Mercer football came claws out and roared on the road this past week against the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats in Daytona Beach, Fl.
New head coach Mike Jacobs led the team into this game coming off a season opener win against Presbyterian College. The team came out victorious with a score of 31-2 and improved to 2-0 on the season.
While the first quarter remained scoreless for both teams, the Bears awoke in the second quarter to go up 21-0 with quarterback DJ Smith ‘26 connecting with receivers Brayden Smith ‘27 with a 50-yard touchdown pass, Parker Wroble ‘25 with a 14-yard touchdown pass and Kelin Parsons ‘25 with a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Dwayne McGee ‘25 leads the team so far this season in rushing attempts (36), tripling the total of the next running back on the list, Micah Bell ‘27.
On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback TJ Moore ‘25 had the only interception of the game. Defensive linemen Carson Griffin ‘25 and Andrew Zock ‘28 were each able to get to the quarterback for a sack of their own. Griffin came into his fourth season with just half a sack to his name, but his 2.5 sacks in the first two games of this season have brought up his career tally to 3, adding yet another tool to an already-stingy defense. Mercer ended the game with 53 tackles, 11 of which were for a loss.
The Wildcats scored their only two points of the game via a safety in the third quarter. Mercer answered immediately with a McGee touchdown run. The run was set up by a special teams blunder by Bethune-Cookman, who fumbled on the kickoff return following the safety. Donovan Watkins ‘28 recovered the ball for his first career fumble recovery.
Mercer’s special teams unit was a bright spot with John McConnell ‘26 recognized as the Southern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging nearly 51 yards per punt, including a 54-yard kick.
The Bears tacked on a few more points in the fourth quarter by way of a 28-yard field goal from kicker Reice Griffith ‘27, his first attempt of the season.
Despite the strong showing from both the offense and defense, penalties continued to plague Mercer throughout the game. Bethune-Cookman gained four first-downs off of Mercer penalties while the Bears had no first-downs as a result of a Bethune-Cookman penalty. The Wildcats had 10 total first-downs in the entire game. In total, Mercer was penalized 15 times for 133 yards while in their season opener, they were penalized eight times for 75 yards.
The No. 23 Bears will be on the road again next week, traveling to SoCon foe Chattanooga to try and keep their winning streak alive against No. 14 River Mocs.
