Mercer Falls to Samford in 2015 Season Finale

Saturday, November 21

Macon, Ga.

3 pm

Mercer University

Samford

Mercer Falls to Samford in 2015 Season Finale

11/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University football team could not hold onto a third quarter lead, as Samford pulled away with a 47-21 victory in the Bears' 2015 season finale at Five Star Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

HEAD COACH BOBBY LAMB'S TAKE
"It is not the result we were looking for tonight, but I'm certainly proud of our team and the effort they gave. When you look at this football game, you go into the fourth quarter down just 19-14. They hit us with some explosion plays in the fourth quarter though that we couldn't handle. I said it earlier in the week that they were the most talented team in the league and I still believe that."

"Defensively they played really well and we couldn't get our running game going like we wanted to. We had a great first drive to open the game, but after that we didn't play well enough to win the game. Our defense played really solid for three quarters and defended that offense that way you needed to with a bend, don't break mentality. It got away from us in the fourth quarter and left a bad taste in our mouth."

"I told the team that is a sad night because of the way we played, but when you look at the full body of work and the things that we did as a third year program it is impressive. Before tonight we lost four conference games by a total of 13 points and beat the No. 3 team in the country."

"We have one more class to get us to our full scholarship allotment for the first time and we have a great product to sell with an outstanding University and fantastic gameday environments. The arrow is pointing up for Mercer football and I'm proud to say that I'm the coach of these fine young men."

TURNING POINT
Mercer took a 14-9 lead into halftime and held a 14-12 advantage midway through the third quarter, but Samford turned on the jets thanks to back-to-back big plays. Emmanuel Obajimi took a screen pass 94 yards for a touchdown and a 19-14 spread. The Bulldogs added another score just a minute later, as Kelvin McKnight took a punt back 77 yards for a 26-14.

Samford would score two more times in the final minutes, before the Bears stopped the bleeding with Sam Walker's second touchdown catch of the day.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer scored the first points of the game, marching 80 yards down the field on the opening drive to grab a 7-0 lead on John Russ' 15-yard connection with Walker. Samford got on the board late in the first quarter with a field goal by Anthony Pistelli, before adding two more field goals for a 9-7 lead.

The Bears regained the lead, 14-9, at the end of the first half after Lee Bennett's interception set up a quick three-play scoring drive that ended with Russ' seven yard run to pay dirt. However, Samford took over from there, outgaining Mercer 378-172 in the final two quarters to pull away.

OFFENSIVE STAR
Walker had a breakout performance in the season finale, hauling in a career-best eight receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt freshman accounted for the team's longest play from scrimmage on Saturday with his 29-yard touchdown grab in the fourth quarter.

DEFENSIVE STANDOUT
Bennett was all over the field against Samford, finishing just shy of his career high with 13 stops on the afternoon. His second quarter pick was the defense's highlight of the game and he added a tackle-for-loss and one pass break-up.

RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer falls to 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the Southern Conference, while Samford moves to 6-5 and 3-4 in the league.

OFFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

Russ finished with 142 yards and two touchdowns through the air, as he eclipsed the 2,000 yard mark for the second straight season with 2,141 yards, 18 touchdowns and just three interceptions in 2015.

Tee Mitchell tied Russ with 53 yards rushing. The sophomore closes the season with a team-best 946 yards on the ground.

The Bears tallied 193 yards rushing on Saturday, falling just seven yards shy of their sixth 200-yard rushing performance this season.

Seven different receivers hauled in a reception this afternoon with Walker's career day leading the group. Avery Ward grabbed two receptions in the contest, setting a program record with 40 catches on the year.

Punter Matt Shiel had another career day, booting a program record nine punts in the contest. He finished with a school record seven punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line, falling just one shy of the SoCon record set in 1989. He also nearly eclipsed his own program record for longest punt, 73-yard blast against VMI, with a 70-yard boot for one of his two punts of over 50 yards.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

Bennett's second interception of the season, a pick in the second quarter, helped the defense force a turnover in 20 of its last 22 games.

Mercer had six players record five or more tackles in the game, behind 13 from Bennett and nine from safety Mike Gray. Gray also notched the team's only sack.