By MONTE DUTTON

I spent the first half of Sunday catching up on this site, that and watching an old film noir titled “The Big Combo,” with Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte.
As a measure of how times have changed, a Big Combo now comes from a drive-through, where a large drink is a small drink and a jumbo is a large one.
Ravens-Steelers and Chiefs-Bills were great Sunday afternoon games. The Panthers were off. This is why we can have nice things.
I’ve often thought wins are overvalued in evaluating quarterbacks. Football is a team sport. Some great quarterbacks never, or seldom, have the benefit of a great team playing around them.

Sonny Jurgensen was one such quarterback. Vince Lombardi, who coached him one year, said he was the finest he’d ever seen, and Lombardi coached another great one, Bart Starr.
Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals also wears No. 9. Like Jurgensen, Burrow has been to one Super Bowl, and like Jurgensen, he is a phenomenal talent. Jurgenson, who is now 90, was the NFL passing champion three times, the last when he was 40.
Jurgensen had the highest career passer rating of the NFL’s “dead ball era” (pre-1978), 82.6. He played his first seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by 11 with the Washington Redskins.

Football season has only one more game, but Furman’s 24-21 victory on Saturday over East Tennessee provided some relief in a disappointing season and a building block for next year.
The Paladins quashed any flickering postseason hopes for the Buccaneers.
“We’ve had our challenges throughout the year, but the effort and focus were there,” head coach Clay Hendrix said Monday. “Sometimes, with a younger team, when things don’t go their way, it has an effect.
“We’ve had a couple games this year when things just got away from us. … I just think our guys hung in there and kept believing. … They’ve been fighting and working all year, and I never sensed anything different.”

At last, after four straight losses – two where they were overwhelmed and two they gave away – good things happened. In Johnson City, Tenn., the Paladins returned to the attitude if not the form of the previous two seasons. In the 10th game of this season, it might be said next season it was the one where a young team grew up.
“I think we took a big step forward,” Hendrix said. “We’ll see. We’ve got to do it again next week. We’ve won a lot of games like that in a lot of years here. We also have a lot of guys who haven’t won games like that.
“A lot of it’s being in the right spot. A lot of it’s playing well. It’s probably a combination of both, but I’m hoping we’ve taken that step forward. Almost all the guys we’re playing are going to be back next year, or should be. I see it in terms of taking baby steps, but we’re taking care of the ball better. I think going on the road and beating a really good team makes it more so.”
A sterner task awaits. Furman (2-7, 2-4 SoCon) closes with a visit to Macon, Ga., where conference leader Mercer (9-2, 6-1) resides.

For the 15th time, Furman is SoCon champion in men’s soccer. Head coach Doug Allison won his 10th title, nailed down in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over second-seeded East Tennessee, also in Johnson City a day after the football triumph.
Senior Christian Kraus netted the match-winning goal and sophomore Aaron Salinas, the tournament’s most outstanding player, turned in his fifth shutout of the season.
With the victory, the Paladins (9-3-5) secured the SoCon’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will play North Carolina (9-4-4) in Chapel Hill on Thursday. The Paladins are making their 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since defeating UNCG, 3-0, at Summers-Taylor Stadium in the 2018 SoCon finals.
“I’m so happy for the boys, especially our seniors,” said Allison. “Our captains provided great leadership and it’s always great to get the shutout. Also, we appreciate the support of all the fans that made the trip from Greenville.”

Furman wasted little time grabbing the lead against the host Buccaneers. Lloyd Wamu Snell fired a long throw into the box that was headed to the ground inside the six-yard box. An ETSU defender attempted to clear the danger, but Furman’s Wilfer Bustamante intercepted the clearance inside the box. He struck a left-footed shot towards the left side of the net that Kraus redirected past the goalkeeper at 3:33 to give Furman the lead.
Salinas kept ETSU off the board in the 10th minute when Gabriel Ramos found himself free in the box and the Paladin sophomore raced off his line to deflect Ramos’ shot attempt out of play. Bustamante, Wesley Siegel and Caleb Johnson all had shots blocked inside the box in the opening 45 minutes while Diego Hernandez put a shot on target that ETSU’s Marc Kouadio saved.

