By MONTE DUTTON

Anything doesn’t often happen, but it certainly can.

I spent Friday and Saturday surprised in various degrees. I expected Clinton to win the Laurens County championship in high-school football, but not 50-0 over Laurens. I expected Furman to start the season with a victory over William & Mary, but I was concerned that my view was colored in purple by my love for the Paladins. I didn’t expect LSU to upend Clemson, but I certainly knew it could happen. I expected plucky Presbyterian to give Mercer a fight, but I didn’t expect the Blue Hose actually to win, 15-10.

As the late Harry Caray used to say about the Chicago Cubs, “Hold everything!”

At the end of the media conference after the Paladins’ hard-fought, 23-21, victory over the Tribe, I was chatting with Furman quarterback Trey Hedden. I told him I was an eyewitness two years ago to Presbyterian’s 23-20 upset of Wofford in Spartanburg. I told him he’d better not take the Hose lightly. They’re coming to Furman next week.

I didn’t mean to sound like Nostradamus.

The penultimate day of August was unseasonably pleasant. The weather was perfect. Paladin Stadium was surrounded by live music, the aroma of meat grilling and a bright blue sky adorned by billowing cumulus clouds. It looked as if Paris Mountain got closer since last season.

The last three scores of the game were Ian Williams field goals – in descending order, 50 yards, 42 and 32 – and Furman (1-0) won, 23-21, against a team that defeated the Paladins, 34-24, last season. They will have six more such opportunities to turn tables.

Walking the high-school sidelines, camera in hand, on Fridays leaves me fatigued and arthritic on Saturdays. I was fighting the wheel back down 385 to Clinton. I never concentrated so hard on the Tiger Tailgate Show. Presbyterian kicked off at 6 p.m. in Macon, but the Blue Hose are not available on radio. I got home in time to see the Tigers and Tigers kick off. I monitored PC-Mercer via streaming statistics. The Blue Hose trailed all evening, but not by much.

The Bears beat Presbyterian, 63-10, in the opening game last year. The Bears beat Furman, 49-23, in the last one of the regular season. Mercer, champion of the Southern Conference, entered Saturday ranked 11^th in FCS. It was the highest-ranked team Presbyterian has beaten since it joined Division I and FCS in 2011.

PC’s Zach Switzer scored on a 16-yard run with 59 seconds remaining, giving the Blue Hose a 15-10 victory. The score was closer than the statistics. Presbyterian racked up 416 yards to Mercer’s 241. I can only imagine the teeth-gnashing that took place at Five Star Stadium.

Oh, by the way, PC does not award football scholarships. College football boasts many fine men heading up programs. Two of them are Furman’s Clay Hendrix and PC’s Steve Englehart.

Third-ranked Ohio State defeated top-ranked Texas, 14-7. I’ve already forgotten the details.

But enough of the Blue Hose and Bears, Tigers and Tigers, Buckeyes and Longhorns, Seminoles and Crimson Tide. It was a stirring affair in Pleasantville.

“I like this group,” said Hendrix. “I just like the way they work. They’re together, and they’re locked in.

“First games are a little different. [W&M] changed some stuff. We changed some stuff. Both teams made adjustments as the game went along.”

Furman started and finished fast.

Just a minute, 36 seconds, in, safety Taylen Blalock picked off William & Mary quarterback Tyler Hughes and dashed 43 yards for a touchdown. Ian Williams provided the first of his 11 kicking points.

After Rashad Raymond put the Tribe on the board with a three-yard rush in the second quarter, Furman took a 14-7 halftime advantage on Hedden’s four-yard pass to freshman Evan James with 8:18 remaining in the second quarter.

A 75-yard Devin Hester kickoff return led to the James score.

The third quarter was unkind to the Paladins, who squandered the lead by allowing two touchdowns, a one-yard run by Hughes at the 14:14 mark – capping a four-play, 80-yard drive – and Hughes’ nine-yard connection with Sean McElwain at 5:26.

The Paladins’ regained momentum when Williams drilled a 50-yard field goal with 1:37 left in the third period.

The final period wasn’t only all-Furman. It was all-Williams. His 42-yard trimmed the Tribe edge to 21-20 and the 32-yarder put Furman up at 2:43.

William & Mary’s final possession ended with a fourth-down incompletion, broken up by Blaylock, at the Tribe 30.

A first down on three runs by Jayquan Smith enabled Furman to run out the final 1:36.

William & Mary won the statistical battle, outgaining the Paladins 144-58 on the ground and 208-179 through the air.

Hedden completed 21/29 passes with a touchdown, and William & Mary’s Hughes was 19/31, matching a score with an interception.

Furman’s defense stepped up at the end, yielding only 26 yards and no first downs in the fourth quarter.

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