This time the Petrels flew into the storm.
Stormy Petrels are seabirds. Oglethorpe University of Brookhaven, Ga., adopted them as its mascot. Petrels are not migratory. Furman basketball is migratory this year and played Oglethorpe, a Division III school, at Legacy Early College’s Parker Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
With Timmons Arena being renovated, most Furman games are played this season at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
How successful was the one-time migration? The Paladins won, 124-48, in their takeover of the tiny venue where onetime Paladin Ronald White played at Parker High School in the 1970s.

PJay Smith Jr. connected on 9/10 three-point attempts to score 29 points, and freshman Mason Smith added 20.
It was Furman’s largest margin of victory since a 126-33 spread over Virginia Intermont on Dec. 29, 2004.
Furman (5-0) opened a 40-10 edge at the outset, led by 45 at halftime, and scored 27 points to the Petrels’ two in the first five minutes of the second half.

Furman matched a school-record with 34 assists and Smith’s 90-percent accuracy behind the arc established a new school record for 10 or more attempts.
The other Smith, Mason, hit 4/11 threes, and Cooper Bowse added 16 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Tom House and Tommy Humphries rounded out Furman’s double-figure scorers with 10 points each.
The Paladins shot .576 from the field and 17/42 from long range. They compiled a 64-21 rebounding advantage, outscored Oglethorpe 62-14 in the paint, and posted a 25-0 edge in points off turnovers.

Logan Turner led the Stormy Petrels (2-2) with 14 points while Jaylon Taylor added 12. Oglethorpe shot just .279 from the field.
All the wealth was shared. Mason Smith, who played 23 minutes, was the only Paladin with more than 19.
Thirteen Furman players scored. All 15 who played grabbed rebounds. Thirteen passed out assists. Five made three-pointers. Nine made tries.
Furman (5-0) opens a four-game road swing with a visit to Charleston Southern at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Take a look at the stats here.

Furman football is coming off its closest version of a signature win.
After a 24-21 road victory over then-FCS 21st-ranked East Tennessee State, Furman travels to Macon, Ga., to take on No. 8/9 Mercer in a 3 p.m. Southern Conference clash at Five Star Stadium.
If the Paladins beat the odds and the Bears, the finale becomes the signature of the season.
It’s been a struggle for Furman (3-7, 2-4 SoCon) and the number of young players cast into starting roles. Twenty-four Paladins have made career starting debuts this season, and 30 of the squad’s current 44-member offense and defense two-deep are either freshmen or sophomores.

A year ago, when Furman went 10-3 and won the SoCon title, 35 of the Paladins’ top 44 players possessed junior, senior, or graduate-level experience.
After a pair of close setbacks to VMI and Wofford, Furman broke through against ETSU by cutting down mistakes and intercepting three Buccaneer passes, which the Paladins converted into 10 points. Redshirt freshman safety Billy Lewis, making his fourth start, led the way, registering nine tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a pass deflection on the way to landing Stats Perform Freshman Player of the Week honors.

Other standout Paladin defenders against ETSU were freshman linebacker Ryan Earl (8 tackles, 2 TFL), and the unit’s leader, redshirt senior Evan DiMaggio (13 tackles, 2-1/2 TFL), the SoCon’s leading tackler this season with 112 stops.
Furman’s three pickoffs against ETSU upped its season tally to 12, a far cry from the 27 takeaways registered in 2023 and the 29 posted two years ago.
The Paladins’ have had their struggles offensively this fall but managed to improve their efficiency in the win over ETSU. Freshman quarterback Trey Hedden delivered an effective performance (23/28, 210 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), and his favorite target was sophomore Colton Hinton (6 rec., 62 yds., TD), who has fashioned a solid campaign (50 rec., 5 TDs).

Furman’s ground game accounted for only 72 yards against the Buccaneers but proved effective enough in the fourth quarter on a 13-play, 46-yard possession that ran out the game clock.
Mercer (9-2, 6-1 SoCon), which two weeks ago clinched a share of its first SoCon football championship, seeks its first win over Furman since 2021. Two years ago, in the last trip to Macon, the Paladins’ defense suffocated the Bears in a 23-13 win, and last year Furman dispatched Mercer with a 38-13 triumph in Greenville.
Much like Furman a year ago, the Bears have played solid defense and been proficient in takeaways, tallying 28 (21 INTs) through 11 games to rank second in the FCS in the category.
The ESPN+ streamed contest will also be aired over flagship The Fan Upstate and its four stations: 97.7 FM/1330 AM in Greenville and 97.1 FM/950 AM in Spartanburg.

Three high-school recruits signed with Pierre Curtis’s women’s basketball program.
Set to join Furman for the 2025-26 season are guard Sophia Pearl from Woodstock, Ga., forward Brooklyn King from Dallas, Texas, and post Ty Berry of Fort Thomas, Ky.
“Our goal with this class was to continue adding talent that can play multiple positions, who possess additional toughness and who love the game,” said Curtis. “I think we have accomplished that with this group.”

Pearl, a 5- 7 point guard, stars at River Ridge High School, where she helped lead her squad to a 27-5 record and both region and state championships her sophomore year.
King is a 6-0 forward who plays for Cedar Hill High School, where she averaged 12.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 4.2 assists per game as a junior while helping her squad to a 22-15 record and to the regional quarterfinals.
Berry, a 6- 3 forward, is playing this season for Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Ky., after averaging 13.4 points, and both a conference leading 17.2 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game in 14 games at Withrow High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, her junior year.

Not that it comes as a surprise, but the once-scheduled home football game between Furman and Samford has officially been canceled after Hurricane Helene prevented it being played on Sept. 28.
Furman offers three options for fans holding tickets to the contest.
Ticket holders may choose to donate their purchase to the Paladin football program, convert their purchase into a credit for the 2025 football season or request a refund for their purchase. The submission deadline is Friday, Dec. 20.
Fans with questions may call the Furman Athletics Box Office at (864) 294-3099.

“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.

Support the advertisers. They are all fine people who support my efforts, not to mention those of the kids, coaches, parents and fans.
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.
Clyde Kinlaw has seen better days. Taiquan Wattson is an undiscovered phenom. They need each other. The Latter Days is a baseball novel.
Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.
Thanks for putting up with me.