No. 13/15 Mercer Handles Furman in Key Late-Season SoCon Tilt; Sets Up Another Title Opportunity

GREENVILLE, S.C.--Freshman sensation quarterback Braden Atkinson completed 28-of-49 passes for 426 yards and four touchdowns and one rushing touchdown, as Mercer claimed its seventh-straight in-season win and 10th-straight SoCon triumph in contiguous seasons, downing Furman, 52-28, Saturday afternoon before 7,867 fans at Paladin Stadium.

The win sees the Bears improve to 7-1 overall and improved to 6-0 in the SoCon, while Furman fell to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in SoCon play, as the Paladins dropped their first SoCon home game of the season. 

The win for the Bears was the second-straight in the series in decisive fashion against the Paladins, as Mercer closed out its 2024 SoCon title run by easily defeating Furman, 49-23, in the regular-season finale to claim the program's first conference crown of any type in 92 years. 

This season's 24-point at Paladin Stadium now gives the Bears the opportunity to defend their SoCon crown from a year ago, as the win sets up a de facto SoCon title matchup, as the Orange and Black travel to EJ Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee, N.C., to take on an equally hot Western Carolina team, which claimed its sixth-straight win Saturday evening with a 35-28 win at Chattanooga to improve to 6-3 overall and 5-0 in league action. 

Western Carolina has never claimed a SoCon title since joining the league in 1976, while Mercer broke through and won its first SoCon crown just last season after joining the league back in 2014. The winner of that game will likely be the SoCon's lone representative in the FCS postseason. 

As for the game, Furman was dominated in every phase, despite the fact that the Paladins jumped out to the early 13-0 lead. 

The Bears came back to score 24-unanswered points over the final quarter-and-a-half to take an 11-point lead into the halftime locker room, which included one of the more dominant second quarter performances by an opponent ever witnessed in the 44-year history of the facility. 

It marked the second time in a little over a calendar year that the Paladins have yielded 52 points to an opponent on its home turf, and the third time overall, as Furman dropped a 52-7 game at Western Carolina earlier this season.  Furman also dropped a 52-20 contest at home to Western Carolina on Oct. 26, 2024. 

Atkison, who was the reigning STATS Perform Freshman of the Week, has now completed 57-of-86 passes for 959 yards, with nine TDs and no INTs in the past two weeks. Though he was hit Saturday, he never was sacked by Furman, which entered the contest with the nation's leading pass-rusher, in Joshua Stoneking (12.5 sacks, 18.5 TFL).

Atkinson's favorite target of the game was Adonis McDaniel, who hauled in seven passes for 139 yards and a touchdown, while Adjatay Dabbs turned in his second big performance against the Paladins, hauling in six passes for 117 yards and a touchdown. 

Equally impressive was Mercer's ground attack, which amassed 202 yards on 40 attempts in Saturday's win, and was led by another solid effort on the ground by CJ Miller, who finished the night with 111 yards and a pair of scores on 20 rush attempts. He also added three catches for 14 yards, including an 18-yard scoring catch early in the second quarter.

Furman was led in the game by quarterback Trey Hedden, who finished his afternoon connecting on 12-of-18 passes for 155 yards, with two TDs and an INT.  Hedden was sacked four times in the game. 

Hedden's favorite target was true freshman Evan James, who finished his afternoon with five catches for 39 yards and a score. Ja'Keith Hamilton also hauled in a 64-yard scoring pass on a wide receiver screen from Hedden early in the second half. 

Furman true freshman running back CJ Nettles finished the game with his first-career 100-yard rushing effort, highlighted by a 67-yard scoring run on Furman's second possession of the day. Nettles finished the game with 105 yards and a touchdown on 15 rush attempts.

Capping Furman's day filled with highlights made by true freshmen was Caleb Easterling, who returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. It marked the eighth kickoff return of 100 yards or more in program history, including the first since Jerodis Williams took one back for 100 yards in 2012 at Appalachian State (Nov. 10, 2012). It was the first 100-yard for a score in Paladin Stadium since Jerodis Williams' 100-yard kickoff return vs. Western Carolina (Sept. 29, 2012) earlier in that same campaign. 

Defensively, Mercer sacked Hedden four times and allowed Furman just eight first downs the entire afternoon, holding the Paladins to just 2.9 yards-per-rush. Linebackers Drew Clare and Julian Fox led the Bears with five tackles apiece, with Fox adding a sack and a tackle-for-loss. 

Andrew Zock continued to live up to his preseason billing as the SoCon's best defensive player, ending his afternoon with three tackles, a pair of quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a sack.  Bears defensive back Kaleb Hutchinson added four tackles and two tackles-for-loss, while linebacker Donovan Watkins accounted for the only turnover of the day, as he picked off a Trey Hedden pass. 

