Mercer bounces back in 22-21 home win over Wofford

Mike Jacobs’ second season as head coach at Mercer is turning into one of suspense.

What’s next?

The season-opener was ruled a “no contest” just short of the midway point of the fourth quarter.

In the second game, at home, Mercer lost to a non-scholarship team it had beaten by 53 a year earlier.

Things got stranger in Mercer’s third game.

Mercer dominated the stat sheet from start to finish — at one point having a 16-1 advantage on first downs — yet still almost lost.

But a sack and strip by Andrew Zock on fourth down finally sealed Mercer’s 22-21 win Saturday night over Wofford at Five Star Stadium, a gritty victory to open Southern Conference play after a week off following a surprising home loss.

“The coach in me says, ‘Yeah, I’d like to earn every single thing,’” Jacobs said. “My blood pressure would indicate otherwise. I would like it to be a little less contested, but that’s some of the youth on our football team.

“I know it’s really hard to win college football games.”

That Mercer had to sweat it out so much belied the Bears’ dominance — almost absurd, in some cases — of the stat sheet.

Mercer had almost four times as many first downs, 27-7.

Mercer ran 36 more plays from scrimmage than Wofford, had the ball 65% of the time (38:54 to 21:06) and reached the red zone six more times than the Terriers.

Freshman quarterback Braden Atkinson had quite the debut, throwing for 25 more yards than Wofford gained all night, 316-291.

“There were definitely a couple of nerves before the game, but I feel like I stayed calm,” Atkinson said after completing 26 of 37. “I kind of pride myself on not getting too high or too low.”

And yet there sat Mercer, suddenly down by eight less than two minutes into the third quarter after taking only a 13-7 lead to the locker room despite its advantages in time of possession, first downs and plays run.

The sudden eight-point deficit may have stunned most of those who filled almost half of Five Star Stadium, but the Bears stayed calm. The first touchdown was a 51-yard pass, and Mercer answered the second touchdown — a Wofford 7-yard pass that followed a 53-yard interception return — with a 44-yard field goal from Reice Griffith with 6:56 left in the third.

Tight end Sawyer Burt was stripped during a catch inside the 5. Mercer started after a three and out on the Terriers’ 33, then took the lead on Atkinson’s 16-yard touchdown pass to CJ Miller 57 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Fittingly, the conversion try was an off-kilter event. The pass to Tattnall grad Brayden Smith was good, but he was ruled to have stepped out of bounds on the end line during his crossing pattern, and the Bears were also called for holding. The illegal touching is a loss-of-down penalty, so that was that.

Drew Clare led a charge for a fourth-and-2 stop of Jayden Whitaker, Wofford’s second quarterback of the day, with 4:12 left.

The punt by John McConnell less than 80 seconds later was a magical one, clearly headed out of bounds until it took a variety of football bounces and stopped at the 2-yard line.

Wofford, unafraid to go deep under any circumstances and from anywhere, got 43 yards on a perfect pass and catch on the first play. The Bears bowed up, and Zock finished things off with a bull rush from the left side, flattening Whitaker and knocking the ball loose 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage with 1:54 left.

“We had a little timeout right before … I’m sitting there with my coach kind of telling him I have a move,” Zock said. “I see the quarterback holding the ball like this, and there’s nobody else in my way.”

Wofford wasted little time in the third quarter, Ethan Drumm, a freshman from Jacksonville, faded to his right in the pocket and hit a wide open Isaiah Scott for an easy 51-yard touchdown on the third play. Eli Campbell picked off Atkinson four plays later and took it 53 yards to the 7, setting up another touchdown pass.

And amazingly, the Terriers had a 21-13 lead with 10:46 left in the third, something few would’ve expected a few hours earlier.

Atkinson completed 17 of 24 for 201 yards in the first half, with no touchdowns and a late interception on a miscommunication.

Mercer had some red-zone issues, settling for a 19-yard field goal to end an impressive first drive. Miller soon went in from the 3 for a 10-0 lead with 4:47 left in the first.

Wofford’s Ihson Jackson-Anderson busted through some weak tackling efforts and broke off a long run, but lost the ball a half-step before the goal line for a stunning touchback. Mercer fell into a rut and missed a field goal, Wofford then getting on board when Ivory Aikens cruised down the left side and pulled in Ethan Drumm’s pass for an 80-yard touchdown, pulling Wofford within 10-7 at the 3:31 mark of the second quarter.

Drumm was only 6 of 16 for the night, but covered 168 yards, and half of the completions were touchdowns.

Atkinson, whose family was on hand from Rolesville, N.C., had the yards and completions, though only one touchdown. He led the rally.

“Just staying even keeled, just going out there,” he said. “It’s not really worrying about the score as much as just going out and playing our ball.”