Mercer Rolls Past Furman

Saturday, September 25

Greenville, S.C.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

2-1 , 1-0

Furman

2-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

MER

Furman

9/25/2021 8:18:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Bears Begin SoCon Play 1-0

By: Zach Durkee

Greenville, S.C. – A combination of 24 unanswered points and the refusal to allow Furman to cross the goal line led the Mercer Bears to a big 24-3 win to start SoCon play 1-0.

With the win, the Bears improve to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in SoCon play. The Paladins fall to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Furman got on the board first, taking the opening drive 50 yards, capping the series with Timmy Bleekrode splitting the uprights for a 46-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. That was all the host team would register for the remainder of the game.

The Bears answered on their first drive of the game with a 75-yard drive of their own to put seven points on the board, which they carried throughout the first stanza.
Fred Payton connected with Ty James for a 35-yard touchdown to take the 7-3 lead.

In an attempt to retake their lead, Furman was threatening deep into Mercer territory until Luke Ward picked off a Hamp Sisson pass. The Bears defense continued to hold stout with Yahsyn McKee jumping in on the action, picking off Sission on the following drive.

Mercer capitalized on McKee's interception, driving 91 yards in just over three minutes. Brandon Marshall capped the drive with a 10-yard run to put the Bears up 14-3.

The special team unit pitched in during the second quarter, blocking the Furman field goal attempt to keep the Paladins off the board in the second quarter.

A one-yard dash into the corner of the endzone by Brandon Marshall, put an exclamation point on the first half and gave the Bears a 21-3 cushion heading into the break.

Devin Folser added three more points for good measure in the second half when he connected on a 45-yard field goal, his first of the season.

Two more interceptions in the second half by Richie Coffey and Michael Campbell helped seal the deal on the win. The Bears total of four interceptions during the game tied a program record. The last time Mercer had four picks in a game was in 2013 against Drake.

The ground game was working for the Bears today, totaling 223 yards on the ground. Fred Davis led the efforts with 94 yards. Brandon Marshall added 66 yards and two touchdowns.

Through the air, Fred Payton went 10-20 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Ty James led the team with three catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Isaac Dowling headlined the Bears defensive effort with 11 tackles. Harrison Poole added seven tackles and Alvin Ward Jr. accounted for the Bears lone sack of the game.

Drew Cronic Quotables

Full Press Conference

On the message to the team before Furman
"It's a game and it's an important game. We really challenged our guys to go beat a quality conference opponent in their place."

On beginning to play SoCon and FCS teams
"Until you play a quality opponent at your level you got to figure out what you are. We have a chance if we keep getting better and go compete every week, we'll have a chance to be very successful this fall."

On the defense
"Defensively when you don't let someone cross the goal line for three hours, that's pretty good. We were really active and aggressive defensively today."

On Fred Payton's performance
"Fred has a lot of talent and he cares and wants to get better. He made some plays, he extended some plays, he ran for some first downs to keep us on the field."

Looking towards Samford
"We ought to be more and more confident and have more and more belief. The bottom line is, and I keep telling our players this, you have to go play good on Saturday, you have to play good to win games, you play good because you prepare good. Then we have to go execute. We're going to come up with a good plan for Samford. We have a lot we can clean up but we should have a lot of confidence."

Offensive Star
The dynamic duo of Fred Davis and Brandon Marshall combined for 160 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Davis accounted for 94 of those yards and Marshall had 66 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensive Star(s)
The defense flew around forcing an impressive four interceptions. Isaac Dowling had a season high of 11 tackles on the game. This is seven more than his previous season high.

Stats That Matter
The Bears defense tied an all-time record today with four interceptions! The last time Mercer had four picks in a game was in 2013 against Drake.

Notables

Coach Drew Cronic improves to 2-0 against Furman, picking up his first road win against the Paladins today.
Mercer is now 8-10-2 all time against Furman. The Bears are 3-6-2 at Paladin stadium now.
The Bears had 391 yards of total offense, 99 more yards than Furman did.
After 223 yards on the ground today, Mercer is averaging 270 rushing yards/game this season
Fred Davis had 125 all-purpose yards, 94 yards on the ground and 31 yards receiving.
24 different Mercer players made a tackle.

Up Next
The Bears host their first SoCon opponent of the season next weekend when Samford comes to town. Kickoff is set for Saturday, October 2 at 6 PM at Five Star Stadium.

Follow the Bears
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