Saturday, October 13
New Haven, Conn.
1 p.m.
Mercer University
3-3 , 2-1
28
at
35
Yale
3-2 , 1-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Mercer
0
14
7
7
28
Yale
14
14
0
7
35
Team Stats
MER
YALE
Total Yards
418
564
Pass Yards
344
381
Rushing Yards
74
183
Penalty Yards
22
15
1st Downs
17
24
3rd Downs
5
14
4th Downs
2
0
TOP
23:47
36:13
1st Quarter
MER 0, YALE 7
YALE - Shohfi 57 yd pass from Rawlings (Galland kick) 3 plays, 71 yards, TOP 0:53
MER 0, YALE 14
YALE - Thomas II 41 yd fumble recovery (Galland kick)
2nd Quarter
MER 0, YALE 21
YALE - Shohfi 2 yd pass from Rawlings (Galland kick) 6 plays, 45 yards, TOP 1:49
MER 7, YALE 21
MER - Kaelan Riley 11 yd pass from David Durden (Cole Fisher kick) 10 plays, 96 yards, TOP 4:22
MER 7, YALE 28
YALE - Sandifer 38 yd pass from Rawlings (Galland kick) 4 plays, 95 yards, TOP 1:30
MER 14, YALE 28
MER - David Durden 75 yd pass from Kaelan Riley (Cole Fisher kick) 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:41
3rd Quarter
MER 21, YALE 28
MER - Marquise Irvin 12 yd pass from Kaelan Riley (Cole Fisher kick) 6 plays, 84 yards, TOP 2:54
4th Quarter
MER 21, YALE 35
YALE - Klubnik 16 yd pass from Rawlings (Galland kick) 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:58
MER 28, YALE 35
MER - David Durden 35 yd pass from Kaelan Riley (Cole Fisher kick) 7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:08
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
14
TD
3
YDS
333
INT
0
CMP
1
TD
1
YDS
11
INT
0
Players Mentioned
LB
/ FootballWR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DL
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
Photo by: Allyson Lamb
Bears’ Comeback Falls Short in Loss at Yale
10/13/2018 4:26:00 PM | Football
David Durden accounts for three touchdowns in 35-28 road loss
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Mercer rallied from a 21-point, first-half deficit but was unable to complete the comeback in a 35-28 nonconference loss to Yale on Saturday afternoon at historic Yale Bowl.
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The Bears (3-3) trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter before pulling within a touchdown with less than five minutes to play. Kaelan Riley passed for 333 yards and a trio of touchdowns, connecting with David Durden and Marquise Irvin for a combined eight catches and 236 yards.
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Mercer finished nonconference play with a 1-2 record; its five remaining regular season games are all in Southern Conference play. Yale improved to 3-2 with the win.
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Offensive Star
Freshman wide receiver David Durden accounted for three total touchdowns (two receiving, one passing) in a break-out performance. Durden caught three passes for a career-high 122 receiving yards, hauling in touchdowns of 75 and 35 yards, and tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Riley on a trick play in the second quarter.
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Defensive Star
Will Coneway totaled nine tackles (six solo, three assisted) and added his third tackle for loss of the season. The linebacker leads Mercer with 52 tackles this season and has nine or more tackles in four games.
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How It Happened
Miscues led to an early deficit for Mercer, which trailed 14-0 after one quarter. Yale's first-quarter scores came on a 57-yard touchdown pass on its first drive and a 41-yard fumble recovery on the Bears' following possession. Mercer had a pair of drives in the first quarter end in fumbles, one apiece from Kaelan Riley and Tee Mitchell.
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Trailing 21-0, Mercer used trickery for its first points of the game with 3:39 remaining in the second quarter. David Durden tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Riley, who pitched the ball to Durden in the backfield. The touchdown was set up by a 54-yard rush by Mitchell and a 16-yard catch by Stephen Houzah on fourth down, deep in Yale territory. After another Yale touchdown made it a 28-7 game with just over two minutes left in the half, the Bears cut their deficit to 14 points as Riley and Durden connected again, this time for a 75-yard touchdown with 25 seconds to spare in the quarter.
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Mercer's defense stepped up in the third quarter, holding Yale scoreless by forcing a pair of punts. With momentum in their favor, the Bears found the end zone on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Riley to Marquise Irvin with 2:54 left in the quarter. Mercer entered the fourth quarter trailing 28-21.
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Yale's Kurt Rawlings tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the game less than a minute into the fourth quarter, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive that put the Bulldogs ahead 35-21. Mercer punted on its following drive, but a missed field goal by Yale with 5:53 remaining gave the Bears a new opportunity to stage a comeback. Riley then hit Durden for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 4:45 left on the clock to make it a one-score game (35-28). Mercer was unable to get another offensive attempt, however, as Yale controlled the clock for the remaining four-plus minutes.
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Quotables
Bobby Lamb's opening statement…
"This was a tough football game to lose, simply because we weren't at our best and had an opportunity to come out on top. We knew [Yale] had a really good offense and it showed today. We didn't tackle very well and in the end, we gave them too much in the first quarter to overcome. I'm proud of our kids for fighting to the very end. We just couldn't get Yale off the field in the fourth quarter."
