Presbyterian Hands No. 11 Mercer Rare Home Defeat

Saturday, August 30

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

Presbyterian

Presbyterian Hands No. 11 Mercer Rare Home Defeat

8/30/2025 11:23:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – Visiting Presbyterian racked up more than 410 offensive yards and used a 16-yard touchdown jaunt by Zach Switzer with 56 seconds left to take the lead for good as the Blue Hose snapped FCS's fourth-longest active home win streak with a 15-10 upset of 11^th-ranked Mercer on Saturday evening at Five Star Stadium.

Mercer (0-1) got its points on an 11-yard touchdown catch from newcomer Adonis McDaniel late in the first quarter and a 22-yard field goal from Reice Griffith midway through the third. The setback also snapped a four-game win streak in season openers for the Orange & Black.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Presbyterian 15, Mercer 10
RECORDS: Mercer 0-1 (0-0 SoCon); Presbyterian 1-0 (0-0 PFL)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Five Star Stadium)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

DJ Smith's 29-yard pass to Adjatay Dabbs early in the possession keyed a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped on newcomer Adonis McDaniel's 11-yard touchdown reception with four seconds left. Smith completed five of his six pass attempts for 72 yards on the possession. MU 7, PC 0

TOUCHDOWN BEARS!@d1adonizzz scores his first touchdown with the Bears from 11 yards out!

Q1 | 0:04
Mercer 7, Presbyterian 0#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/pv8p6F9zhD
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) August 30, 2025

2ND QUARTER

Presbyterian bridged the first and second periods with an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was eventually culminated on Collin Hurst's 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Nathan Levicki. The Blue Hose converted a pair of fourth downs amid the possession, including a 9-yard run on a fake punt at their own 34-yard line that gave the visitors new life. MU 7, PC 6

Defense stands tall on 4th and goal from the one! 😤🚫#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/LUurTm8Sfe
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) August 30, 2025

3RD QUARTER

A 29-yard punt return from Brayden Smith set the Bears up at the Presbyterian 25-yard line, and Mercer inevitably notched its final points of the night on Reice Griffith's 22-yard boot. CJ Miller carried the ball four times for 18 yards on the scoring drive. MU 10, PC 6

Presbyterian answered on the ensuing possession, capping an 11-play, 61-yard scoring drive with a 29-yard field goal from Jett Jackson. The Blue Hose converted a key 3^rd-and-10 situation on the drive with Collin Hurst's 10-yard pass to Dominic Kibby, but Mercer stiffened up in the red zone to limit the drive to just three points. MU 10, PC 9

The 23-yard @Ford field goal is good from @ReiceKicks!

Q3 | 8:53
Mercer 10, Presbyterian 6#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/d2yNfVoSF7
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) August 31, 2025

4TH QUARTER

Zach Switzer culminated a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive with a 16-yard scamper around left tackle to put the Blue Hose up for good, but the possession was not without its drama. Presbyterian used a pass interference infraction to avoid a 3-and-out early in the possession, and then converted a 4^th-and-4 situation at the Mercer 41-yard line with a 14-yard pass-and-catch. PC 15, MU 10

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Junior all-American Brayden Smith accounted for 190 all-purpose yards, including 87 kickoff return yards (3 attempts). Smith also registered two punt returns for 47 yards and matched a team-best (Adjatay Dabbs) with four catches for 42 yards.
+ Senior Juwan Johnson, redshirt junior Drew Clare and redshirt senior Jordan Swain all turned in a team-high seven tackles. Redshirt junior Myles Weston logged four tackles and an acrobatic interception in the end zone.

NOTABLES

+ Saturday's setback snapped FCS's fourth-longest active home win streak and marked Mercer's first loss at Five Star Stadium since falling on the wrong end of a 22-10 decision to Chattanooga on Oct. 14, 2023. It was MU's first non-conference home loss since falling 20-17 to Abilene Christian in the 2020-21 home opener.
+ Mercer fell to 9-4 in season openers among the modern era (2013-Present) of the program. The setback to the Blue Hose snapped a four-game win streak for the Bears in such contests.

UP NEXT

The Bears will get a rare early-September bye week next week before resuming their regular season schedule on September 13 against Southern Conference rival Wofford at Five Star Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and tickets can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

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SUPPORT THE BEARS

Support the Mercer athletics department by making a gift to the Mercer Athletic Foundation. To find out more information about the Mercer Athletic Foundation, email maf@mercer.edu.