Box Score (New/Sortable Format) Final Statistics

EDINBORO, Pa. – Brandon Brown-Dukes scored his second touchdown of the game with 6:36 remaining to give Mercyhurst a 24-21 win over Edinboro on Saturday afternoon at a wet and windy Sox Harrison Stadium.  The loss was the third in a row for the Fighting Scots as they fell to 3-5 overall and 2-4 in the PSAC West.  Mercyhurst remained in the hunt for the PSAC title, improving to 7-2 and 5-1, respectively.
           
Unfortunately for Edinboro, for the fifth year in a row the visiting team came out the winner, as the Fighting Scots lost for the third straight time to the Lakers at Sox Harrison Stadium.  Those three losses have come by a combined total of seven points.
           
The elements also played a factor for the second consecutive year, as the wind picked up the game went on, blowing from one end of the field to the other.
           
Tied at 14-14 at the half, Edinboro took advantage of the wind in the third quarter.  The Scots drove 74 yards on 16 plays and ate up 6 minutes, 19 seconds behind a running game that had been missing most of the year.  They would convert a pair of third downs and a fourth down along the way. 

Cody Harris carried five times for 15 yards, including a scramble for nine yards on a 3^rd-and-9 play to the Laker 9.  Facing a third and goal Harris threw to the right corner of the end zone, where Kevin Sonnie came up with a diving catch for a seven-yard touchdown reception.  It was the redshirt freshman's first career touchdown catch, and Sean Seefeldt's extra point gave Edinboro a 21-14 lead with 5:24 to play in the third quarter.

Mercyhurst followed with its own 16-play drive, most of that into the wind behind Brown-Dukes.  The redshirt freshman carried seven times in the march that lasted 7 minutes, 21 seconds and went 64 yards.  He twice converted on fourth down.  The Edinboro defense stepped up and held the Lakers, but Stephen Wakefield came in and booted a 32-yard field goal with 13:03 left in the fourth quarter.

Edinboro took the ensuing kickoff and came up with a pair of first downs into the wind, but the Scots were turned back near midfield.  Mercyhurst took over at its own 24 following J.D. Rodgers' punt.

Mercyhurst head coach made the key move of the game at that point, inserting backup quarterback Alec Swartz.  On the very first play he stepped back and threw a long completion to Paris Bruner, and Bruner was not hauled down until he had gone 75 yards to the Boro one.  Brown-Dukes bulled in on the next play for the winning score and his 13^th touchdown of the season.

Edinboro had two more chances.  The first ended with the fifth sack of the day on Harris, followed by a pair of incompletions.  The Scots would take over again with 4:34 remaining at their own 23, but could manage just one first down before turning it over on downs.  

The game certainly didn't start out as if Mercyhurst would have to rally to win.  After Branden Williams blocked a 35-yard field goal attempt to hold off the Lakers on their opening drive, Mercyhurst was back in business three plays later after recovering a fumble at the Edinboro 33.  Thanks to a 26-yard completion from Anthony Vendemia to Leon Gallop, the Lakers would need just four plays to score, with Brown-Dukes scoring his first touchdown on a one-yard run.

The Lakers would add a second touchdown in the opening period on a 10-yard pass from Vendemia to Gallop.  It capped another quick dive for the Lakers, as they went 90 yards in just six plays.  Vendemia completed a 40-yard pass to Bruner and a 47-yarder to John Matarazzo.

The momentum swung to the Fighting Scots later in the second quarter when Williams blocked Wakefield's punt for his second block of the day and 12^th of his career.  With Mercyhurst punting from its own 47 yard line, the senior cornerback blocked the kick and eventually scooped it up at the nine and carried it the rest of the way for a touchdown.

The Edinboro offense finally put together a scoring drive late in the quarter, as D'Andrea Vaughn broke off a 37-yard run.  That represented the longest run of the year.  That took it down to the Mercyhurst 30, and Harris followed with a 16-yard run.  He would add a 13-yarder on a 3^rd-and-13 play, and two plays later scored on a one-yard run.  That knotted the score at 14-14 with 36 seconds left.

Edinboro also scored once more in the period after James Jackson intercepted a Vendemia pass.  Harris completed a pair of passes to Sonnie, taking the ball down to the 27.  With just over five seconds remaining Seefeldt came in to attempt a 44-yard field goal with the wind at his back, but it was wide to the right as time expired.

Mercyhurst dominated statistically, finishing with 441 yards to 246 for Edinboro.  Oddly enough, the third-ranked rushing offense in the PSAC accounted for 298 yards through the air.  Edinboro, meanwhile, came in ranked fourth in the PSAC in passing offense (288 ypg.).  The conditions and the Mercyhurst defense combined to limit the Scots to 88 yards passing.  The Scots did run for a season-high 158 yards.  Edinboro would hold the Lakers to 166 yards rushing, well below its average of 224.3 ypg.

Harris completed 16 of 27 passes for 88 yards and added a career-high 77 yards rushing despite being sacked five times. That is the highest total for an Edinboro player this year.  Vaughn added 47 yards on six rushes.

Sonnie caught 5 passes for 36 yards, with Ben Eisel also hauling in 5 passes, but for just 12 yards.  Edinboro was without leading receiver Marcus Johnson.

Vendemia completed 12 of 23 passes for 208 yards.  Swartz completed both of his attempts for 90 yards.  Bruner was the favorite target, catching 5 balls for 187 yards.  Brown-Dukes came in as the third-leading rusher in the conference and 15^th in Division II, but he was held to 64 yards on 29 carries.  Chris Lyle added five rushes for 56 yards.

After losing just one fumble over the first seven games, Edinboro lost fumbles in its first two possessions.

The Boro defense was led by Bruce Davis' career-high 12 tackles, including three for losses.
Edinboro will be back in action next Saturday, November 3 at Clarion.  The Fighting Scots must defeat the Golden Eagles and Kutztown the following week to avoid its first losing season since 2002.