The Paladins limited the Bucs to just four total shots and one on target in the second half. Caleb Johnson added the insurance goal that Furman needed in the 70th minute thanks to the hustle of Wamu Snell. The Paladin forward chased down and won a long ball over the top from Kraus and created a two-on-one situation. Wamu Snell slid a pass to Johnson on the left side of the box and the Atlanta, Ga., native’s strike glanced off a defender and into the left-hand corner at the 69:46 mark to double the Paladin lead.
Salinas finished the match with three saves while Kouadio turned away three shots for the Bucs. Furman managed a 15-9 margin in total shots and 5-3 edge in shots on goal. Each team earned five corner kicks.
Joining Salinas on the All-SoCon Tournament Team were Slade Starnes, Kraus and Wamu Snell.

The 22nd-ranked men’s cross country team earned an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Championships, which will be held on Saturday in Madison, Wis. The men’s 10 kilometers is set for 11:10 a.m. EST.
Furman finished sixth with 141 points at Friday’s NCAA Southeast Region Championship. Fifth-year student Dylan Schubert, a two-time cross country All-American from Loveland, Colo., finished third with a time of 29:49.8 to pace Furman in the 10K race.
Furman is one of 13 teams nationally to earn an at-large bid on the men’s side. Alabama, Arkansas, BYU, Harvard, Iowa State, New Mexico, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Ole Mill, Oregon, Princeton, Syracuse, Tulane, Villanova, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin earned automatic bids to the men’s championship meet at Friday’s regionals, while Butler, California Baptist, Colorado, Eastern Kentucky, Furman, Georgetown, Northern Arizona, Stanford, Tulsa, Utah State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Wyoming were awarded bids on Saturday.

Furman safety Billy Lewis is the Southern Conference defensive player of the week.
Lewis, a redshirt freshman making his fourth start at free safety, registered a career-high nine tackles, an interception, a pass break-up and a forced fumble in Furman’s 24-21 win over FCS 21st-ranked East Tennessee State. He was also honored as the Stats Perform National Freshman Player of the Week.
The 6-0, 180, Athens, Ga., native made a critical tackle in the second quarter with a full-extension, diving stop on a 42-yard Buccaneer pass play to the Furman five-yard line, preventing a touchdown. Three plays later he broke up a pass into the end zone, forcing ETSU to attempt a 26-yard field goal that missed, allowing Furman to take a 14-7 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Lewis halted a Buccaneer scoring threat with an interception at the Furman 30-yard line, which he returned 16 yards. His pick was one of three by Furman’s defense, which led to 10 points.
Lewis has registered 36 tackles and a team-leading three interceptions this season for Furman, which plays at Mercer this Saturday at 3 p.m.

Point guard PJay Smith Jr. is Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.
Smith averaged 21.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.5 steals per game while leading the Paladins to victories over Jacksonville and Tulane last week. The LaVergne, Tenn., native contributed 14 points, six boards, six assists, and four steals on Monday night as the Paladins notched a 78-69 win over the Dolphins at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
On Friday, Smith posted a season-high 29 points to go with three assists and three steals to key Furman’s 75-67 win over the Green Wave. The point guard hit six threes on Friday night en route to surpassing 1,000 career points. His 29 points marked the most in his two seasons with the Paladins.
Furman (4-0) concludes its three-game homestand on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Oglethorpe at Legacy Early College’s Parker Gymnasium. The Paladins received two votes in Associated Press polling of the nation’s top 25 teams.

Sarah MacLean and Bri Mahoney combined for 33 kills to lead the Wofford Terriers to a 3-1 (19-25, 19-25, 25-23, 23-25) victory over the Furman volleyball team Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale at Alley Gymnasium.
Furman ends the regular season with a 13-13 overall record and 7-8 mark in the SoCon. With the win, Wofford improves to 20-8 on the season and 12-4 in conference play.

Playing in their final home matches, Ava Augustson and Chandler Parker led the Paladins offensively. Augustson registered her seventh double-double of the season with 15 kills and 17 digs. Parker hit .361 and posted 14 kills. Quinn Morrissey dished out 26 assists to go with eight digs while Emily Navarro contributed 17 assists and eight digs. Defensively, Kennedy Seekford totaled 21 digs and Brooke Scheffler 10.
The 2024 SoCon Volleyball Championship is Friday through Sunday at Wofford’s Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium in Spartanburg.

“I can see the sun’s setting fast, and just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.” – Iris Dement
Wellpilgrim.com is winding down the fall making a transition to the winter chill.
Times are changing. I am aware of how irrelevant what I do for a living has become and thus how unimportant my efforts are. The readers appreciate them, but there aren’t enough of them. I doubt there ever will be again.

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Clyde Kinlaw has seen better days. Taiquan Wattson is an undiscovered phenom. They need each other. The Latter Days is a baseball novel.
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