Mercer Bears beat Reinhardt Eagles 45-42

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400"] Mercer edged out rival Reinhardt in Aug. 31st Game.[/caption]

Many fans came out to see the first Mercer football game this year against Reinhardt University. The game ran back and forth between the two teams all night, and they both fought for the victory.

Mercer began the game with a touchdown by Alex Lakes, and the extra point kick was good. Ian McIntosh, number 23 for Reinhardt, made a touchdown with only 0:23 left in the first quarter. The kick for the extra point resulted in the teams continuing to the second quarter with a tie.

With 10:18 on the board, Mercer’s Tyler Zielenske kicked a 24-yard field goal. Mercer lost its three point lead when Nathen Lingo from Reinhardt ran 28-yards for a touchdown with an extra point kick by Ryan Hopper.

With the score at 14-10 Reinhardt, Mercer took the lead when John Russ made a 9-yard pass to Avery Ward who made the touchdown. The score resulted in Mercer with 17, including the extra point kick by Tyler Zielenske, and Reinhardt remaining with 14. Reinhardt’s Johnathon Chamblee made a 62-yard pass to Sam Jones, and the extra point kick was made by Ryan Hopper with 3:37 on the board. With only 0:30 left in the first half, John Russ threw a pass to JT Palmer causing Mercer to take a 24-21 lead.

After the half time show, Reinhardt came out with a boom scoring a touchdown by Niagel Curtis. Mercer came back and scored a touchdown by Chandler Curtis with 7:11 on the board. Reinhardt then made a touchdown on a 0-yard fumble return which made the score 35-31 Reinhardt. On a kickoff return, Chandler Curtis, number 13 for Mercer, made a 91-yard touchdown. After the extra point kick, the score was 38-35 Mercer.

Moving into the fourth quarter, Niagel Curtis made a touchdown for Reinhardt. Mercer then made the final touchdown of the night with 2:51 on the board. The resulting score was 45-42 Mercer.

This information was checked by ESPN’s scoring summary of the game.