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Felton’s six TDs set league record as Furman routs Western Carolina
Jerome Felton set a Southern Conference record with six touchdowns Saturday as Furman routed Western Carolina 42-7 at Paladin Stadium.
A crowd of 14,232 saw Felton carry 20 times for 102 yards. All but one of his TDs came on runs of 5 yards or less.
Cedrick Gipson added 70 yards in 11 attempts.
Renaldo Gray completed four of seven passes for 100 yards.
WCU’s Bennett Swygert connected on 17 of 26 passes for 133 yards. Michael Hines’ five receptions totaled 47 yards.
Darius Fudge was the leading rusher for Western (2-1, 0-1) with 38 yards in 15 carries.
The Catamounts were in trouble from the start as a botched kickoff return forced them to start the opening possession at their 7.
Tim Mayse got off a 51-yard punt, but a 28-yard return by Justin Stepp plus a personal foul penalty set the Paladins up at the 17. Felton scored from the 13 two plays later. Scott Beckler kicked the first of his six extra points for a 7-0 lead with 1:39 to go in the first period.
Furman got the ball right back when Fudge fumbled two plays after the kickoff, and Justin Brown recovered at the 5. Felton went over from the 2 making it 14-0 with 9:12 to play in the opening quarter.
WCU responded with its best drive of the night by moving 80 yards in 15 plays to get on the board. Highlights included Swygert passes of 22 yards to Chris Jefferson and 10 yards to Eddie Cohen. L.J. Davis scored from the 1, and Jonathan Parsons kicked the PAT cutting the gap to 14-7 with 1:13 left in the first stanza.
The Paladins answered with a 67-yard drive in 12 plays. Gipson sparked the march with an 18-yard run. Felton gained 13 to the 5 before he scored from the 2 upping the margin to 21-7 with 10:32 remaining in the half.
Furman’s offense continued to light up the scoreboard as Felton went in from 5 yards out giving his team a 28-7 advantage at the 4:40 mark. Aided by a personal foul penalty, the drive covered 75 yards in eight plays. Included were Gipson’s 12-yard run and Gray’s 22-yard pass to Larry Hedden.
The Paladins led 35-7 at intermission following Felton’s 1-yard run with 44 seconds on the clock. The TD was set up by Gray’s 43-yard pass to Stepp.
Furman concluded the scoring by driving 56 yards in 10 plays following the second half kickoff. Gipson had a run of 11 yards, and Gray connected with Patrick Sprague on a 26-yard aerial before Felton scored from the 1 with 9:09 to go in the third quarter.
WCU had drive to the Paladin 25 and 34 late in the fourth period, but both of those possessions ended on downs following incomplete passes.
Bruce Lee and Kadeem Morgan led the Western defense with eight tackles apiece.
Furman’s Andrew Jones had seven tackles.
WCU Furman
16 First Downs 16
34-75 Rushes-Yds. 37-186
18-30-0 Passing 7-11-0
142 Passing Yds. 119
4-44.0 Punts-Avg. 3-34.3
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
3-34 Penalties-Yds. 3-24
WCU 7 0 0 0 7
Furman 14 21 7 0 42
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