Oct. 13, 2007
Final Stats
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Tory Cooper's 5-yard touchdown run in overtime lifted The Citadel to a 54-51 win over Furman in Southern Conference football action Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium.
Cooper's game winner came after Furman's Scott Beckler kicked a 36-yard field goal to give the Paladins a 51-48 lead on its first overtime possession.
With the game tied 48-48, Beckler missed a 44-yard field goal with seven seconds left in regulation. The senior from Anderson, S.C., converted only one of four field goals in the contest and missed an extra point in the first half after Furman had taken a 27-7 lead.
"That game had about everything you could ask for," said head coach Bobby Lamb. "It went back and forth there in the second half, but ultimately we couldn't stop them on offense and we couldn`t make a field goal when it counted."
The Citadel (4-2, 2-1 SoCon) ran 89 offensive plays and piled up 641 yards in total offense to Furman's 451, which came on 66 snaps. The Bulldogs' 641yards clipped the previous record for most yards allowed by Furman, which was 640 by Georgia Southern in 1985.
The loss was only the third for Furman (2-4, 0-2 SoCon) in the last 13 games against The Citadel and just the second in the last seven clashes with the Bulldogs in Charleston. The 0-2 start in the league play is the first for the Paladins since 1994.
Bulldog quarterback Duran Lawson completed 28-of-37 passes for 386 yards and a three touchdowns and also rushed 19 times for 100 yards and a score to account for 486 of the Bulldogs' 641 total yards.
Furman's Patrick Sprague turned in a stellar performance, catching nine passes for a Furman single game record 238 yards and three touchdowns. His three TD catches also tied a school standard.
After The Citadel took an early 7-0 lead, Furman scored four consecutive touchdowns, including three by Sprague, who teamed with quarterback Renaldo Gray to work the Bulldog secondary for scoring catches covering 17, 14, and 61 yards to help the Paladins grab a 27-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Citadel took momentum into halftime, however, using a 4-yard run by Lawson with 57 seconds to go to make it 27-14 and a 34-yard Mike Adams field goal on the final play of the first half to slice the advantage to 27-17. Adams' field goal came after Furman failed to convert a fourth-and-five at the Bulldog 39 with 26 seconds to go, after which Lawson completed three straight passes, including a 29-yard strike to Ta'Mar Jernigan to the Furman 17 to set up Adams' kick.
The Citadel opened the second half with a 15-yard scoring strike from Lawson to Jernigan to cut the Paladins' lead to 27-24.
Furman answered with a 2-yard scoring run by Jerome Felton and 6-yard touchdown run by Gray that put the Paladins ahead 41-24. Gray's score was set up by an 87-yard fumble return to the Bulldog 1 by Paladin linebacker Clifton Dortch.
Three straight touchdowns by the Bulldogs, including a 1-yard run by Cooper with 3:49 to left in the game gave The Citadel its first lead of the second half, 45-41. It didn't last long, however, as Mike Brown took the ensuing kickoff and raced 76 yards for a score to put the Paladins back in front, 48-45.
After being assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following the kickoff return, the Paladins' were forced to kick off from their own 15, and The Citadel's Cody Wilson returned the kick 56 yards to the Furman 24. Four plays later Adams connected on the game tying 32-yard field goal with 1:19 remaining.
On their final play of regulation, the Paladins moved from their own 34 to the Bulldog 27, but Beckler's 44-yard game winning attempt had plenty of distance but missed wide right.
Furman plays at Chattanooga next Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. game.
