PHOTO GALERY
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Furman's Jon Croft Hollingsworth kicked a 19-yard field goal as time expired to complete the Paladin's second-half comeback to down Samford, 20-17, Saturday afternoon at Seibert Stadium.
Samford build a 17-0 halftime lead. The Paladins, however outscored the Bulldogs 20-0 in the second half to come back for the win.
"It was the weirdest game I think I've ever coached in," Samford head coach
Chris Hatcher said. "At the very end, it was a helpless feeling. We couldn't get the stop there at the end. We missed some opportunities in the first half to build a bigger lead. And then in the second half, we had a hard time stopping the run. If you give up 20 points in the second half and you don't score in that half, it's very difficult to win the ballgame."
For Samford in the game, quarterback
Devlin Hodges completed 34-of-48 passes for 281 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Hodges also led Samford's running game with nine carries for 38 yards.
Kelvin McKnight led Samford's receivers with 10 catches for 101 yards.
Karel Hamilton caught eight passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.
On defense for Samford,
Trey Wesley,
Deion Pierre and
Jamerson Blount had nine tackles each.
Shaheed Salmon and
James Bradberry had an interception each for the Bulldogs' defense.
Furman was led by Antonio Wilcox with 17 rushes for 133 yards and a touchdown. P.J. Blazejowski completed 14-of-28 passes for 174 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Paladins' defense was led by Cory Magwood with 16 tackles, including 10 solo stops. Carl Rider had 10 tackles, seven solo. Reggie Thomas added an interception for Furman.
Samford grabbed the lead early, scoring on the opening drive of the contest.
K'rondis Larry scored on a one-yard run to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took 2 minutes and 16 seconds and give Samford a 7-0 lead with 12:44 left in the first quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Salmon intercepted a Furman pass, giving Samford the ball at the Furman 31-yard line. On the next play Hodges hit Hamilton for a touchdown to give Samford a 14-0 lead with 14:43 to go in the second quarter.
Samford added one final score before halftime. With 3:30 left in the second quarter
Anthony Pistelli kicked a 31-yard field goal to give Samford a 17-0 lead.
Furman put its first points on the scoreboard on the first drive of the third quarter. Wilcox scored on a 43-yard run to cut the Samford lead to 17-7 with 13:03 to go in the third quarter.
The Paladins struck again early in the fourth quarter. Hollingsworth kicked a 21-yard field goal to make the score 17-10 with 14:20 left in the final period. Furman tied the game when Blazejowski hit Chad Scott for a 26-yard touchdown to knot the score at 17-17 with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter.
Furman finished the game with 426 yards of total offense, with 305 of those yards coming in the second half. Samford totaled 360 yards, with 134 coming after halftime.
With the loss, Samford drops to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in Southern Conference play. Furman improves to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in league games.
Samford will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 7, when the Bulldogs host Clark-Atlanta for Samford's Homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Seibert Stadium.
