GREENVILLE, S.C. (Oct. 4, 2025) – The ETSU football team saw a lead in the second half slip away as Furman rallied to upend the Buccaneers by a score of 31-22 on Saturday afternoon. Saturday's loss moves ETSU's record to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in SoCon play.
Neither team had much working offensively on their respective first drives of the contest. ETSU's defense forced a three-and-out on Furman's second possession. That stop proved even more critical as
Cole Keller blocked the Paladin punt and recovered it in the end zone. Instead of going for the extra point, the Bucs saw a matchup they liked, and
Nate Brackett took a direct snap and ran it across the goal line for the two-point conversion to make the score 8-0 ETSU.
Furman would promptly answer ETSU's score on its next possession. The Paladins held the ball for over five minutes and executed a 12-play, 83-yard touchdown drive to get within a point of the Bucs, 8-7. Furman had four plays of 10-plus yards to help fuel the scoring drive and only faced third down once. On that third-down try, Furman's quarterback, Trey Hedden, got it across the goal line on a sneak attempt.
ETSU would find pay dirt again on its first drive of the second quarter. Powered mainly by its ground game, the Bucs ran for 56 yards. Devontae Houston, who ripped off runs for 12 and 13 yards on the drive, ran it in from a yard out for his first touchdown since the season-opening win over Murray State. That score by Houston pushed ETSU's lead back to eight, 15-7.
There was no more scoring between the two teams for the remainder of the first half. Both teams had chances, though. The Bucs were stopped on a fourth-down try inside Paladin territory, while Furman missed a 33-yard field goal to keep the score at 15-7 at the half.
ETSU, which won the coin toss but deferred to the second half, wasted little time adding to its lead when the third quarter began. On the first play from scrimmage, Houston ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run. That touchdown was not only Houston's second of the game but also the longest for an ETSU rusher since Houston broke an 80-yard run in the 2024 season opener at Appalachian State.
Finding itself down 22-7, the Paladins offense put together an 8-play, 75-yard scoring drive of its own to bring the Buccaneer lead back to single digits. Four of those eight plays from Furman went for first downs, and then a 10-yard strike from Hedden to Ja'Keith Hamilton made the score 22-14 ETSU.
A three-and-out by ETSU's offense quickly gave Furman another chance to cut into the Buccaneers' lead. Furman moved the ball 41 yards on its first four plays of the drive. ETSU's defense stepped up and forced Furman into a 44-yard field goal attempt. Unlike the try from the first half, this one split the uprights to move the score to 22-17.
The Bucs were able to move the ball on their next drive and moved into field goal range to regain those points. However, the 46-yard field goal attempt from Ewan Johnson was blocked by Furman, giving the ball back to the Paladins.
ETSU ended the next Paladin drive with an interception from
Mike Jenkins. The Blue and Gold got one first down before punting the ball back to Furman. The Buccaneer defense stepped up and forced Furman to turn the ball over on downs when the ball was at the ETSU 16-yard line.
Furman pulled in front of the Bucs after an ETSU punt. The Buccaneer pass rush got to Hedden as his pass fluttered in the middle of the field. The pass found the hands of Hamilton again and took the ball into the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown. A two-point try by Furman was successful to make the score 25-22 Furman.
In what proved to be the final drive of the game, ETSU's offense took the field with 3:57 to go in regulation. The trio of Houston,
Jacolby Criswell, and
Jason Albritton combined for 49 rushing yards and pushed the Bucs into position for a possible game-tying field goal try. However, after a spike to stop the clock with 10 seconds remaining, a pass from Criswell intended for
Karim Page was intercepted by Jordan Miller and returned 95 yards for a game-sealing touchdown.
Saturday's Standouts
- The blocked punt returned for a touchdown was the first for ETSU since its last trip to Greenville to take on Furman in 2023. On that day, Teddy Wilson blocked a punt, and then Ton'Quez Ball picked it up and ran it in for the score.
- Devontae Houston ran for a career-high 150 yards on Saturday against the Paladins. Houston, who also ran for two touchdowns on the day, topped 100 yards rushing for the fifth time in his ETSU career.
- Speaking of ETSU's rushing numbers, the Bucs outrushed Furman by over 100 yards (251 to 142) on Saturday. It is the eighth time over the past two seasons that ETSU has had 200 or more rushing yards in a game.
- With the interception by Jenkins, the Bucs have now intercepted at least one pass in four straight games. The last time ETSU, which now has eight interceptions on the season, had an interception in four consecutive games was in 2022.
Next Up – The Bucs will return home to host VMI next Saturday from Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium. Kickoff for that game is set for 3:30 p.m.
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