Devron Harper sets school record as Mercer blows by VMI, 55-14

Midway through the first quarter, Devron Harper returned a punt 87 yards for a touchdown and from that point on it was all No. 16 Mercer (7-2, 5-1) who ran away with a 55-14 win at VMI (1-7, 0-5) Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Virginia.

Devron Harper broke a Mercer school record for all-purpose yards in a game with 293. He had 126 punt return yards, 80 receiving yards, 65 kickoff return yards and 20 rushing yards. Mercer outscored VMI 24-0 in the second quarter to head into the half with a 31-0 lead.

Mercer scored more than 40 points in a game for the fifth time in its last six games. Fred Payton completed 17-of-24 passes for 176 yards and 4 touchdowns with three interceptions.

Ty James and Tayshaun Shipp each hauled in two receiving touchdowns in the game. Freshman running back CJ Miller had his first career 100-yard game, rushing for 105 yards along with his first career rushing touchdown.

The Bears’ defense leads the FCS in interceptions and added two more on the afternoon. Lance Wise and Richie Coffey each had an interception. Isaac Dowling led the Bears with 9 tackles, Chris Hill had a forced fumble and Christian Hanson had a fumble recovery.

VMI had just 134 yards of total offense and were 0-for-11 on third down.

How it happened

After the Bears turned it over on their first two offensive possessions, Devron Harper provided the Bears with the spark it needed, taking a punt return 87 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown.

The Bears would score on four of their next five possessions in the first half, while the defense played an excellent first half. In the first half, the Bears’ defense forced six VMI punts, a turnover on downs, and recovered a fumble.

Brandon Marshall had a 2-yard rushing touchdown to give the Bears a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Tayshaun Shipp was left open in the back left corner of the end zone to give him his first touchdown reception of the season to extend the Mercer lead to 21-0.

The Bears scored 10 points in the final 20 seconds of the first half. Ty James hauled in a 7-yard touchdown from Fred Payton. Then, on VMI’s next possession, Chris Hill forced a fumble that was recovered by Christian Hanson. A 42-yard field goal from Devin Folser gave the Bears a 31-0 lead at halftime.

Mercer had two turnovers on its first two possessions of the second half. That set up a short field for VMI on both occasions, and they would take advantage scoring touchdowns off the Mercer turnovers to make it a 31-14 game.

That would be the only thing that slowed the Bears offense down in the second half as Mercer would score on its next four possessions.

CJ Miller had his first career rushing touchdown from 4 yards out midway through the third quarter. Then, just over two minutes later Ty James made an acrobatic catch for a 3-yard touchdown catch to give the Bears a 45-14 lead.

Tayshaun Shipp had an 11-yard touchdown reception on a play in which Fred Payton took the snap off the ground. Devin Folser connected on a 29-yard field goal to give the Bears a 55-14 lead

Up next

Mercer is on a bye week before returning home to welcome the Furman Paladins to Five Star Stadium on Nov. 12. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.