FURMAN 37, CHATTANOOGA 7
GREENVILLE -- Hindley Brigham rushed
for 114 yards and two touchdowns to power NCAA I-AA eighth-ranked Furman to
a 35-7 Southern Conference win over Chattanooga Saturday afternoon at Paladin
Stadium.
Brigham, a junior tailback from Birmingham, Ala., scored on runs of 1 and 58
yards to help Furman (8-3, 6-2 SoCon) take control of the contest and earn its
eighth straight win over Chattanooga (2-10, 2-6 SoCon), whose head coach Donnie
Kirkpatrick, it was announced recently, would be reassigned within Chattanooga’s
athletics department following three seasons as head coach.
Furman will now await the announcement of the 16-team NCAA I-AA playoffs bracket
on Sunday. The Paladins, who last year went 13-2 and finished as national runnerup,
finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Southern Conference with
Appalachian State and Wofford. Furman has made three straight NCAA I-AA playoff
appearances and 11 bids to postseason play since the conference was reclassified
from I-A to I-AA in 1982.
“This was a scary game coming in because Chattanooga had won their last
two and had nothing to lose, but I thought we handled it well after a slow start,”
said Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. “We got a big turnover in the third
quarter, and that jump started our offense and we played well after that. Our
defense played extremely well.”
“We couldn’t get our rhythm going in the first quarter,” said
Donnie Kirkpatrick. “The Furman defense played well. I can see why Furman
is the No. 1 pass defense in the league. I wish we could have had a better showing
today.”
A 7-yard touchdown pass from Billy Napier to Isaac West on the Paladins’
first possession gave Furman a 7-0 lead at the 10:52 mark of the first quarter.
Chattanooga battled back to tie the game after moving 90 yards in 18 plays for
a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ryan McCann to Jason Jones at the 6:52 juncture
of the second quarter.
Furman, however, regained the lead a short while later after defensive tackle
LeBryan Sperling recovered a fumble at the UTC 35. A 19-yard pass from Napier
to Isaac West moved the Paladins to the 1 before Brigham ran off right guard
into the end zone to give Furman a 14-7 lead with only 37 seconds remaining
in the half.
The Paladins capitalized on another Chattanooga turnover in the third quarter
to add to its advantage. An interception and 26-yard return by cornerback Rodney
Johnson to the UTC 30 led to a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Corey Tant to
make it 21-7.
Furman padded its lead later with a 58-yard run by Brigham off an option pitch
and a 5-yard touchdown pass by backup quarterback Bo Moore to split end James
Thomas.
Furman outgained Chattanooga 339-219 in total offense and rolled up 240 yards
on the ground to the Mocs’ 54. The Paladins recorded a season high three
sacks.
Paladin quarterback Billy Napier, who completed 12-of-15 passes for 94 yards
and a score, hit sophomore split end Isaac West for six completions for 70 yards.
Senior flanker Bear Rinehart, meanwhile, caught five passes for 24 yards to
establish a new Furman season receptions record, eclipsing the previous standard
of 53 receptions set by Robbie Hahn in 1967. The Seneca, S.C., product now has
58 receptions on the year.
Furman’s defense, which did not allow UTC to cross midfield in the second
half, was paced by sophomore linebacker Mike Killian with eight tackles.
Chattanooga senior middle linebacker Josh Cain notched 14 tackles for his 13th
straight game with at least 10 tackles.