November 17, 2001
FURMAN CLAIMS 2001 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
TITLE
BEHIND NAPIER'S FOUR TDs, OPPORTUNISTIC DEFENSE
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- Billy Napier passed for a career high 218 yards and accounted for four touchdowns and Furman's defense converted a pair of second half turnovers into scores to lead the NCAA I-AA fourth-ranked Paladins to a 42-10 win over Chattanooga and 2001 Southern Conference championship.
Furman's league title, its second in three years, is the program's 11th overall — the most by any school in the Southern Conference's 80-year football history. Furman (8-2, 7-1 SoCon), will complete its regular season next Saturday when it hosts Presbyterian in Greenville. The NCAA I-AA playoffs begin Dec. 1. Chattanooga (2-8, 1-7 SoCon) wraps up its season next Saturday with a home game against Kentucky State.
"It's a great feeling. Our guys and our coaching staff worked extremely hard for this opportunity, and we seized it." said Furman head coach Bobby Johnson. "It was great to get up here and get a win. It wasn't easy, and we had to earn it, so that makes it even more sweeter. We're very thankful.
"We made some big plays in the fourth quarter. Billy (Napier) and all of them — Richie (Jackson) on the fumble return...they came up big and the defense played a lot more consistent, particularly in the fourth quarter. We did what we had to do and got the win."
Napier, a junior from nearby Chatsworth, Ga., completed 16-of-23 passes and connected on scoring strikes of 19, 6, and 16 yards while also scoring on a 1-yard run to pace Furman's offense, which piled up a season high 468 yards. Two of Napier's strikes went to his roommate, junior flanker Bear Rinehart, and the other covered 16 yards to senior tight end Trent Sansbury, who caught a career high seven passes for 77 yards. Napier's 218 yards were the most by a Paladin quarterback since Justin Hill threw for 240 yards against Georgia Southern in 1999.
Senior All-America tailback Louis Ivory headlined Furman’s ground attack with 158 yards and touchdown. The reigning Walter Payton Award recipient as the top offensive player in NCAA I-AA football, has rushed for 1,316 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and now has 5,177 yards and 49 rushing touchowns in his career. Counting two playoff games, his totals are 5,492 yards and 51 touchdowns. His 158-yard performance marked the 30th 100-yard game of his career.
"This is really sweet and a championship we've earned with a lot of hard work," said Ivory. "We got off to a great start tonight and then struggled a bit. At halftime we came in talked about it and said if we want to be a championship team, we were going to have to take control of the game in the second half, and we did."
A 48-yard return by Brian Bratton, the nation's leading kickoff return specialist, on the games' first play set up a 27-yard touchdown run by Ivory at the 13:57 mark that put the Paladins ahead 7-0.
After Chattanooga tied the game a 7-7 on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Justin Barnes to Charles McNeil, the Paladins regained the lead on a 30-yard Danny Marshall field goal early in the second quarter.
Less than a minute later Furman struck again, thanks to a 28-yard interception return to the UTC 19 by all-conference free safety Josh Cooper. On the next play Napier connected with Rinehart in the corner of the end zone to give the Paladins a 16-7 advantage with 13:43 left in the first half.
Chattanooga hung tough in the third quarter and sliced Furman's lead to 16-10 with a 30-yard Andy Ladenbauche field goal, but Furman took control with a 26-point fourth period, highlighted by an opportunistic defense that set up a pair of touchdowns.
A spectacular, diving 6-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone by Rinehart at the 14:13 juncture extended Furman's lead to 22-10, and less than two minutes later a 13-yard interception return by senior linebacker John Thrift led to the Paladins’ next tally on a 16-yard strike from Napier to Sansbury that made it 28-10.
The Paladin onslaught continued a little more than a minute later when all-conference cornerback Richie Jackson scooped up a fumble by the Mocs'’ Joey Peters and raced 31 yards for another touchdown at the 11:30 mark and a 35-10 advantage. Napier's 1-yard touchdown plunge with 4:07 left capped Furman's fourth-quarter outburst.
Josh Cooper headlined Furman’s defensive effort with four tackles, two interceptions, and two pass deflections. Linebacker Will Bouton paced all tacklers with 12 stops and a tackle-for-loss. In addition to forcing four UTC turnovers, Furman's defense notched three sacks in the contest.