On Saturday, the Paladins traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee and returned with a 17-13 victory against East Tennessee State University. The game placed Furman at 3-1 in Southern Conference play and gave the Dins a two-game winning streak.

The Paladins continue to be a 2nd half strong team, as they only gained 96 yards offensively in the first half. Meanwhile ETSU had 178 yards and was leading 10-0, with a first quarter touchdown by standout Quay Holmes. Early in the 2nd half, Furman began to bounce back with an 11-yard run by Devin Wynn for their first touchdown of the game. The Furman offense kept fighting back, notching 73 yards towards the end of the 3rd quarter, Wynn leaped into the endzone with another touchdown. Furman’s lead was then solidified by a 47-yard field goal by Timmy Bleekrode bringing the score to 17-10. The Paladins held off the Buccaneers for the remainder of the game besides a 30-yard field goal by Tyler Keltner which brought the final score to 17-13.  

Devin Wynn proved to be the key to turning around this game offensively. He rushed for 113 of the 173 total yards. Wynn has been a standout for the past 3 years at Furman with a 1,957 career rushing yards, which ranks as the 15th in Furman football history. He notched 1,182 in the 2019 season alone earning him a spot as 1st team all-Southern Conference by the media and 2020 Hero Sports FCS preseason 3rd team. His performance was complemented by Hamp Sisson’s strong passing game and several downs gained by Ryan Miller and Zach Peterson. The defense proved to be strong through duration the 2nd half, holding ETSU at only 90 rushing yards with 5 sacks each by Freshman Nick Kuzemka and Senior Darius Kearse. Kearse also intercepted a pass from ETSU QB Tyler Riddell and carried the ball 12 yards, leading the team to celebration.

Proving to be a strong quarterback and leader on the team, QB Hamp Sisson emphasized the win as a team effort. He said, “We had a great team win. It took everyone on our team doing their job to pull out the win. We know we have not reached its full potential yet, and we can play even better as a team in the future. That will be our goal going forward into the next week!”  

The Paladins will face off with the number 14 ranked UT Chattanooga next Saturday Mar. 20 in Paladin stadium. The Mocs have already beat rival and #11 ranked Wofford, so the match up should be competitive.