Written By
Written By
Written By
Written By
The first win of the Ashley Ingram era is still out there. On a rainy Saturday at Foster Stadium, Mercer made sure it was not coming in Week 5.
The Bears ran for 402 yards, finished with 658 yards of offense and beat VMI 54-3 in Southern Conference play. Mercer left 4-2 and 1-1. The Keydets fell to 0-6 and 0-2, their 16th loss in a row.
Ingram was hired Dec. 30 as the 34th head coach in program history, out of Carson-Newman and 16 years at Navy, to install a triple-option offense. Offensive coordinator Brent Thompson, the former Citadel head coach, has lived in that system too. Against Mercer, the ground game that is supposed to be the whole point of it produced 61 yards on 42 carries. VMI managed 102 yards total, eight first downs and 3 of 15 on third down. The Keydets did not reach the red zone. They also did not turn the ball over, which only underlined how little they needed a mistake to be finished.
The afternoon started even, briefly. Simon Zeidan's 39-yard field goal put Mercer up 3-0 after Sam Martin Jr. returned the opening kickoff 68 yards. Freshman safety Terry Dorsey then intercepted Jaylen King and set VMI up at the Mercer 46. Six plays later, Jack Joyce hit from 49 yards and the game was 3-3. That kick also ended a long silence in this series. VMI had not scored on the Bears since Caden Beck's 46-yard field goal with 11:03 left in the third quarter at Macon in 2023, a drought of 156 minutes and 48 seconds.
Mercer answered before the quarter ended. JP Pickles found Jackson Kostmayer for a 3-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal as time expired, a 10-play, 68-yard drive. Zeidan added a 36-yarder with 3:55 left in the half. Then the game broke. Zahmari Palode-Gary, who finished with 130 yards on 10 carries, ripped off a 64-yard touchdown with 1:48 left. King came back on fourth-and-11 and dropped a 40-yard score to Kel Calixte with 14 seconds left. Halftime was 27-3.
The second half was the same game, just further along. Zeidan's 28-yard field goal made it 30-3. Pickles, who threw for a touchdown and ran for 66 yards and another, was carried in from the 5 to make it 37-3. Adrian Parker hit Kaden Hanson from 20 yards early in the fourth. Zeidan's fourth field goal, from 23, pushed it to 47-3. Freshman Karlise Price scored his first career touchdown on a 52-yard run with 6:24 left, and it was 54-3.
Zeidan was 4-for-4 on field goals and 6-for-6 on extra points, 18 points, a Mercer record for points by a kicker. King was 14 of 23 for 202 yards and the Calixte touchdown. Brayden Smith led the Bears with three catches for 58 yards. Five Mercer ball carriers had at least 34 rushing yards.
VMI's offense never found a counter. Aslin Shipe led the Keydets with 37 rushing yards. Ian Reynolds completed 3 passes for 33 yards, Chandler Wilson added 8, and Cade Cox led the receivers with two catches for 20. Safety Nic Land made 13 tackles, nine of them solo. Isaiah Grevious and Ethan Haston had seven each.
This is what the series has become. Mercer has outscored VMI 188-6 over the last four meetings and outgained the Keydets 2,416-582. Saturday was the loudest version of it, in the rain, at home, in front of a new staff that was hired to make Foster Stadium look different.
VMI has a bye, then a trip to Wofford on Oct. 17 in Spartanburg. Mercer goes home Oct. 10 to face Western Carolina.
