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The Game Story
-In what is becoming a streaky season, Edinboro lost its second straight game on Saturday, suffering a 38-31 overtime loss at Slippery Rock.  That came after the Fighting Scots opened the season with back-to-back losses before running off three straight wins.  The Fighting Scots enter the home stretch with a 3-4 record and are 2-3 in the PSAC?West.  That leaves them playing the role of spoiler, along with looking to maintain their streak of consecutive winning seasons.  Edinboro has not had a losing season since 2002, with nine straight winning campaigns. 

-Mercyhurst comes in with a 6-2 record and is 4-1 in the PSAC?West.  The Lakers saw their six-game winning streak snapped on Saturday with a 31-13 loss at 20th-ranked Indiana(Pa.).  They are still in the run for the PSAC?Championship, however, with a date with California(Pa.) looming on November 3.  Mercyhurst opened the year with a 59-42 defeat at Notre Dame(OH), but in winning the six straight games gave up two touchdowns or less in four of the games.

-The Edinboro-Mercyhurst series hads taken an odd twist in recent years.  The visiting team has won the last four meetings, with Edinboro claiming a 30-20 victory last year at Tullio Field.  The year before that the Lakers shocked Edinboro, scoring in the final minute to send the game into overtime, then taking advantage of an Edinboro penalty to win the game on a two-point conversion pass, 22-21.  The 2009 game was a 32-22 win for the Fighting Scots at Mercyhurst, and in 2008 the Lakers made their first appearance at Sox Harrison Stadium as a member of the?PSAC and on a special Thursday night game came away with a late 24-21 win.  Edinboro leads the all-time series 5-3.  
  
-Three of Edinboro's four losses have come to nationally-ranked teams.  The Scots lost to then-19th ranked Bloomsburg, 30-14, the opening week of the season, followed by a 24-14 loss to sixth-ranked California(Pa.) the following week. Two weeks ago 22nd-ranked IUP handed the Boro a 26-10 defeat.  

-The Fighting Scots have now played two overtime games in the last four weeks.  In addition to last week's loss at Slippery Rock, Edinboro won a 31-24 decision at LIU?Post in overtime.        
  
-Edinboro is in its seventh season under head coach Scott Browning.  The former long-time Boro assistant has led the Fighting Scots to a 48-27 record during that period, and tied mentor Tom Hollman for the most wins by a coach in his first six seasons.  A year ago Edinboro finished with a 7-4 record for the second straight season.     

-The Fighting Scots were picked to finish fourth in the PSAC?West preseason poll, while Mercyhurst was voted fifth by the coaches and receiving two first place votes.  

-The last two meetings with Mercyhurst at Sox Harrison Stadium have been decided in the final minute.  In fact, the 2010 meeting went into overtime after Mercyhurst tied the game in the last minute.  The Lakers won 22-21 on a two-point conversion following their touchdown in overtime.  In 200 Edinboro lost 24-21, dropping a potential game-winning touchdown pass and missing a field goal in the final minute. 

Mercyhurst has turned to the ground game to post its6-2 record, ranking third in the PSAC?in rushing (224.2 ypg.), and 20th nationally.  Edinboro, meanwhile, ranks 12th in the PSAC?in rushing defense (186.43 ypg.) and 120th nationally.   
  
On TV/Radio
-The Edinboro-Mercyhurst game can be heard live on WFSE FM?88.9, with Jon Pintea providing the play-by-play and Mike Telek the color commentary.   The game will also be televised by ETV.  It will be streamed and can be accessed by going to www.edinboro.tv.  
    
The All-Time Series 
-Edinboro leads 5-3 
The series has taken a strange twist with the visiting team winning the last four meetings.  A year ago it was Edinboro's turn, as the Fighting Scots claimed a 30-20 decision at Tullio Field.  The last time the home team won was in 2000, when Edinboro captured a 14-6 victory at Sox Harrison Stadium.      
  
