Presbyterian College makes football scholarships look like a luxury item.

Anybody can win with scholarships. It takes a team to win without them.

What the Blue Hose of fourth-year head coach Steve Englehart have done in the first two weeks of the season is ridiculous. If he’d predicted victories over Mercer and Furman, a psychiatrist would have had him committed.

Englehart doesn’t seem like a sorcerer. On a weather-delayed Saturday at Paladin Stadium, Presbyterian trailed 28-14 at halftime, 31-21 when first lightning struck, and then PC struck lightning.

The Blue Hose wound up winning in overtime, 39-38, because Furman scored first and kicked the extra point, and Presbyterian scored and decided to settle it right then.

First Collin Hurst hit Nathan Levicki for a three-yard score, and then they teamed up again for the game-winning two-pointer.

These things happen. I’ve never seen it, but PC proves it happens.

Furman once led, 28-7, and dominated the former half. Presbyterian outscored the Paladins, 17-3, in the latter. By game’s end, the Blue Hose had 444 total yards to Furman’s 370. PC had also compiled a statistical edge at Mercer. Scholarships or not, neither victory was in any sense a fluke.

Hurst threw for five touchdowns and completed passes to nine different receivers.

Never did the Blue Hose lead until the final play. Levicki made a diving catch in the back corner of the end zone to cap another improbable victory.

Each of the last four games between Presbyterian and Furman have been decided by 10 points or less (dating back to 2012), but this was the first meeting since the Blue Hose began phasing out scholarships in 2017.

Gavin Hall rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns as the Paladins raced out to a 28-14 lead. Quarterback Trey Hedden  completed 29/40 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown. Both teams were guilty of three turnovers, highlighted by two interceptions from Furman’s Billy Lewis.

Following a Furman field goal with 9:43 remaining in the third quarter, putting the Paladins  ahead by 17 points, the PC defense didn’t allow another first down until overtime. Five consecutive Furman drives ended in either a three-and-out or a turnover before they could move the chains. The Paladins did not have a single play greater than eight yards over the final 27 minutes of regulation.

None of Furman’s last five regulation drives, spanning the back half of the third quarter and the entire fourth, lasted longer than 1:43.

The Blue Hose next host Erskine on Sept. 13 under the lights, beginning at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. PC grounded the Flying Fleet last year 31-14, thanks to 229 all-purpose yards by Zach Switzer that included a 90-yard kick return TD.

Erskine got off on the wrong foot to start the ’25 season, falling to Anderson on Saturday, 35-7.

The Paladins next visit Buies Creek, N.C., to play Campbell (0-2) at 3:30 p.m.

Take a look at the game stats here.

For years, my site has been supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports). Every little bit helps.

Most of my books are available at Amazon.