In their football uniforms, Furman and Virginia Military looked as if it was 1970. That year the Keydets blanked the Paladins, 13-0, in Lexington, Va.
On Saturday, the score was 21-17 as VMI won its first game and Furman lost its third straight. It was a throwback in the worst sort of way.
It’s bad. As head coach Clay Hendrix said to David Cobb on radio afterwards, “We’ve got to quit beating ourselves.”
How the mighty have fallen. It must be written. It’s a textbook example. Furman (2-6, 1-3 SoCon) was 10-3 in each of the past two years. The current season began thin and turned barren.
What made Saturday’s catastrophe more damnable was that the Paladins dominated the statistics. Lies, damn lies, and statistics, which was Mark Twain channeling Benjamin Disraeli. Maybe.

VMI (1-8, 1-4) used a pair of late second-quarter touchdowns to build a 21-10 lead and held off Furman to claim a 21-17 win at Foster Stadium.
The Keydets, who ran only 43 offensive plays, were outgained, 412-177, and managed just two first downs and 31 total yards in the second half while being shut out
They benefited from three turnovers by the Paladins to win for only the third time in 32 meetings since 1980.
Furman, meanwhile, ran 87 offensive plays and controlled the football for 39:35, but the Paladins failed to it into points. The final missed opportunity came after Furman, trailing 21-17, covered 66 yards in 14 plays to the VMI three before losing two yards on a fumbled second-down snap. Quarterback Carson Jones was then sacked on third down at the seven, and his fourth-down pass attempt to Ben Ferguson was batted down short of the goal line with 2:45 remaining.

The Paladins took over at their own 34 with 1:41 remaining following a VMI punt, but on the first play Jones’ pass along the sideline was intercepted by Shamus Jones at the Keydet 48.
Freshman Gavin Hall headlined Furman’s offense with 13 rushes for a 121 yards, the Paladins’ first 100-yard rushing effort of the season. Furman’s 195 rushing yards marked a season high.
Colton Hinton caught eight passes for 88 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown grab in first quarter that tied the game at 7-7.
A 46-yard run by Hall midway thru the second quarter gave Furman first-and-goal at the VMI seven, but the Paladins were forced to settle for a 29-yard Ian Williams field goal for its only lead of the game, 10-7, with 8:54 remaining in the first half.
Hunter Rice’s two-yard touchdown plunge capped a six-play, 75-yard drive to put the Keydets up 14-10 with 5:22 to go. On the ensuing possession VMI’s Eric Rankin sacked Furman quarterback Trey Hedden at the Furman 46, forcing a fumble, which he scooped up at 40 and returned 36 yards to the Paladin four. Two plays later, Jo Jo Crump ran three yards for the touchdown, with the PAT giving the Keydets a 21-10 lead with 1:56 on the first-half clock.

The Paladins threatened just before the half, moving to the VMI 32, but Hedden was sacked on third down at the Keydet 41, and Williams’ 59-yard field-goal attempt in the closing seconds missed left.
Furman put together a 16-play, 87-yard third quarter drive in the third quarter to slice VMI’s advantage to 21-17 on quarterback Carson Jones’ four-yard connection with tight end Brock Chappell on a fourth-and-one play.
The Paladins, however could not capitalize on their final three possessions, turning it over on downs at the VMI 23 and 10, and the second interception of the game sealed their fate.
Wofford (4-5, 2-4) visits Paladin Stadium next Saturday at 2 p.m.
Take a look at the stats here.

Furman swept the men’s and women’s team titles for the 12th consecutive year at the Southern Conference championships at the Furman University Golf Course.111
The Paladins captured both individual titles, with senior Dylan Schubert and junior Carly Wilkes winning the men’s 8-kilometer race and women’s 5K, respectively, and establishing new course records in each event.
Schubert’s win, his third consecutive individual SoCon title, marked the ninth straight individual title for the Paladins on the men’s side. Furman’s Rita Gary was voted the SoCon Women’s Coach of the Year, marking the 12th straight year the Paladins have won the award, while Robert Gary received the award on the men’s side for the 11th time.

