Mercer rides defense and special teams scores to 37-31 Homecoming win over ETSU, commanding SoCon position

A little less than a year ago, ETSU head coach Tre Lamb was on the same sideline at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium with a different team in a bigger game.

Different though the teams and stakes may have been, two things were the same: neither his team nor Mercer had a memorable offensive day, and the homestanding Bears survived.

This time, the Mercer defense was the story by accounting for more points than the offense in a 37-31 win Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium.

Mercer, ranked No. 12 and No. 16 in FCS polls, improved to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in Southern Conference play. ETSU, No. 23 in one poll and getting votes in another, fell to 5-4 and 4-1.

It wasn’t just a familiar and frustrating feeling for Lamb, a former Bear assistant and nephew of former Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb who brought his Gardner-Webb team to town last year for a playoff game.

It was familiar for two dozen Bucs who moved from Gardner-Webb to Johnson City with Lamb, including quarterback Jaylen King and Bleckley County grad Willie Harris.

There were few signs of emotion during the game but plenty at the end, one happening on the field and another on the ETSU bench in front of some vocal Mercer students, leading to some brief security involvement.

The game, on homecoming and during a weekend of inductions into Mercer’s Hall of Fame, left Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs tuckered out.

“A super emotional day,” he said. “Homecoming. I tell the kids all the time our job on homecoming is to win. Everything else is for everyone else, but our job is to win the game.”

When your defense scores twice and special teams once on a punt return — on top of three field goals —  and you get only one offensive touchdown, that’s mighty different.

“A lot going on; there was a lot,” Jacobs said with a laugh. “A lot to talk about. I give our kids credit because they’re unwavering. The trust that we have in the next man to make a play regardless of the phase of football …

“We made plays in all three phases at critical times. It wasn’t the prettiest victory for sure. That’s a big win for our kids. That’s our fourth ranked win this season.”

No doubt Lamb would have expected a better day having given up only one offensive score on the road.

Mercer’s offense finally got going on its first possession of the second half, freshman backup quarterback Whitt Newbauer having been given the keys.

The Bears went 79 yards on eight plays, Newbauer throwing a perfect fade to the right side of the end zone to Kelin Parsons for a 34-yard score and 24-14 lead.

It wasn’t the spark Mercer hoped for. No problem.

Tripp Slaton blocked a punt that Mic Wasson returned 20 yards for a score at the 4:38 mark of the third quarter to give Mercer a 31-14 lead. ETSU answered with an 18-yard TD pass from backup Gino English to AJ Johnson with 2:40 left in the third, pulling the Bucs within 10.

An interception by T.J. Moore set up kicker Reice Griffith’s 36-yard field goal for a 34-21 advantage with 12:44 left in the game. The Bucs promptly moved to the red zone, though, only for Thomas and Chris Hill to crunch English for a 7-yard third-down loss, followed by a fourth-down incompletion.

Mercer then ate up more than three minutes before punting, but the defense couldn’t stop ETSU on its next drive, which was something of a passing and receiving clinic. The 55-second, 79-yard drive pulled the Bucs within 34-28 with 5:55 left in the game.

The teams traded field goals less than a minute apart late, and it stayed interesting for those remaining from the half-full stadium.

ETSU, within six with 45 seconds left, recovered the onside kick, but that was nullified by an offside call that had Lamb on the field — where he was several times — to discuss.

But the Bucs tried it again, and recovered it again — they touched the ball before it went 10 yards, however, so the Bears were able to close the game out.

“I’m glad that kicker had a baggy jersey, because it hit him,” Jacobs said with a smile. “Barely.”

The Bears couldn’t get anything going on offense from the start, stalling after an interception on ETSU’s third play by Dainsus Miller gave them the ball at the Bucs’ 26.

Mercer got seven yards on third down and settled for a 36-yard Griffith field goal. ETSU’s offense had a major answer with a 68-yard touchdown pass from King to Hakeem Meggett on its first play from scrimmage.

ETSU’s defense had a good rush on quarterback DJ Smith and clogged up run gaps.

“We were struggling to get a lot going on offense against a good, good defense,” Jacobs said. “A lot of people talk about ETSU’s offense, but I think their defense is arguably one of the best we’ve seen so far in the league.”

The Bears were held to under 300 yards total offense while the Bucs racked up 472 yards, 459 of which came through the air.

A punt pinned Mercer deep and the ETSU defense pushed the Bears deeper, taking over on Mercer’s 45 after a punt. A 36-yard pass to Xavier Gallardetz, who outbattled Myles Redding for the ball, put the Bucs inside the 10.

A holding call nullified an overthrow on third and goal from the 14, giving the Bucs a chance at six instead of three. They got it on backup quarterback Gino English’s fourth-down sneak from inside the one.

That put ETSU up 14-3 with 2:02 left in the first.

Mercer crossed midfield on its next trip and stalled, punting from the ETSU 45. Kendall Harris downed it at the 1.

Good was finally coming Mercer’s way.

Bryson Irby barely made it out of the end zone before fumbling after Chris Joines’ hit, and the ball went backwards to the waiting Brayden Manley.

Manley returned the fumble for Mercer’s first touchdown at the 13:29 mark of the second quarter.

The new momentum stayed on Mercer’s side on defense. On third and 5 from the 20, King was hit by Brayden Dudley while throwing, and the duck of a pass went right to linebacker Marques Thomas, who returned it for the 25-yard pick-6.

And just like that, Mercer was up 17-14, with 12:16 left in the half.

But nothing changed for Mercer’s offense, which midway through the second quarter had been doubled up in total offensive yardage.

At the half, ETSU had 214 yards, 192 through the air and only 22 on the ground. Mercer countered with 70 and 26, for all of 2.8 yards a play.

Newbauer took over for Mercer in the first half with little change. Smith was 7 for 11 for 38 yards, Newbauer 2 of 5 for 32 yards. They’d been sacked three times at the half, but Mercer was still up by three.

Newbauer kept the job in the second half and had more success, cracking the 100-yard mark in the third quarter.

“We went into the week really anticipating playing both quarterbacks, to be honest with you,” Jacobs said. “DJ’s health had come around where we felt good about it. DJ got nicked up a little bit again there, so we kinda stayed with Whitt throughout the rest of the course of the game.”

Newbauer, a 6-foot-6 freshman, finished 11 of 18 for 124 yards. Most of Dwayne McGee’s 124 rushing yards came in the second half.

“When he had time, he made pretty good decisions,” Jacobs said of Newbauer. “Didn’t have any of those big long plays … Most importantly, the thing … we didn’t turn the ball over. You glean everything from this stat line – we weren’t great on third down, but we protected the football.”

ETSU’s King and English teamed to go 25 of 44, but with three interceptions. The Bucs had the top run game in the Southern Conference but were held to 13 yards, 182 below their average.

Mercer’s defense and special teams made up for a so-so day on offense.

“I felt like our defense played really well all day,” Jacobs said. “We gave up a few big pass plays, but I thought we affected their quarterback tremendously. A testament to our strength and conditioning staff, I thought our fourth-quarter conditioning was good and I thought our defense was attacking.”