Mercer hopes long trip north is worth it again
Bobby Lamb had a quick thought on Mercer’s first trip to Lexington, Virginia, to face VMI two years ago.
“No. 1, it’s long,” the Bears’ head coach said of the 500-plus-mile trip. “It’s eight hours, no matter which way you shake it.”
But the length of the trip didn’t bother the Bears on their return home after their first Southern Conference win in 2014. After losing to Furman in their conference debut in Macon, the Bears beat VMI 27-24 with now senior Zach Jackson picking off a pass late to seal the win.
“I do remember that we played a really good football game,” Lamb said. “Felt great about the game. We were in control in the third quarter, VMI came storming back, but the next memory goes to Zach Jackson intercepting a pass over on their sideline to seal the win for us. It was a big win.
“I remember the celebration in the locker room afterward because the kids were really fired up. We need to have that same kind of intensity when we go up there again.”
The Bears started the return trip Friday morning for their second conference game of this season at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Mercer (1-2 overall) lost its conference opener, while Saturday’s game is the conference opener for VMI (2-1).
In the previous trip, the Bears led 7-0 early before the Keydets tied the score, and Mercer regained the lead at 13-7 before VMI took its first lead at 14-13.
Mercer then stormed to a 27-14 lead highlighted by a 62-yard scoring pass from John Russ to Chandler Curtis before holding off the Keydets.
“It was a tough game,” senior running back Payton Usher said. “It was a big moment for Mercer football, and hopefully we get our first conference win this year back up there again. We’re looking forward to it.”
That was Mercer’s only conference win in 2014, and it won two conference games in 2015. The Bears’ initial season came in 2013 when they went 10-2 as they played in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.
VMI returned the favor with a 28-21 win in Macon last year.
“It was a monumental game in our program’s history. We had so many up to that point — the first win, the first Pioneer Football League win and then the first SoCon win,” senior linebacker Tyler Ward said of the win two years ago. “I’ve got great memories up there and coming home from that trip two years ago. Obviously, that’s what we’re looking forward to do this year.
“We had a slip-up with VMI last year, and the coaches have reminded us of it; we’ve reminded ourselves of it. We can’t let that happen again and have to go up there and take care of business.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Mercer hopes long trip north is worth it again."