Furman was led defensively by linebacker Luke McLaughlin, who finished with 11 tackles, while defensive end Joshua Stoneking added 10 tackles and a tackle-for-loss in the losing effort.

Mercer's dominance was revealed on the stats sheet in nearly every statistical category. The Bears owned advantages in the following categories: total plays (89-43); total yards (628-227); passing yards (426-155);  rushing yards (202-72); first downs (36-8) and time of possession (37:59-22:01). 

How It Happened

Furman won the toss and deferred to the second half, giving Mercer the ball first. The Furman defense did its job, holding the Bears to a three and out on the first drive, with AK Burrell’s tackle for loss on 3^rd-and-3 being the key play.

After a 35-yard return from Taylen Blaylock, Furman got a 14-yard touchdown pass from Trey Hedden-to-Evan James to take the early 6-0 lead following a failed two-point conversion.

Following a punt by Mercer, Furman took over at its own 33 and on the first play from scrimmage, CJ Nettles went 67 yards for the score to give the Paladins and early 13-0 lead with 7:33 remaining in the opening quarter.

Mercer would come back and get its first points of the day on the next possession, getting within six points when Malik Simmons hauled in a 21-yard scoring strike from Braden Atkinson to make cut Furman’s advantage to 13-7.

Furman took over late in the first quarter, and following a strip sack by Andrew Zock, which saw the football bounce all the way inside the Furman 10 before it was recovered by Furman’s left tackle Davis Watson for a loss of more than 20 yards.

The game would begin to turn in Mercer’s favor in the second quarter, as the Bears offense went into high gear.

The Paladins were forced to punt the ball away and after Furman punted the ball back to the Bears, Mercer put together a 12-play, 88-yard drive that saw Mercer take its first lead of the day when Atkinson tossed his second scoring pass of the afternoon, with a 12-yard scoring pass to CJ Miller out of the backfield with 13:14 remaining in the opening half to give the Bears a 14-13 lead following Reice Griffith’s PAT.

Midway through the second quarter, the Bears would tack on another score to take a 21-13 lead when CJ Miller ran it in from six yards out to make it an eight-point game with 6:45 remaining in the half. It was the third-straight scoring drive for the Bears, as Mercer used 11 plays to cover 73 yards.

Following Furman’s third-straight three-and-out, a tired Furman defense was forced to take the field once again as the Mercer offense took over at its own 22 with 5:18 left in the half. After one first down, however, the Paladins forced Mercer to punt it away with 4:02 remaining in the half, as the Paladin defense finally put a stop to the string of points by the high-octane Bears offense. A sack on first down, however, as Hedden rolled to pass but failed to release the ball out of the pocket.

After getting the ball back, the Bears would tack on one more score when Reice Griffith connected on a 44-yard field goal with 1:09 remaining in the opening half. Mercer would take a 24-13 lead into the halftime locker room, holding the Paladins to without a first down and only 11 yards in the second quarter. 

The Bears completely dominated the game in the opening half, out-gaining Furman 284-107 in the opening half and had a 19-3 edge in first downs and a 51-21 advantage in total plays.

Furman true freshman Caleb Easterling returned the opening kick of the second half 100 yards for a score, cutting Mercer’s lead to four, 24-20. Mercer struck back almost just as quickly on its opening drive of the second half, Atkinson found Adjatay Dabbs for a 63-yard touchdown strike, restoring the Bears’ 11-point lead, at 31-20 with 13:34 remaining in the third quarter.

Furman responded with a 64-yard strike of its own on its first offensive series of the second half, as Hedden found Ja’Keith Hamilton for a 64-yard scoring strike and after Kerry King hauled in a short two-point pass play, the Paladins were within 31-28 with 12:41 remaining in the third quarter.

Mercer marched right back down the field and got more points, as the Bears approached 500 yards for the day, as Atkinson plunged in from a yard out and Griffith’s PAT made it a 38-28 Bears lead with 8:45 remaining in the third.

Following a Furman punt, the Bears got the ball back a little over midway through the third quarter and on the first play from scrimmage, Atkinson found Adonis McDaniel for a 44-yard pass down the Paladin one. 

Two plays later, Miller bowled his way into the end zone from a yard out to give Mercer its biggest lead of the day, at 45-28 with 5:46 left in the third. Mercer would carry its 17-point edge into the fourth quarter.

The Bears would increase the advantage to 24 when Atkinson found McDaniel for a 37-yard scoring strike to make it a 52-28 game with 13:43 remaining in the game. That would end up being the final score of the day, as the Bears would take the foot off the gas from that point forward.

Furman returns to action next Saturday for its final road SoCon game of the season, taking on Chattanooga (4-5, 3-2 SoCon) in a noon kickoff at Finley Stadium in what is the Nexstar SoCon Game of the Week.