Mercer gets over hump, ends Chattanooga's Southern Conference winning streak
It took dealing with close loss after close loss and facing off with the No. 3 team in FCS play, but the Mercer Bears finally got their first Southern Conference win of the season Saturday at Five Star Stadium.
After four difficult losses in conference play, Mercer pulled out a 17-14 win over Chattanooga. The Mocs had won 12 straight conference games and claimed the conference title last year with a 7-0 record.
Mercer improves to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in conference play, while Chattanooga drops to 7-2 and 5-1.
"What a great win for us. I can't say enough about our defense, forcing four turnovers," Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb said. "And any time you defend Chattanooga with (quarterback Jacob) Huesman at quarterback, it's like defending 12 because he is their running back. Time and time again, we just kept coming and kept coming. We didn't play perfect on offense, and we didn't play perfect on defense, but we made plays down the stretch when we had to.
"And I can't be more proud of this team because time and time and time again, we have sat right here, and it's been a seven-point loss; it's been a three-point loss; it's been a two-point loss; it's been a loss on the last play of the game. These kids are resilient. They finally just stepped up and they believed. Our coaches did a good job of making them believe all year long."
Huesman, the two-time conference player of the year, finished with 112 yards rushing and 197 passing as the Mocs rolled up 417 total yards. He also had two touchdown runs, a 7-yarder in the second quarter and a 1-yarder with 12:46 left to play to pull the Mocs to within 17-14. But Mercer's defense came up with the big turnovers in key spots and also had a goal-line stop in the third quarter to keep the Mocs' offense under control.
Safety Zach Jackson, who had been out the previous two games, finished with nine tackles and an interception on Chattanooga's final threat with 3:57 to play. Tripp Patterson and Lendell Arnold led the Bears with 10 tackles each.
"It means everything for us because we work so hard, and this whole year, we've been coming up short, but for our team to come together on that last play and see that we knocked off the No. 3 team in the nation, it feels amazing," Jackson said. "It's amazing, I can't even describe the feeling. A know a lot of people were calling us out, but we kept saying it's all about us, and we all believe each other, and for us to come together and knock off the third-ranked team in the nation, it's huge for this program and this school."
The Bears got on the board first with a 1-yard run by quarterback John Russ late in the first quarter, and they led 10-7 at the half. Early in the third quarter, Russ hit freshman Jimmie Robinson with a short pass, and Robinson turned into a 64-yard touchdown for a 17-7 lead.
Russ completed 9-of-19 passes for 162 yards, and he rushed for 56 yards. Tee Mitchell rushed for 66 yards, while Alex Lakes added 49.
Robinson had 85 receiving yards on four catches, while another true freshman, Marquise Irvin, had two catches for 58 yards, including a 50-yarder.
"John Russ just gave me a great opportunity on the stop route, and I made the best of it," Robinson said. "It's really big beating the No. 3 team because we have been coming up short like Zach said, and just coming out here and finishing was great."
Mercer hits the road to play Furman, Lamb's alma mater and his former employer, this week. The Bears then wrap up their season at home against Samford, which is coached by Macon native Chris Hatcher.
Mercer had lost its four conference games by a total of 13 points, and eight of its 10 conference losses since joining the Southern Conference last year had been by single digits (the Bears were 1-6 last year in conference play). The win is the Bears' first Southern Conference home win; last year's win came at VMI.
"As I told them before the game, (Saturday's) game is an opportunity for us to put us on the map," Lamb said "This is a map game, and we called it a map game because (Sunday), they're going to open up the paper across the country in FCS football, and they're gonna go, 'Who's Mercer? Let's investigate a little bit more about Mercer,' because we just beat the No. 3 team in the country."
This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 8:17 PM with the headline "Mercer gets over hump, ends Chattanooga's Southern Conference winning streak ."