Furman Halts Wofford Again, 23-21

November 16, 2002

FURMAN HALTS WOFFORD AGAIN, 23-21

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- It was billed by the Wofford faithful, coaches, and players as the most important football game in the history of the program, and that goes back to 1889.

On Thursday, a pep rally was held and Wofford head coach Mike Ayers guaranteed a win for his team. Furman quarterback Billy Napier was hung and burned in effigy, and "Beat Furman" T-shirts were seemingly more visible than izod sweaters. But Napier recovered nicely from his scorching by grabbing the gas can and matches and lighting up Wofford with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brian Bratton with 29 seconds left to lift the NCAA I-AA ninth-ranked Paladins to a 23-21 win Saturday at rain-soaked Gibbs Stadium.

The victory, Furman's fourth straight over Wofford and seventh in its last eight meetings with its oldest rival, denied the Terriers a share of their first Southern Conference championship in any sport since joining the league in 1997 and put Furman in position to possibly claim a bid to the NCAA I-AA playoffs -- the program's fourth straight and 12th overall -- with a win over Chattanooga next Saturday in Greenville. Furman improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in league play while Wofford fallls to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in league action.

"We were challenged today in a very big football game, but our guys rose to the occasion," said first year Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. "Our seniors gave us great leadership all week and especially today. I thought we controlled the game the first two and half quarters, but they (Wofford) came back. With 4:41 left, I looked into the eyes of our players, and what I saw was a team ready to go, and they got it done when it counted. I'm very proud of their effort."

Napier, a senior All-Southern Conference performer from Chatsworth, Ga., engineered the Paladins' game winning 11-play, 74-yard drive after Wofford's J.R. McNair scored on a 41-yard run to put the Terriers ahead 21-17 with 4:41 left in the game. Completing all five of his pass attempts for 63 yards on the Paladins' final possession, Napier methodically moved the Furman offense down the field on the strength of a 17 pass to Isaac West, three completions to Bear Rinehart for 39 yards, and the game winning 7-yard strike to a slanting Brian Bratton. Furman's signal caller connected on all eight of second half pass attempts and his last 10 overall. For the contest the nation's second highest rated passer was 14-of-17 for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

"Our preparation was the factor on that last drive," said Napier. "We prepared for long yardage looks and actually did a little bit of work at the hotel with coach (Bobby) Lamb last night, going over some of the plays we called on the drive. We wanted to get the ball to Bear Rinehart, and we did. What we were able to do on our game winning drive was a direct result of preparation."

Furman took advantage of a pair of first half Wofford turnovers to grab a 10-0 lead.

A fumble on a punt return by Wofford's Drew Hill on the first play of the second quarter was recovered by Furman's Keith Johnson at the Terrier 31, and on the next play, Isaac West beat a pair of Terrier defensive backs on a post route for a 31-yard touchdown catch to give the Paladins a 7-0 lead.

Later in the second quarter Furman defensive end Eddie Overdyke scooped up a fumble by Wofford senior running back Jesse McCoy at the Terrier 32 and rambled 21 yards to the Wofford 11. Three plays later the Southern Conference's top kicker, Danny Marshall, drilled a 28-yard field goal to give the Paladins a 10-0 lead with 3:50 left in the first half.

A scoreless third quarter proved to be only a prelude to a thrilling final period, as Wofford got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback J.R. McNair at the 12:12 mark to complete a 17-play, 86-yard drive and make it 10-7.

Furman answered with a 5-play, 67-yard drive that featured a 45-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Hindley Brigham, who took a quick pitch from Napier, avoided a Terrier defender with a cut, and outran the Wofford defense to the end zone to stretch the Paladins' lead to 17-7 with 10:00 left.

Wofford came back with 9-play, 80-yard possession that ended with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback Jeff Zolman to make it 17-14 at the 6:21 juncture.

A partially blocked punt by the Terriers' Alex Love put Wofford in business at the Furman 46 with 4:54 left in the game, and two plays later J.R. McNair raced up the middle for 41 yards into the end zone to give the Terriers their first lead of the game, 21-17, with 4:41 to go.

Wofford's joy, however, lasted only a few minutes as the Paladins, starting at their own 26, picked up 17 yards to the 43 on a Napier-to-West connection over the middle. After Napier scrambled for six yards to the 49, the Paladin senior was sacked by Anthony Jones for a 3-yard loss to the 46. On a third-and-seven play, he connected with Rinehart for 15 yards and a first down to the Wofford 39.

A pair of runs by Toreico O'Neal and Corey Tant gave the Paladins a first down a the Terrier 28, but Napier lost two yards to the 30 on a bobbled snap. Following a Furman timeout, Napier hooked up again with Rinehart on two straight plays ‹ one for 18 yards to the Wofford 12 and the second, for six yards to the Terrier 7. After Toreico O'Neal was stopped for a 1-yard loss at the 7, Napier drilled a 7-yard strike into the hands of Brian Bratton with 29 seconds left for the game¹s deciding points and a 23-21 lead. Instead of attempting the PAT on the muddy track, Napier took a knee.

Taking over possession at its own 25, Wofford could not get into field goal range in the final seconds against Furman's deep coverage.

Wofford was held almost 100 yards below its season rushing average, but the Terriers still managed 259 yards on the ground on the way to 375 yards in total offense. Furman, meanwhile, compiled 263 yards in offense and got 80 yards on 16 carries from Hindley Brigham.

Bear Rinehart paced the Paladins' passing game with seven catches for 60 yards and, in the process, tied Robbie Hahn's Furman single season receptions record of 53 catches set in 1967. The senior All-Southern Conference performer from Seneca, S.C., also moved ahead of former great Chas Fox (1982-85) into fifth place on the Paladins' career receptions chart with 109 receptions for 1,696 yards.

Napier's work against Wofford made him Furman¹s new single season passing yardage leader with 2,071 yards, thereby surpassing former standout Frankie DeBusk (1987-90), who threw for 2,035 yards in 1990.

Defensively the Paladins were paced by sophomore linebacker Mike Killian with 11 tackles, and junior linebacker Keito Whetstone finished with eight stops.

Furman's kickoff against Chattanooga next Saturday is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Paladin Stadium.