GREENVILLE, S.C. — Hindley Brigham rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns to power 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), which announced recently that third-year head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick would be reassigned within Chattanooga’s athletics department.
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 runner-up, 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 earned 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 TD 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 Corey Tant to make it 21-7.
Furman padded its lead later with a 58-yard run by Brigham off an option pitch and 5-yard touchdown pass by backup QB Bo Moore to James Thomas.
Furman outgained the Mocs 339-219 in total offense and rolled up 240 yards on the ground to the Mocs’ 54.
Paladin QB 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. 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. Hahn 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 Mike Killian with eight tackles.
Josh Cain notched 14 tackles for his 13th straight game with at least 10 stops.
Wofford 34
Elon 9
ELON, N.C. — Jesse McCoy rushed for 98 yards on 15 carries to become the first non-quarterback at Wofford since 1979 to reach the 1,000-yard mark as the Wofford football team made its final push for its first-ever Division I-AA playoff bid with a 34-9 rout of Elon this afternoon in Elon, N.C.
The Terriers (9-3, 6-2) will learn their playoff fate tomorrow when the 16-team field is announced at 1 p.m. on ESPN News. Comcast-Charter Sports Southeast will also carry the ESPN News announcement.
Wofford, the lone school in the country to have two wins over teams currently ranked in the top seven of this week’s poll by The Sports Network, has equaled its most victories in a season since 1991.
McCoy’s 10th touchdown of the season, a 49-yard run on the second play of the second quarter, gave Wofford a 7-0 lead it would not relinquish.
McCoy’s next-to-last carry of the game, a five-yard run with just over eight minutes remaining, allowed him to become the first non-quarterback since Lenny Best (1,120 yards) in 1979 to reach the 1,000-yard mark. McCoy finished the regular season with 1,001 yards.
“I’m most proud of the total for my offensive line,” McCoy said. “It’s their 1,000 yards. I love those guys. The offensive line hasn’t had the respect they deserve this season. Hopefully, this will earn some of them All-SoCon recognition.”
Wofford outgained Elon by a 346-to-172 edge in total offense. The Terriers entered the game leading the SoCon and ranking 22nd nationally in defense, allowing just 279.4 yards per contest. The Phoenix, with Division I-AA’s 13th-best rushing offense (234.5 yards), were held to 109 yards on the ground on 53 carries (2.1 avg.). Wofford also added four sacks.
“I’m glad we played great defense,” Wofford Head Coach Mike Ayers said. “Offensively, Elon presented us some problems.
“We knew today was going to be a tough challenge and I’m pleased with how the kids responded. They came out focused. Elon runs its wishbone offense very effectively and we did a good job in containing them.”
The Terriers extended their margin to 14-0 with 9:02 left in the first half when wide receiver Curtis Nash scored from 18 yards on a reverse. It was the second career touchdown, and first on the ground, for the Spartanburg, S.C., native.
With the Phoenix in punt formation, Calvin Sutton took the short snap and attempted to run for the first down. However, Anthony Jones and Brandon Ladd combined to stop him for no gain at the line of scrimmage.
Five plays later, Jeff Zolman scored on a nine-yard run to give Wofford a 21-3 lead. Zolman rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries while completing 4-of-6 passes for 48 yards.
Zolman had three straight pass completions, six yards to both Nash and Marcus Gilmore and 37 yards to Shiel Wood, to highlight a seven-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a Melvin Jones four-yard touchdown run to give Wofford a 27-3 lead with 12:57 to play.
J.R. McNair provided the Terriers’ final points and margin of victory on a 3-yard touchdown carry with 21 seconds remaining.
The Citadel 53
Charleston Southern 19
CHARLESTON, S.C.– Senior quarterback Jeff Klein connected on 17-of-32 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns to set The Citadel’s single-season record for passing yards and lead the Bulldogs past Charleston Southern 53-19 in Johnson Hagood Stadium on Thursday.
“It is a great feeling for our players and I am glad to go out with a win,” second-year head coach Ellis Johnson stated. “I am really happy for the seniors right now because they are leaving The Citadel on a victory.”
Offensively, The Citadel was led by Broughton who rushed 22 times for 109 yards and a touchdown. With the 100-plus rushing performance Broughton eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing plateau and became only the 11th Bulldog in school history to reach the mark. Klein of note finished the season with 2,561 yards passing and surpassed the mark of 2,478 yards by Kip Allen in 1985.
The Bucs received strong performances from Swiggett who completed 29-of-50 passes for 396 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Aaron Dunklin hauled in six passes for 135 yards, while Brad Moultrie hauled in nine passes for 76 yards to break Charleston Southern’s all-time receiving record.
Charleston Southern (4-8) exploded on their first possession with a four-play, 77-yard drive that ended with quarterback Darren Swiggett hitting wide receiver Luke Turner for a 15-yard touchdown pass at the 13:47 mark in the first quarter.
The Citadel (3-9) answered back and got on the board with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Klein to tight end Chris Franklin with 5:28 left in the first quarter to the tie the score at seven.
The Bulldogs scored for the second time of the night when Klein hit Scooter Johnson for a 50-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs up 14-7 with 13:08 left in the second quarter. The drive started after Citadel nose tackle Rudy Griffin recovered a Buccaneer botched snap at the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line.
T.J. Rose intercepted a Swiggett pass at the 39-yard line and returned it 25 yards to the Buccaneer 14-yard line to stall another Charleston Southern drive. The turnover led to another Bulldog score when tailback
The Citadel answered the call again on the next drive as linebacker James Greene intercepted a Swiggett pass at The Citadel 20-yard line and returned it 25 yards to the 45-yard line with 0:43 left until the half. After the interception, place kicker Travis Zobel split the uprights with a 40-yard field goal to close out the scoring for the first half at 24-7 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Martin Arce ignited a Buc scoring drive as he sacked Klein at the one-yard line and forced a fumble that was recovered by Frank Perkoski. Charleston Southern then scored on the next play when Swiggett plunged in from six inches out to cut the deficit to 24-13 with 12:22 left in the third quarter.
After intercepting a Klein pass at the 44-yard line the Bucs handed the ball right back to The Citadel. Cliff Washburn caused, recovered, and returned a Charleston fumble 34 yards for his first career touchdown to put the Bulldogs ahead 31-13 with 11:45 left in the third quarter.
The Buccaneers closed the gap to 31-19 when tailback Travis Mays scampered in from one yard out to cap off an 89-yard drive with 7:27 left in the third.
Ross Armstrong hauled in a three-yard TD reception from Klein to cap off a seven play, 32-yard drive and opened the margin to 38-19 at the 12:36 mark in the fourth quarter. Klein then added his fourth TD pass of the game as he hit Jermaine Anderson over the middle for a 25-yard score. The Bulldogs added their final score as fifth-year quarterback Joe Call connected on a 33-yard bomb to wide receiver Bud Pough for the score.

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