No. 25 North Greenville hands Ferrum football another loss
Ferrum's Jamarion Montford, third from right, was treated to an early Senior Day ceremony before Saturday's game because he is being deployed to the Middle East. He was joined at the ceremony by his mother, three siblings, Ferrum coach Kevin Sherman, Ferrum President Mirta Martin (second from right) and Ferrum athletic director Cleive Adams (right).
FERRUM — Ferrum's second season of NCAA Division II football is not going too well.
North Greenville, ranked No. 25 in the Division II coaches poll, scored the first 21 points of the game en route to a 41-10 win over the Panthers on Saturday at Adams Stadium.
Ferrum fell to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in Conference Carolinas play.
"Obviously 0-4 is not a good spot to be in," Ferrum quarterback Eli Foutz said. "I've got to start playing better. … We've just all got to up our level of play."
Two of Ferrum's losses have been by six points or less.
"We had opportunities to win some games. We didn't finish," Ferrum coach Kevin Sherman said. "We're not executing well at times. We've had some lapses in the red zone."
Defending Conference Carolinas champ North Greenville (4-0, 1-0), which made the Division II playoffs last year, led 21-0 with 8:37 left in the second quarter Saturday.
"They're the standard in this league," Sherman said. "We can't (have) the mental mistakes, the turnovers, the missed tackles, the big plays. … You can't have those things with a team like that.
"They're an older, veteran football team."
North Greenville's Kam Montgomery, a transfer from FCS member Eastern Kentucky, completed 12 of 19 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.
Ferrum turned the ball over five times.
Foutz (Franklin County) completed 27 of 45 passes for 249 yards and one TD with four interceptions. Three of those interceptions came in the final three minutes, including two that were returned for touchdowns.
"I didn't do a very good job executing and turned the ball over," Foutz said. "That's not a good recipe to score."
The Trailblazers held Ferrum to 97 rushing yards.
"Their front seven is pretty darn good," Sherman said. "To win football games, you've got to be able to run the ball."
Ferrum was successful on just one of its four field-goal attempts. Cooper Wolfe missed his first attempt of the day and had his other two attempts blocked. Backup Jon Davis made his lone attempt.
Ferrum senior cornerback Jamarion Montford picked off a pass in the final home game of his career.
"It meant a lot," he said.
Montford is in his second season at Ferrum. He was a nonscholarship player at North Carolina State for two seasons before transferring to Ferrum last year. The North Carolina native joined the North Carolina National Guard in the spring of 2024 to pay for college.
He had hoped to play for Ferrum for this entire season, graduate with a bachelor's degree in December and then remain at Ferrum to work on a master's degree. But he must head to Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army base in Texas, on Oct. 14 and will be deployed to Israel, Kuwait or Jordan in November.
"In the military, when they tell you to go, you have to go," he said.
He intends to conclude his Ferrum football career at Barton next weekend. Ferrum has arranged for him to graduate on Oct. 8 instead of in December. Ferrum treated him to an early Senior Day ceremony before Saturday's game.
"I could not have asked for a better school," Montford said.
"I'm extremely proud of that young man," Sherman said.
Montgomery teamed with Sam Washam on a 7-yard TD pass to extend the North Greenville lead to 14-0 with 10:16 left in the second quarter. Montgomery hooked up with Jackson Parrish on a 62-yard catch-and-run to extend the lead to 21-0.
Ferrum receiver Brett Tate-Blanks fumbled the ball away at the North Greenville 19-yard line to end Ferrum's next possession.
The Panthers got on the scoreboard on their following drive. On Ferrum's third field-goal attempt of the day, Davis made a 22-yarder to cut the lead to 21-3 with 31 seconds left in the second quarter.
Two plays later, Ferrum's Deandre Watson recovered a Montgomery fumble at the NG 34. Two plays later, Foutz threw a 29-yard TD pass to Jason Preston to cut the deficit to 21-10 on the final play of the first half.
Ferrum drove into North Greenville territory early in the third quarter, but Foutz was sacked for a 6-yard loss on fourth-and-3 from the NG 21.
Brandon Teamer picked off a Foutz pass at the NG 35 to end Ferrum's next drive.
Wolfe had a field-goal attempt blocked early in the fourth quarter.
One play after Omari Cornwall picked off a Foutz pass, Jaiden McDowell scored on an 18-yard run to extend the lead to 28-10 with 1:41 left in the fourth.
Two plays later, Kaliber Hoey picked off a Foutz pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 35-10.
RJ Glasgow picked off a Foutz pass and returned it 86 yards for a TD on the game's final play.
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