Bears Run Past The Citadel

Saturday, October 30

Charleston, S.C.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

6-2 , 5-1

The Citadel

2-6 , 1-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Mercer

The Citadel

10/30/2021 5:12:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Mercer takes down The Citadel, 34-7 in the Lowcountry

By: Zach Durkee

CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the first time in three weeks, the Mercer Bears took to the road for a contest, this time, north and east to Charleston, South Carolina for a tilt with The Citadel. The Bears took down the Bulldogs 34-7.

Fred Davis paced Mercer (6-2, 5-1 SoCon) with 88 rushing yards on 15 attempts and two trips to the endzone. Fred Payton led the Bears' passing attack with 104 yards on nine passes. The Bears' defense was led by Richie Coffey and Lance Wise, who both tallied 10 tackles apiece. Wise also claimed the lone Mercer interception which he returned for a touchdown.

The hosts were the first to get onto the scoreboard when Jaylan Adams connected with Tyler Cherry on a 48-yard pass to the endzone toward the conclusion of the opening quarter.

With three minutes to go in the half, Devron Harper returned a punt 52-yards to the Citadel seven yard line, Fred Davis punched it in the endzone from there and Devin Folser split the uprights on the PAT to knot the game at 7-7. On the ensuing drive by the Bulldogs, Ken Standley scooped up a fumble caused by Richie Coffey to set up a Mercer drive deep inside The Citadel's side of the 50. Four plays later, Davis found the endzone on a one-yard carry for the score, which capped a five play, 36-yard drive to give the Bears their first lead of the day.

The Bears used their second drive of the second half to up their lead to 10 after Folser split the uprights on a field goal from 24 yards out to cap off a 12 play, 63-yard drive that used over five minutes' worth of game time. For the second-consecutive game, Mercer did not relent their lead after taking it.

As The Citadel was threatening to cut into the Mercer lead, a Coffey sack took the Bulldogs out of a comfortable field goal position, then the Bulldogs promptly missed a kick wide right to keep the lead at 10 in favor of Mercer.

When Mercer took over at their own 22, Davis found room to run and sprinted across midfield to The Citadel's 42-yard line. A converted 20-yard field goal by Folser pushed the Mercer margin to 13 with just under six minutes to go in the contest.

The Bulldogs' ensuing drive ended before they could stall when Wise snagged the intended pass and took it to the endzone for a score.

A strong Mercer stand forced The Citadel to be short on a fourth down, and Tayshaun Shipp took a 72-yard rush for a score to up the advantage to 34-7 on the Bears' ensuing drive.

With the win, Mercer has swept the South Carolina schools – The Citadel, Furman and Wofford – in the SoCon for the first time since joining the league in 2014.

Drew Cronic Quotables

Full Press Conference

Talking about firing in all facets of the game
"I thought we really fed off each other. First of all, our defense played great football today against an offense that is difficult to defend. You have to play sound football, you have to be physical, you have to be focused. Defense got us turnovers that led us to a score and obviously the pick six was big to separate us. We had some good returns, one punt return and one kick return set us up with really good field position. Richie Coffey's big sack that pushed them outside of field goal range probably was the biggest play of the game to change momentum in a close game at the time."

On the offensive performance today
"It was one of those that you had to be patient offensively. It was very windy so throwing was a bit challenging. We were able to get some things going at the end of the second quarter. We have to be better inside the five, we had a chance to score two touchdowns there and had to settle for field goals."

On dealing with adversity
"I think we've learned how to win a fourth quarter game. This is a game we didn't separate until late. I think we've shown we're able to handle adversity and win in difficult situation. This is a tough league, you have to keep playing in all three phases, find way to get your points in there and keep them out of the end zone."

Offensive Star(s)
Fred Davis paced the Bears on the ground with 88 yards and two touchdowns. Devron Harper had four catches for 65 yards. He also had a punt return of 52 yards and a kick return of 53.

Defensive Star(s)
Lance Wise tied for a team high with ten tackles and had an interception that he returned 34 yards to the house. Richie Coffey matched Wise with 10 tackles, all solo, including two tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

Stats That Matter
The Bears defense flew around the field all game, holding The Citadel's SoCon leading rushing attack to 170 yards, 93 yards less than their season average of 263 yards per game. Mercer forced three turnovers on the game and six players had five or more tackles.

Notables

The Bears start the season 5-1, which is the best SoCon start in program history.
Devron Harper had 189 all-purpose yards on the game with 65 by receiving, 55 via punt returns, and 69 on kick returns.
This is the first time the Bears have swept the three South Carolina schools since joining the SoCon in 2014.
The overall series dating back to 1906 is now even at 7-11-1 in favor of the Citadel.
Fred Davis paced the rushing attack with 88 yards on the ground. Mercer had a total of 258 yards on the ground.
Fred Payton completed nine passes for 104 yards.
Lance Wise and Richie Coffey led the Bears with ten tackles each.
The Bears held the SoCon's leading rushing offense to 170 yards rushing on the game, 93 yards less than their season average.
Richie Coffey (10) and Barron King (9) both had career highs in tackles on the game.

Up Next
The upcoming week, the Bears will be on a bye, but will pick back up the following Saturday, November 13 against Chattanooga. Kickoff versus the Mocs is set for 3 p.m. from Five Star Stadium.

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.