 

The Paladins have won 13 of its last 15 meetings with the Keydets. A year ago quarterback Carson Jones threw four-first half touchdowns and Furman’s defense limited VMI to 189 total yards in a 37-3 win in Greenville, a victory that secured the Paladins’ the outright SoCon championship. Furman rolled to a 41-3 win two years ago in Lexington.

Furman holds a 31-10 lead in the series and owns a 13-7 slate in Lexington.

However, that was then, and this now.

Inexperienced from the outset and wracked by injuries, Furman has been outscored 93-30 in the past two games, both at home. It needs a confidence builder.

Freshman quarterback Trey Hedden has passed for 1,269 yards and nine touchdowns this season.  The Tampa, Fla., product has distributed his production through a number of receivers, led by Colton Hinton (31 rec., 313 yds., 2 TDs), a native of Ashburn, Va., who hopes his second appearance in the Old Dominion this fall will be a winner. Against William & Mary earlier this year, Hinton posted an 84-yard touchdown reception.

In addition his solid work at wide receiver, the Paladin sophomore demonstrated effectiveness on special teams with an 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Western Carolina.

Where the Paladins most need improvement is in the running game, which is generating an un-Furman-like 84.7 yards per game.

Injuries, which claimed a pair of projected starting safeties in the preseason, have continued to take a toll on the Paladin defense, which in October saw its top two defensive linemen, preseason All-SoCon senior nose guard Xavier Stephens and all-conference redshirt senior end Luke Clark, forced to the sideline.  In addition, Furman lost its top cornerback, redshirt freshman Jaylen Moson, following an interception on the final play of the game in the Paladins’ 17-16 road win over The Citadel.

Furman’s top defender is redshirt senior linebacker Evan DiMaggio (72 tackles, 5.5 TFL).

Following 20 wins in 2022-23 and a 14-2 SoCon record, the current depth chart is depleted.  Last season 35 of the 44 players listed in Furman’s two-deep) were juniors, seniors or graduates. At present, 31 of the top 44 own either freshman (23) or sophomore (11) eligibility status.

The contest will be streamed via ESPN+ and aired over Furman’s flagship The Fan Upstate and its four stations: 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville, and 97.1 FM/950 AM in Spartanburg.

Women’s soccer standouts Nieva Gaither, Tara Katz and Miya Poplin earned All-Southern Conference honors, while Reese DeJong and Sarah Sexton All Freshman.

Gaither and Poplin each earned SoCon honors for the fourth time in their careers. The first team nod was the third for Gaither and second for Poplin.

DeJong went 8-4-2 in goal and recorded three shutouts during the regular season. Sexton earned playing time in the Paladin midfield in all 18 matches as a freshman and netted her first career goal at South Carolina.

The Paladins (9-6-3, 5-2-2), kick off their SoCon quarterfinal versus ETSU at 8 p.m. ET on Friday at Samford’s Shauna Yelton Field in Homewood, Ala.

Friday’s winner advances to face either No. 2 seed Samford or No. 7 seed UNC Greensboro in Sunday’s semifinal round. The championship match is the following weekend at the highest remaining seed.

Makayla Bays and Isabelle Iosua combined for 26 kills on Tuesday evening to lead East Tennessee State to a 3-0 (20-25, 19-25, 22-25) victory over the Furman volleyball team at Brooks Gymnasium.
Furman drops to 8-11, 2-6 in the SoCon. ETSU improves to 14-8 and 6-4.
Ava Augustson led the Paladins offensively with nine kills, while Chandler Parker and Grainne McGrath both contributed six. Quinn Morrissey dished out 12 assists and Emily Navarro compiled 10 and seven assists. Kennedy Seekford totaled a team best 21 digs and Augustson and Ashley Stein posted 12 and 10, respectively.
Furman remains on the road this weekend, Nov. 1-2, traveling to Western Carolina and Chattanooga. The Paladins face Western Carolina on Friday at 6 p.m. and Chattanooga on Saturday at 4.

Freshman Wilfer Bustamante is been named Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Bustamante, a Greenville native and product of J.L. Mann High School, scored in both matches last week to lead the Paladins to a 1-0-1 record. The forward netted the game-winning score in the second half of last Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Wofford at Stone Soccer Stadium before scoring Furman’s lone goal in a 1-1 draw with league-leading ETSU on Saturday night in Johnson City, Tenn.

“LA’s mine but it ain’t home, New York’s home but it ain’t mine no more.” – Neil Diamond

Wellpilgrim.com is trying its best – translation: I’m trying – to describe the highs and lows and avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Highs and lows are inevitable because all the games have a loser and a winner, and Wellpilgrim.com is trying its best – translation: I’m trying – to describe the highs and lows and avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Highs and lows are inevitable because all the games have a loser and a winner, and when it’s done, they are the same number.

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