The Last Meeting 
-2011 -- Edinboro 30, Mercyhurst 20
Brian Davis scored on three two-yard runs and Devin Ghafoor returned a fumble 49 yards for a touchdown to lead the way on a rainy and windy afternoon at Tullio Field.   the conditions made running the football an imperative, and Edinboro dominated in that aspect, rushing for 222 yards on 56 carries while holding the Lakers to 31 yards on 22 rushes.  That also accounted for a large advantage in time of possession.  The Fighting Scots had the ball for 38:08 compared to 21:52 for the Lakers.   Edinboro ended the day with 321 total yards while Mercyhurst finished with 275 yards.  Davis was the game's leading rusher with 96 yards on 22 carries.  Cody Harris also carried 22 times for a career-high 64 yards, along with completing 10 of 16 passes for 99 yards.  Drew Herrell added 12 carries for 62 yards.  Anthony Vendemia completed 17 of 32 passes for 244 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs.  Trevor Kennedy accounted for much of that, catching 8 passes for 147 yards and 2 TDs.  He added 61 yards on kick returns and totaled 204 all-purpose yards.  (For complete game statistics see page 4)
            
The Coaches
-Scott Browning (Ohio State '81)  took over as Edinboro's 13th head coach on January 5, 2006, and in his first six seasons he tied the record for most wins by a coach during that period.  Browning is now in his seventh season with a 48-27 record, tying former mentor Tom Hollman for most wins in the first six seasons.  He was certainly no stranger to Fighting Scot football, however, serving as an assistant coach for the previous twenty years. While at Edinboro he has coached the offensive linemen, defensive backs and running backs, along with serving as the offensive coordinator.  Browning became the first head coach at Edinboro to debut with a win since Bill McDonald in 1969 when the Fighting Scots opened the 2006 season with a 28-14 win at West Chester.  He went on to lead Edinboro to a 6-5 finish, the most wins ever by a first-year coach.  That was followed by a 7-4 finish in 2007.  His next two Fighting Scot editions recorded a school-record tying nine wins.  in 2008 Edinboro ended the year at 9-2 and was ranked 20th in the final AFCA?Top 25.  The Fighting Scots had a 9-4 record in 2009, making the NCAA?playoffs for the first time in his tenure.  Edinboro would end the year 24th in the AFCA?poll.  The Boro has posted back-to-back 7-4 finishes in 2010 and 2011. 

-Marty Schaetzle (Bucknell '83) is in his 11th season at the helm of the Lakers, and has a 52-66 career record.  He has surpassed current Mercyhurst Director of Athletics Joe Kimball as the longest tenured football coach at the Hurst, and his 52 wins represent a school record.  Two years ago he guided Mercyhurst to the finest season in school history, winning the PSAC?Championship and reaching the Super Regional One Championship Game.  The Lakers finished with a 10-3 record and was recognized as the PSAC West?Coach of the Year and Don Hansen Football Gazette Co-Coach of the Year.  Schaetzle took over the Mercyhurst program after working as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Bucknell, for five years.      
    
Last Week
- Slippery Rock 38, Edinboro 31 ot  --
Edinboro rallied from a 16-3 halftime deficit to force an overtime, but The Rock would score on a 24-yard TD pass in the extra session, and the Fighting Scots never threatened following the ninth sack of the day.  In addition, Sean Seefeldt missed a 22-yard field goal with five minutes left that could have won the game. The Scots got back into the game thanks to a series of big plays.  They would score 21 points in the third quarter, starting with a 54-yard TD pass from Cody Harris to Marcus Johnson.  Brian Davis dove in from a yard out after Branden Williams blocked an SRU punt to give the Scots their lone lead of the day at 17-16.  Harris would add a five-yard TD run in the third quarter and another in the fourth.  He would throw for 379 yards.    
  
-Indiana(Pa.) 31, Mercyhurst 13  -- The Lakers led 13-7 at the half, but just as Edinboro found a week earlier, the IUP ground game is tough to hold down over four quarters.  IUP?would take the lead on a touchdown pass in the third quarter, and the 20th-ranked Crimson Hawks added 17 points in the fourth to pull away.  Brandon Brown-Dukes was brilliant in defeat, rushing for 134 yards against an IUP defense that was allowing just under 53 yards per game.  Dukes went over 1,000 yards and posted the first score of the day on a one-yard run.  Anthony Vendemia added a four-yard TD run.