Bears win in dominating fashion

Head Coach Bobby Lamb and the Mercer Bears excited the home crowd this week notching another victory and improving to 2-0 on the season. The first home game also marked the first game played at Five Star Stadium since it was re-named.

”We obviously dedicated it with a bang,” said Lamb “I don’t know if you could play any better in the first half,”

The first half saw a record number of points scored in one half by the Bears with 51.

The Bears got the game going early with 41 yard kickoff return by Stephan Houzah. After, driving 59 yards Alex Lakes punched it in from one yard out to give the Bears the lead.

Quarterback John Russ connected with Grant Radakovich for the Bears to put them on top 14-0. The Hatters answered with a scoring toss from Ryan Tentler to Chris Crawford.

The turning point of the game came when Tentler’s pass was tipped in the end zone and Corey Lockett intercepted the ball for the Bears.

Russ made them pay for that mistake as he drove the team down the field and scored on a quarterback keeper. Russ passed for 4 touchdowns on top of the rushing touchdown.

True Freshman Stephan Houzah made his presence known on the defensive side of the ball as he intercepted the Stetson quarterbacks twice on the night.

“On defense Stephan Houzah he came in here pretty highly heralded and I tell you he really made some plays out there today,” said Lamb “ Not only intercepting those two passes but he made some great tackles on the edge.”

The Bears reeled off 37 straight points against the Hatters as they went into the half up 51-7.

The Bears used the second half to rest their starters as they cruised past Stetson 57-14.

In the second half, Mercer did break the record for most total yards in the game in school history on a Tanner Brumby scramble. The final tally for yards was 623 which shattered the old record of 554.

One of the key contributor to those yards was running back Tee Mitchell as he slashed through the Stetson defense for a rushing and a receiving touchdown. He tallied 128 all purposes yards against the Hatters.

“Tee, he is just explosive. You can see his speed out there today, just running by people,” said Lamb “he is a guy who can hurt you in the passing game and the run game.”

The Bears head out on the road next week to take on Tennessee Tech. This will be the second road game of the season as they took on Austin Peay in week one.

“We just have to keep that momentum going against Tennessee Tech,” said Russ “They are going to be a good team just like Austin Peay was, they are going to give us a fight, we have to go out there and make it a business trip.”