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Lamb on defensive struggles…
"We just didn't tackle well. Our safeties tackled too high and we couldn't get them on the ground. We've got to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can improve in those areas with Southern Conference action the rest of the way."
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On David Durden's performance…
"David came up big for us, which we know he's capable of doing. We knew we'd have to go to him eventually with three really good receivers on this squad…himself, Marquise Irvin and Stephen Houzah. We started going to the pass a lot in the second half and our guys, including David, came up with some great plays in man-on-man coverage."
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Notables
» Saturday was the first of four scheduled games between Mercer and Yale. The two programs will next play in Macon in 2021.
» Marquise Irvin (five catches, 114 receiving yards) reached a pair of milestones with his 150th career reception and became the first player in program history with 2,000 career receiving yards.
» Irvin has posted three straight games with 100-plus receiving yards.
» Bradley Earnest and Dorian Kithcart recorded one sack apiece.
» Harrison Poole tallied a team-high 10 tackles.
» Tee Mitchell's 54-yard rush is the longest by a Bear this season. He rushed 14 times for 92 yards.
» Riley's 333 passing yards are a career-best.
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Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Football, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerFootball (Twitter), /MercerFootball(Facebook) and @MercerFootball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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The Bears (3-3) trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter before pulling within a touchdown with less than five minutes to play. Kaelan Riley passed for 333 yards and a trio of touchdowns, connecting with David Durden and Marquise Irvin for a combined eight catches and 236 yards.
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Mercer finished nonconference play with a 1-2 record; its five remaining regular season games are all in Southern Conference play. Yale improved to 3-2 with the win.
Â
Offensive Star
Freshman wide receiver David Durden accounted for three total touchdowns (two receiving, one passing) in a break-out performance. Durden caught three passes for a career-high 122 receiving yards, hauling in touchdowns of 75 and 35 yards, and tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Riley on a trick play in the second quarter.
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Defensive Star
Will Coneway totaled nine tackles (six solo, three assisted) and added his third tackle for loss of the season. The linebacker leads Mercer with 52 tackles this season and has nine or more tackles in four games.
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How It Happened
Miscues led to an early deficit for Mercer, which trailed 14-0 after one quarter. Yale's first-quarter scores came on a 57-yard touchdown pass on its first drive and a 41-yard fumble recovery on the Bears' following possession. Mercer had a pair of drives in the first quarter end in fumbles, one apiece from Kaelan Riley and Tee Mitchell.
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Trailing 21-0, Mercer used trickery for its first points of the game with 3:39 remaining in the second quarter. David Durden tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Riley, who pitched the ball to Durden in the backfield. The touchdown was set up by a 54-yard rush by Mitchell and a 16-yard catch by Stephen Houzah on fourth down, deep in Yale territory. After another Yale touchdown made it a 28-7 game with just over two minutes left in the half, the Bears cut their deficit to 14 points as Riley and Durden connected again, this time for a 75-yard touchdown with 25 seconds to spare in the quarter.
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Mercer's defense stepped up in the third quarter, holding Yale scoreless by forcing a pair of punts. With momentum in their favor, the Bears found the end zone on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Riley to Marquise Irvin with 2:54 left in the quarter. Mercer entered the fourth quarter trailing 28-21.
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Yale's Kurt Rawlings tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the game less than a minute into the fourth quarter, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive that put the Bulldogs ahead 35-21. Mercer punted on its following drive, but a missed field goal by Yale with 5:53 remaining gave the Bears a new opportunity to stage a comeback. Riley then hit Durden for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 4:45 left on the clock to make it a one-score game (35-28). Mercer was unable to get another offensive attempt, however, as Yale controlled the clock for the remaining four-plus minutes.
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Quotables
Bobby Lamb's opening statement…
"This was a tough football game to lose, simply because we weren't at our best and had an opportunity to come out on top. We knew [Yale] had a really good offense and it showed today. We didn't tackle very well and in the end, we gave them too much in the first quarter to overcome. I'm proud of our kids for fighting to the very end. We just couldn't get Yale off the field in the fourth quarter."
Â
Lamb on defensive struggles…
"We just didn't tackle well. Our safeties tackled too high and we couldn't get them on the ground. We've got to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can improve in those areas with Southern Conference action the rest of the way."
Â
On David Durden's performance…
"David came up big for us, which we know he's capable of doing. We knew we'd have to go to him eventually with three really good receivers on this squad…himself, Marquise Irvin and Stephen Houzah. We started going to the pass a lot in the second half and our guys, including David, came up with some great plays in man-on-man coverage."
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Notables
» Saturday was the first of four scheduled games between Mercer and Yale. The two programs will next play in Macon in 2021.
» Marquise Irvin (five catches, 114 receiving yards) reached a pair of milestones with his 150th career reception and became the first player in program history with 2,000 career receiving yards.
» Irvin has posted three straight games with 100-plus receiving yards.
» Bradley Earnest and Dorian Kithcart recorded one sack apiece.
» Harrison Poole tallied a team-high 10 tackles.
» Tee Mitchell's 54-yard rush is the longest by a Bear this season. He rushed 14 times for 92 yards.
» Riley's 333 passing yards are a career-best.
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Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Football, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerFootball (Twitter), /MercerFootball(Facebook) and @MercerFootball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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