Football Returns to Five Star Stadium Saturday

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Football team returns to Five Star Stadium this Saturday when it hosts the Western Carolina Catamounts in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week at 4 p.m.

If you can't make the game, catch the broadcast on ESPN+/NexStar. As always, the game will also be broadcast by Greg Elrod and his crew on The Creek (100.9 FM) and the SportsMic App.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
» Date | Time: Saturday, March 20 | 4 p.m.
» Teams: Mercer (1-5, 1-2 SoCon) vs. Western Carolina (1-6, 1-3 SoCon)
» Location: Macon, Ga. | Five Star Stadium (10,200)
» Television: NexStar/ESPN+
» Television Talent: Pete Yanity (PxP), Jared Singleton (Analyst), Kristin Banks (Sideline)
» Radio: Mercer Sports Network | 100.9 The Creek FM | SportsMic
» Radio Talent: Greg Elrod (PxP), Roger Jackson (Analyst), Charles Davis (Sideline)
» Live Stats: MercerBears.com/LiveStats
» Twitter Updates: @MercerFootball
» Game Notes: Mercer | Western Carolina | SoCon

The matchup pits the Bears against the Catamounts for the seventh time in program history. The Bears lead the series 4-2 and have won the last four meetings.

SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA
The Catamounts of Western Carolina comes into the contest with the Bears with a 1-6 overall record and a 1-3 mark in Southern Conference play. Western Carolina is coming off a 21-14 victory over The Citadel for its first win of the season.

On the offensive side of the ball, Western Carolina is led by running back Donnavan Spencer. The redshirt senior from Charlotte, N.C., tallied the 15th 200-yard rushing game in school history in last week's 21-14 win over The Citadel. He ran for a career-best 220 yards and two touchdowns and also caught two passes for 45 yards to amass a career-best 265 all-purpose yards en route to SoCon Offensive Player of the Week honors. He has rushed for 1,961 yards in his career.

The Catamounts have had multiple quarterbacks under center and are still looking for someone to replace Tyrie Adams, the Catamounts' all-time leader in total offense. Ryan Glover and Carlos Davis are currently duking it out for the starting job. Glover started the first four games of the spring.

Ty Harris leads Western Carolina's defensive unit. The linebacker from Dacula, Ga., has made a team best 69 tackles, six tackles for a loss and four sacks. He was a 2021 Preseason All-Southern Conference selection. AJ Rogers and Trevor Childers are second and third on the team in tackles. Rogers has made 47 tackles, and Childers has 45 stops to his credit, respectively.

As a team, Western Carolina is averaging 14.6 points per game and are allowing 41.4. The Catamounts are averaging 281.6 yards per game while giving up 537.0.

Quick Hits

On Feb. 27 against The Citadel at Five Star Stadium, the Bears came away with a 42-28 victory, the first Division I win for Head Coach Drew Cronic.
Mercer has scored 49 or more points in 11 games in program history. When they face Western Carolina, Mercer has scored the second most (59) and eighth most (49) points in the games. Each of these point totals came during the 2018 and 2019 season. On Oct. 20, 2018, Mercer put up 59 points. Last season, the Bears scored 49 in their season opener.
Graduate transfer Alvin Ward Jr. has been making a deference on the field in the first three games of the spring season. Ward Jr. has led the team in tackles in two-of-three games this spring and tallied a career-high 10 tackles in the Bears last contest.
The Bears have collected 15 sacks this season, which is five more than Mercer had during the 2019 season. The 15 sacks this season are the fifth most in a single season. Mercer can crack the top three if they get 20 or more sacks this season. The single-season program record for sacks is 35, which came in 2013.
Isaac Dowling leads the team with five sacks. The five sacks ranks fifth all-time in program history. Only two players have tallied more, Tosin Aguebor and Isaiah Buehler. Aguebor has the top three marks in program history, with a program record 10. Buehler is next on the list for Dowling, as he is 0.5 sacks away from tying him for fourth all-time in a single season.
The Bears had explosive plays against The Citadel. On the first play from scrimmage, the Bears went 75 yards for a touchdown. Later in the game, Julian Beris ran for a 38-yard touchdown. Ty James hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass as well in the game. James' touchdown wasn't his only explosive play. He had a 40- yard reception in the contest as well.
The last time these two teams met was Aug. 31, 2019 in Cullowhee, N.C. Mercer scored five 30-plus yard touchdowns in the contest, including an 85-yard TD connection when Robert Riddle found Tucker Cannon for the second longest play in program history. Deondre Johnson led the Bears rushing attack with 114 yards. Defensively, the Bears forced two turnovers.
Redshirt sophomore Deondre Johnson does it all for the Bears. He ranks 36th nationally in all-purpose yards this season. He is averaging 112 all-purpose yards this season. He has 195 yards on kick returns, 141 receiving yards and 111 rushing yards this season.

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.

Football Returns to Five Star Stadium Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Julian Beris

Tucker Cannon

Isaac Dowling

Ty James

Deondre Johnson

Robert Riddle

Alvin Ward Jr.

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