East Tennessee State Buccaneer football’s season could be summed up in one quarter of Saturday’s game against SoCon rival Furman.
That quarter happened to be the third quarter in which the Bucs’ defense made the opportunities and the offense floundered them.
The Furman Paladins (for those wondering what a Paladin is, it’s a medieval knight) defeated ETSU, who is winless in the conference, 30-10. The Bucs had their chance early in the third quarter when the Paladins fumbled on the kickoff, setting up ETSU on Furman’s own 29-yard line.
Then after driving the ball to Furman’s 4, Andrew Nuckolls failed to score on a fourth and one, which led to a turnover on downs.
But it appeared that the Paladins, who had only allowed 16 second-half points this season, were trying to help the Buccaneers along.
With 11:07 left in the third quarter Furman punted on a short field giving ETSU the ball on the Paladin 40-yard line. This time redshirt freshman quarterback Carl Meadows threw an incomplete pass on third and long to shut down the Bucs’ scoring drive.
But the Bucs once again found luck on their side, which coach Paul Hamilton has been wishing for since the beginning of the season. Furman’s freshman redshirt quarterback Josh Stepp fumbled deep in Paladin territory. The Bucs then took over on Furman’s 15-yard line only to gain a yard on a Gaven Varner rush. To make a bad situation worse, a bad snap killed the Buccaneers’ chances for a field goal. Kicker Jon Godfrey had already connected earlier in the game for a 42-yard field goal for ETSU’s first score.
Former ETSU defensive coordinator Jeff Farrington, now an assistant for Furman, said he misses Johnson City but he’s glad to be where he is.
“These guys are putting up a valiant effort just by coming out to play in these circumstances,” said Farrington of ETSU’s effort Saturday. “The administration makes decisions that we as football coaches cannot control.”If control is having opportunity put in your lap, then the Bucs’ chance still laid in the third quarter.
Furman fumbled for the third time on the ETSU 24-yard line in the third quarter with 7 minutes left on the clock. The ball never crossed the 50, and again they had to punt.
ETSU’s defense again stopped the Paladins and forced a punt, which went off the side of punter’s foot to start them on Furman’s own 30.
This time, the Bucs scored pay dirt to start the fourth quarter on a Gaven Varner 1-yard run to make the game 17-10 in favor of Furman.
“I really felt we had a chance to win today,” said Hamilton. “We were in some tough situations and failed to score on turnovers in the third quarter.”
Freshmen can contribute to the win also. Furman finally put the game out of reach when freshman quarterback Josh Stepp ran for 21 yards in the fourth to put the Paladins up 27-10. Stepp completed his first touchdown pass Saturday when he connected with Brian Bratton on a 21-yard pass in the second quarter.
“I really think we could have beat them had five or six plays been different,” said Hamilton of his team’s fourth SoCon loss this season.
“It’s hard to run an offense with two redshirt freshmen quarterbacks. What we need is another spring practice but that will have to happen for them somewhere else.”
The Bucs’ positives on Saturday were Jon Godfrey’s 42-yard field goal in the first quarter and 130 yards gained in kickoff returns. ETSU’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter made Furman’s total points given up in the second half come to a total of 23.
ETSU will face Georgia Southern next week in Johnson City at 1 p.m in Memorial Center.
The last time these two teams faced off in the Mini Dome, ETSU won.

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