Mercer Rushing Attack Not Enough in Loss to Campbell

Saturday, September 28

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

2-3

Campbell

3-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Campbell

Mercer

Photo by: Ava Johnson

Mercer Rushing Attack Not Enough in Loss to Campbell

9/29/2019 12:34:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Deondre Johnson’s career day on the ground leads Bears

By: Jace Sanders

MACON, Ga. – Deondre Johnson paced a potent Mercer rushing attack, but the Bears fell just short as Campbell came away with a 34-27 win at Five Star Stadium Saturday night.

Johnson carried the ball 13 times for a career-high 177 yards – including a 65 to lead the Bears' (2-3) on a night where they amassed 323 yards on the ground. However, Campbell (3-1) was too much to handle with over 500 yards of total offense in the win.

Turning Point
It seemed like all the momentum had swung to Mercer's sideline near the end of the third quarter, when Tucker Cannon made the catch of the year to tie the game at 13 apiece. Cannon caught a 24-yard pass from Robert Riddle, dragged a toe inbounds and flipped to put the ball across the plane of the goal line to send the crowd of over 11,000 into a frenzy with just over a minute until the end of the quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Camels faced a 3^rd and five from their own 24 yard line when quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams scrambled and found Davarius Bargnare wide open down the sideline for a 76-yard touchdown to take all the mojo back.

Stat Geek
Right behind Johnson's big day was Tyray Devezin who scampered for 91 yards on 18 carries. The other 66 rushing yards came from Robert Riddle – who had a 44-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to draw the Bears back to within seven. Mercer's leading receiver was redshirt freshman Steven Peterson who caught two passes for 41 yards.

Luke Ward led the defense with 10 tackles on the night, just ahead of Will Coneway's nine and Andrew Pettit's eight. Barron King lived in the backfield, recording 1.5 sacks for a total of 16 yards.

Notable

Mercer fell to 1-1 all-time against the Camels – the road team has won both meetings.
Deondre Johnson's 177 rushing yards was the most by a Mercer player since Tyray Devezin ran for 185 in the 2018 season finale against Furman.
The Bears rushed for 323 yards in the game, the most in a single-game since running for 402 yards against Warner in 2013 – the second game after the return of the program.
Caleb Dowden improved on his perfect field goal and extra point record this year – 6-for-6 and 19-for-19, respectively.

Up Next
Mercer is back at Five Star Stadium next Saturday, hosting its first Southern Conference home game of 2019 with Chattanooga at 4 p.m.

Follow the Bears
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