Mercer routs VMI on the road 34-0 to claim playoff spot and first-ever share of SoCon title

In another solid defensive showing, Mercer rode turnovers and a handful of explosive plays on offense to defeat VMI 34-0 on the road Saturday afternoon, claiming a share of the Southern Conference title for the first time in school history.

The victory moved the Bears to 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the conference in Jacobs’ first season with Mercer. Since the Bears hold the tiebreaker over the other teams still in the running to tie them in the SoCon standings, they clinched a share of the conference trophy — not to mention the conference’s playoff auto-bid. 

“We still have a lot more to play, this is just one step,” Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs said in 100.9 The Creek’s postgame interview. “We were a little banged up, but I’m so proud of our guys coming up here, getting a shutout and putting up 500 yards of offense.”

After excelling in its longest road trip of the season, Mercer will have a chance to win the conference title outright in its final game of the year against the Paladins in two weeks after the trip to Tuscaloosa.

“I believe we’ve secured our playoff bid in the conference, and I’m so happy about that. But we’ve still got work to do, we still have to go on the road to Alabama next week then come back and play Furman,” Jacobs said.

Despite another slow start on offense — something that’s become almost expected, as the Bears have been a second half team in almost every game this year — Mercer used some big gains spread out across the first half to build a 17-0 lead it would not relinquish.

Freshman quarterback Whitt Newbauer played most of the game with D.J. Smith still sidelined by injuries and, despite the aforementioned weak first half, made some key second half heaves that helped Mercer pull away.

“Pass yards are a little difficult here. This is a team with three high safeties, it takes a little bit to prep for it. Right before half when it was still a highly contested game, Whitt made a huge play with his legs that picked us up, too. Then he kept pouring it on in the second half with some big plays,” Jacobs said. “We’re happy to get the win here today.”

With Brayden Smith out for the game as well, wide receiver Parker Wroble stepped up to make some explosive plays. Wroble finished with 102 yards and two touchdowns on only three catches.

“Parker’s a guy that’s played a lot of football for us, again, it’s the unselfishness of our program… It’s a testament to our commitment to one another,” Jacobs said.

The Bears’ defense made its presence known again, reeling in two interceptions in the first half that gave the offense some wiggle room. The Keydets — who fell to 1-9 and 1-5 in the conference with the loss — gained only 111 total yards and failed to score in one of Mercer’s more dominant games of the year. Team captain Ken Standley led the way with 12 tackles, many of them made behind the sticks.

“Our defensive line is better than anybody in the country,” Jacobs said. “We’re just playing really good football on that side of the ball right now.”

Mercer rolls to shutout slowly but surely

It looked like Mercer would get off to a roaring start when a Brayden Manley blindside sack was swiftly followed up with a 75-yard touchdown run by CJ Miller, but a holding penalty put a damper on the impressive rush and set the tone for a plodding opening quarter.

The Keydets went on to dominate time of possession in the early stages, calling lots of run plays with rusher Hunter Rice and even breaking out a double-pass trick play on one drive that let them hold the ball for a few extra minutes.

After a Myles Redding interception to keep VMI from scoring, Dwayne McGee broke off a 63-yard scamper that set the Bears up for a field goal. The Keydets tried to get going and respond, but Mercer snagged another interception before Miller avenged his earlier penalty-nullified run by punching it in from short range to put Mercer up 10-0.

Even with the lead the Bears were sloppy on offense, unable to get the rushing or passing game fully moving for most of the half. Mercer capitalized on an impressive 37-yard scramble by Newbauer to score a touchdown and make it 17-0 at the break.

After the third quarter started similarly with three-and-outs for both teams, Newbauer finally hit the long-awaited deep ball. Wroble got wide open deep and the freshman quarterback hit him with ease for a 70-yard strike to give the Bears a 24-0 lead.

The Bears took even more thorough control from that point, keeping the shutout rolling with more sacks and keeping the offense clicking. Wroble made another great play for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, leaping to a ball thrown behind him to the inside shoulder and beating a taller defender to grab it for the score.

The wind was firmly out of the sails for the Keydets by that point, and Mercer rolled the rest of the way to round out the victory.