Furman
will learn early Sunday afternoon who it will play in the NCAA I-AA playoffs,
which get underway Dec. 1.November 24, 2001
IVORY'S 176 YARDS, FOUR TDS PACE
FURMAN
TO 47-28 WIN OVER PRESBYTERIAN
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Louis Ivory rushed for 176 yards and four touchdowns to lead the NCAA I-AA fourth-ranked Furman Paladins to a 47-28 win over Division II foe Presbyterian Saturday at Paladin Stadium in the regular season finale for both teams.
Ivory, the reigning Walter Payton Award honoree as the top offensive player in NCAA I-AA, scored on touchdown runs of 15, 1, 3, and 2 yards and claimed his second consecutive Southern Conference rushing title in pacing Furman (9-2), which last week earned a share of the 2001 league championship. Ivory finished the regular season with 1,492 yards and a school season record 19 touchdowns and registered the 31st 100-yard rushing game of his career.
Ivory's performance Saturday also saw him move ahead of VMI's Thomas Haskins into second place on the Southern Conference's career rushing list with 5,353 yards.
Furman
will learn early Sunday afternoon who it will play in the NCAA I-AA playoffs,
which get underway Dec. 1.
Presbyterian (7-4) was paced by senior quarterback Todd Cunningham, who completed 33-of-48 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns to finish his career as the second all-time leading passer in NCAA Division II history with 10,937 yards and 111 touchdowns.
"(Todd) Cunningham did a great job throwing the football, and PC has some great receivers and today had a good game plan against us," said Furman head coach Bobby Johnson. "We didn't make many adjustments at halftime other than eliminating some of the things we were trying to do defensively. We got real simple in the second half with our coverages and executed a lot better, and Louis did a super job running the football for us. With the game on the line, we had to count on our horses, and our horses came through for us."
"Furman has a great team," said first year Presbyterian head coach Tommy Spangler. "They have a legitimate chance to win the national championship. I think we gained a lot of respect today. I'm real proud of our team and the way they played hard for the entire game."
Presbyterian used all four Cunningham touchdown passes in the first half, including a pair of strikes to senior wide receiver D.J. Humphries covering 14 and 13 yards, to take a 28-27 lead into halftime.
Furman, however, regained the advantage when Ivory scored on a 3-yard run on the Paladins’ first possession of the second half to make it 33-28.
The Paladins’ Cedrick Ritter then intercepted Cunningham at the Furman 36 on Presbyterian's next possession, and the Paladins responded by moving 64 yards in 13 plays for Ivory’s fourth touchdown of the contest, which came on a 2-yard run with 2:55 left in the third quarter to give the Paladins a 40-28 advantage.
Furman closed out the scoring with an Al Means 4-yard run with 10:21 left in the game.
Furman rolled up a 494-350 advantage in total offense and shut out Presbyterian in the second half, limiting the Blue Hose to only 91 total yards over the final two quarters. PC only netted four rushing yards in the game on 10 attempts.
Billy Napier paced Furman’s passing attack, completing 13-of-23 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown.
Picture: Freshman linebacker Cedrick Ritter steps in front of PC's Kevie Smith for a third quarter interception that set up a Paladin score.