Emotional day awaits Mercer seniors, Chris Hatcher

There are going to be all kinds of emotions filling Five Star Stadium on Saturday for the season finale between Mercer and Samford.

Both Southern Conference teams have a ton to play for as they enter the game with identical 5-5 overall records and 2-4 conference records. A win for either team means a winning season and a three-game winning streak into the postseason. And that means a lot of momentum entering the recruiting season.

The game is also Mercer's first true senior day since the program rebooted in 2011. Of the original 104 players the program signed, 18 will graduate (there are 14 who will graduate next year). And senior day always means extra motivation for those players and their teammates, as well, to send them out on a high note.

"They helped lay the ground work," Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb said of his seniors. "As they said in practice the other day, 'Coach, we were out here practicing before the stadium was ever built.' They really saw it come up and really got Mercer football on the map, so it's a small thing just to honor them because they have done so many big things here.

"Since day one, things have changed. We were a (Pioneer Football League) non-scholarship team, and now we're a fully allotted scholarship team in an FCS program here, so things have changed. For them to really stick it out and play four years is a credit to them and a credit to their character."

Adding an extra layer of emotion is the return of Macon native Chris Hatcher, a former standout at Mount de Sales. Hatcher went on to play and coach at Valdosta State, winning the Harlon Hill Trophy as the Blazers' quarterback and leading the Blazers to an NCAA Division II national title as their head coach. He also served as Georgia Southern's head coach for three seasons.

Hatcher should have plenty of fans at Five Star Stadium for his first-ever coaching appearance in his home town.

"This is a big game for us," Hatcher said. "It would give us a winning season and send our seniors out victorious, and I know this is the first senior day that Mercer has had in a long, long time. So I'm sure it will be a very emotional game for both teams."

And those emotions are going to be all over the map.

Contact Daniel Shirley at 744-4227 or dshirley@macon.com

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 3:53 PM.