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Martin Passes Furman Past Jacksonville State 49-7
Nov. 27, 2004
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ingle Martin passed for 282 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a fifth score to lead second-ranked Furman to a 49-7 win over 13th-ranked Jacksonville State in NCAA I-AA first round playoff action Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
Furman (10-2), champion of the Southern Conference, will entertain James Madison of the Atlantic 10 Conference in a quarterfinal playoff game next Saturday in Paladin Stadium at a time to be announced Sunday. The Dukes defeated Lehigh 14-13 in a first round game Saturday. Furman topped James Madison 17-10 in 1982 in the last meeting between the two schools.
Martin, a junior from Nashville, Tenn., threw touchdown passes covering 48 and 3 yards to senior split end Isaac West to give Furman a 14-0 first quarter lead, and added a 9-yard strike to senior flanker Brian Bratton for a 21-0 advantage in the second quarter. The 6-foot-3 Paladin signal caller later scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter to push Furman's advantage to 28-7, and wrapped up his strong performance with a 7-yard scoring strike to tight end John Rust with 6:26 left in the game for a 42-7 Paladin lead. He completed 14-of-19 passes and finished the contest with 325 yards total offense.
Martin's four touchdown passes gave him 21 for the season, a new Furman season record, and matched a school single game playoff standard previously set by current Paladin head coach Bobby Lamb in a 59-15 playoff victory over Rhode Island in 1985. His five touchdown responsibilities also marked a new single game school record.
"You want to win and advance in the playoffs, and we did that today," said Lamb, who directed the Paladins to their second most decisive playoff victory in the school's 26 post-season contests. "I thought we played some good football. Our offense came out and got a couple of early scores, and the defense played about as well in the first quarter as they could play. It was a total team effort, just what you need in the playoffs."
Furman rolled up 521 yards on Jacksonville State (9-2), the Ohio Valley Conference champion, passing for 282 yards and running for 239 against a Gamecock defense that entered the contest yielding only 18.4 points, 90.4 yards rushing, and 317.9 total yards per game. JSU, meanwhile, managed only 275 yards on Furman's defense, including a season low 134 on the ground. The Gamecocks entered the contest averaging 272.9 yards per game on the ground.
After Jacksonville State failed to take advantage of a Furman fumble at the 50 on the game's first possession, the Paladins covered 86 yards in six plays for the game's first score, which came after Martin found West behind the Gamecock defense for a 48-yard scoring strike at the 10:16 mark of the first period.
A 25-yard Josh Stepp punt return to the JSU 45 set up the Paladins' next score. Keyed by an 18-yard Martin run to the 27, a 16-yard reception by Bratton to the 11, and a roughing the passer call that pushed the ball to JSU 5, Furman made it 14-0 on a 3-yard pass from Martin to West with 4:28 to go in the first period.
The Paladins stretched the lead to 21-0 with Martin's 9-yard strike to Bratton on the first play of the second period.
A 55-yard run by Gamecock tailback Oscar Bonds to the Furman 4 set up the Gamecocks' lone score of the contest, which came one play later on a 4-yard run by Raynodd Zeine to make it 21-7.
Furman bidded for a score on its fourth consecutive possession by marching 73 yards in seven plays, but fullback Jerome Felton was stripped of the ball just prior to crossing the goal line and it was recovered by Jonathan Crutcher in the end zone to halt the Paladin threat.
The Paladins saw a second scoring chance dashed at the JSU 1 in the third period when Felton was halted short of the goal line a fourth-and-two play with 9:32 to go.
Furman, however, later put the game away with touchdowns on its last four possessions of the game, including a 1-yard run by Martin, a 6-yard burst by Felton, a 7-yard pass from Martin to Rust, and a 5-yard run around right end by Grant Brigham.
West caught five passes for 113 yards to pace Furman's receiving corps, and Bratton contributed four catches for 64 yards and a score. Cedrick Gipson led a balanced Paladin running game with 57 yards on 10 carries.
Tailback Oscar Bonds topped Jacksonville State with 116 yards on 12 carries. Gamecock quarterback Maurice Mullins threw for 141 yards, but the junior surrendered interceptions to the Paladins' Jeremy Blocker and Keith Johnson, and was sacked three times in the contest.
The game also marked the return of Furman senior linebacker Mike Killian, who had missed the last seven games with a fractured fibula sustained in the third quarter of the Paladins' 41-38 overtime loss to Pittsburgh. The Atlanta, Ga., product tallied seven tackles and a sack to lead Furman's defense, which also got seven stops and a sack by SoCon Freshman-of-the-Year strong safety Andrew Thacker.