In the opening race of the day, the 23rd-ranked Furman men’s team scored a perfect 15 points. Western Carolina finished second with 94 points, and UNC Greensboro was third with 108.

Paladin runners took the top six spots in the race and seven of the top eight spots, with senior Carson Williams and sophomore Chris Knight finishing back to back in second and third place, respectively. Williams posted a time of 24:07.7, followed by Knight at 24:07.9.
The Paladins compete at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships on Nov. 15 in Rock Hill.

No. 3 seed Furman jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held on down the stretch to down No. 6 seed ETSU, 2-1, in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference women’s soccer tournament Friday night at Samford’s Shauna Yelton Field.
With the victory, Furman (10-6-3) advances to face No. 2 seed Samford in Sunday’s semifinal round. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. ET.

After dominating the chances in the opening half, Furman took the lead in the 41st minute. Senior Shania Diaz pounced on a loose ball and raced through the midfield to catch ETSU out of position. She slid a pass inside the box to her right, and Valentina Mosquera deposited a low shot to the left-hand corner at the 40:25 mark to put the Paladins on top, 1-0.
ETSU (4-8-4) controlled possession and outshot the Paladins, 5-0 over the opening 19 minutes of the second half before Furman doubled the lead in the 70th minute. Graduate student Tara Katz accelerated past a pair of ETSU defenders and into the left side of the box before lining a left-footed strike into the right-hand corner at the 69:32 mark to extend the Paladin lead to 2-0.
The Bucs got on the board at the 76:03 mark when Ella Parker spun free outside the box and lofted a shot that glanced off the fingertips of Furman goalkeeper Reese DeJong and settled in the left-hand corner.

Ashley Stein hit .458 and recorded her third double-double of the season to lead the Furman volleyball team to a sweep of Chattanooga, 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-17), Saturday in Southern Conference action at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Paladins improve to 10-11 overall and 4-6 in league play, while Chattanooga drops to 14-12 overall and 4-7 versus SoCon opponents.
Stein, a freshman from Easley, led the Paladins with 14 kills and registered 10 digs in the victory. Senior Ava Augustson also notched her third double-double of the year, posting ten kills and 12 digs, while sophomore Izzy Castelloe tallied 11 kills for Furman.
Breanah Rives scored 13 kills to lead the Mocs, and Elaine Redman posted 29 assists.
Furman returns to Alley Gymnasium to open a five-match homestand on Thursday versus Mercer. First serve is 6 p.m.

On Friday in Cullowhee, the Paladins edged Western Carolina, 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12) at Ramsey Center.
The victory was the fourth straight for Furman over Western Carolina and marked the longest winning streak over the Catamounts since 2014-16, when the Paladins also scored four consecutive victories.
Sophomore Izzy Castelloe hit .417 and posted a career-high 19 kills to lead the Paladins, while freshman Tennyson Gorman hit .407 and notched a career-high 14 kills, while pacing the team with six block assists.
Zoe Zudans led the Catamounts with 22 kills, and Katie Boney dished out a match-high 51 assists. Eda Yalcinkaya posted 31 digs to lead Western Carolina.

Furman and Mercer played to a 1-1 draw in Southern Conference men’s soccer regular-season finale at Stone Stadium.
With the tie, Furman (7-3-4, 2-1-2 SoCon) claims the fourth seed in the upcoming SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship and will face a rematch against the fifth-seeded Bears (6-4-7, 1-2-2 SoCon) in the opening round of the postseason on Friday in Greensboro, N.C. The winner will advance to face top-seed UNC Greensboro in the semifinal round on Sunday, Nov. 10.

Furman managed a 21-9 advantage in total shot attempts and 7-5 edge in shots on goal, but the Paladins had to wait until the final six minutes to find the equalizer. Jack Travis sent a throw-in to the near side of the box that Ryan Wagner flicked into the path of senior Ivan Agyaakwah. The London, England, native lined a shot past Mercer goalkeeper Trevor McMullen at the 84:07 mark to even the match at 1-1.
UNCG clinched the SoCon regular season title with a win over ETSU. Both schools will receive a first-round bye and host semifinal match-ups next weekend.
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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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