Box Score (New/Sortable Format) ERIE, Pa. (Oct. 23, 2014) – After leading 10-3 at the half, Edinboro saw Mercyhurst 28 score unanswered points in the second as the Fighting Scots suffered a 31-10 loss to the Lakers at Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium. The final score doesn't indicate how close the game was, but the loss dropped Edinboro to 1-7 on the season and 1-6 in PSAC West competition. The Lakers won their fourth straight game to improve to 4-4 overall and 4-3 in league play. Mercyhurst has now won the last three meetings in the series.

For the first thirty minutes it was Edinboro that came up with the big plays while holding a Mercyhurst offense that had scored 45 points in back-to-back games to just 138 total yards.
 

The second half was a different story, however. The Lakers exposed the Edinboro secondary with several deep passes as they scored on passes of 55 and 57 yards.

Meanwhile, Edinboro's season to date was summarized in one agonizing moment early in the fourth quarter. Trailing 17-10, Edinboro drove from its own 34 to the Mercyhurst two in 11 plays. Along the way the Scots converted three times on third down, including a brilliant scramble by Cody Harris, who made several tacklers miss before finding Anfreenee Williams for a nine-yard gain.

On first-and-goal Williams was stripped of the ball at the one with Mercyhurst recovering in the end zone. The freshman tailback finished with 98 yards on 22 carries, plus three receptions. He fell just shy of his third 100-yard game.

Mercyhurst needed just six plays to cover the 80 yards afterwards, as Edinboro went from potentially tying the game to being down 24-10 with 9:47 to play. Brendan Boylan scored on his second one-yard sneak of the night, but it was a 38-yard pass from Boylan to Jaquan Williams, with a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty tacked on, that put the Lakers in position to score.

Edinboro drove down to the Mercyhurst 17 on the next possession before Harris threw four straight incompletions.

Boylan then burned the Boro secondary one last time, throwing a 55-yard bomb to Stephen Yarbrough for the final touchdown with 5:14 remaining. Boylan had been limited to 100 yards passing in the first half, but the junior enjoyed a big second half and ended the day throwing for 321 yards to become the first Mercyhurst quarterback with three straight 300-yard games. He completed 19 of 33 passes with 2 TDs and an interception.         

The game started with seven consecutive punts as both teams struggled to sustain a drive. However, the last three drives resulted in points. An interception by sophomore Montell Martin, the first of his career, gave Edinboro the ball at the Mercyhurst 34.

On the very first play following the pickoff Harris connected with Kolbe Hughes on a 42-yard strike to the Lakers 24. Two Williams' runs netted seven yards, and on third down Harris completed an eight pass to Hughes for a first and goal at the nine.

The drive would stall at the six, but freshman Paul Ortiz came in and kicked his second field goal of the season from 23-yards out to give Edinboro a 3-0 lead with 5:45 remaining in the half.

Mercyhurst answered with a 12-play, 68-yard march that featured three straight big plays. Boylan found Jaquan Williams for a 20-yard gain, followed by a 19-yard hookup to Dylan Bongiorni. Following an illegal procedure penalty, Brandon Brown-Dukes burst up the middle for a 17-yard gain to the Edinboro seven.

The Lakers found themselves facing a 3rd-and-7 from the four with under a minute left. Boylan's pass for Williams was tipped by Kyle Matula, negating a pass interference penalty in the end zone. Dylan Kondis would tie the score at 3-3 with a 21-yard field goal with 48 seconds remaining in the half.
 

Another Mercyhurst penalty would aid Edinboro with less than a minute to go. A facemask penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave the Fighting Scots the ball at their own 39. A pair of Harris-to-Ben Eisel passes picked up eight yards, and Williams turning in a strong effort to pick up the remaining two yards and get out of bounds at the Edinboro 49 with 24 seconds left.

Harris completed a 15-yard pass to Eisel, who managed to get out of bounds at the Mercyhurst 36 with 15 seconds left. On the ensuing play Harris hit Hughes, who was streaking down the left sideline, in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Following Ortiz' extra point, Edinboro led for the second time this season at the half 10-3. 

Mercyhurst took the second half kickoff and drove 62 yards in 10 plays to knot the score at 10-10. Boylan did the honors with a one-yard sneak after he hooked up with R.J. Miller for 25 yards on a 4th-and-6 play from the EU 36.

The Lakers would take the lead for good after a short Edinboro punt late in the third quarter. Taking over at their own 47, they needed just three plays to cover the 53 yards. Brown-Dukes was actually thrown for a four-yard loss on first down, accounting for the 57-yards on the touchdown from Boylan to Yarbrough, who ran a dig route on 3rd-and-14, catching the ball at the Boro 30 and outrunning several Boro defenders.

Playing for the third straight time at night, and second straight game on Thursday, Edinboro ended the night with 367 total yards, while Mercyhurst finished with 427 yards. Neither team established much of a running game, with the Lakers totaling 106 yards rushing and Edinboro 96.

Harris completed an uncharacteristic 25 of 47 passes as Mercyhurst constantly dropped eight in coverage, just as Gannon did a week earlier. He would end the night with 271 yards. Eisel pulled in 7 passes for 58 yards. The senior moved into tenth place in career receptions with 118, and jumped up to 13th in career receiving yards with 1,408.
Hughes added 6 receptions for 103 yards, his second 100-yard game of the seasons. Darren Massey caught 5 passes for 67 yards, giving him 62 receptions for the season. That is the second-highest season total. He needs three catches to break Ryan Valasek's record of 64.

Brown-Dukes paced the Mercyhurst ground game with 90 yards on 21 carries. Williams caught 6 passes for 91 yards. Yarbrough caught just the two passes, but for 112 yards.

Edinboro will play its final road game of the season on Saturday, November 1 at Slippery Rock.