Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina rallied from a two-touchdown, first-half deficit on Saturday afternoon, clawing back even early in the fourth quarter on a Richard McCollum field goal. However, Mercer capitalized on a pair of fourth quarter miscues by the Catamounts to spoil WCU's annual Homecoming game with a 34-24 victory in Southern Conference action in front of 11,123 at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field.
 
WCU tailback Kenny Benjamin accounted for 144 total yards and two touchdowns on the day. The Lehigh Acres, Fla., product led the squad with 70 rushing yards and a one-yard score that put the Catamounts on the board in the second quarter. He added 74 receiving yards, 36 of which came on a receiving touchdown that pulled the home squad back to within three, 24-21, late in the third quarter.
 
Making his first start at quarterback for the sidelined Rogan Wells, redshirt sophomore Carlos Davis finished 18-of-32 passing for 221 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice including once on a pass that was deflected over the middle. Both turnovers occurred in the fourth quarter and led to 10 Mercer points as the Bears pulled away late for the win.
 
Mercer (4-1, 3-0 SoCon) second-year freshman running back Fred Davis ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns while backfield mate Brandon Marshall added 91 yards on the ground. Quarterback Fred Payton completed just 10 of his 20 pass attempts for 114 yards including a five-yard scoring strike on the Bears' opening drive. Payton pushed Mercer ahead by two scores early in the second quarter with a one-yard rushing plunge for a 14-0 lead.
 
Davis capped a 75-yard scoring drive for Mercer just before halftime to give the visitors a 21-7 lead at intermission.
 
After forcing a three-and-out on the Mercer's first drive of the second half, WCU pulled to within a score as TJ Jones capped an 80-yard drive by plowing in from four yards out to make it 21-14. The drive was spurred by a 57-yard pitch-and-catch from Davis to second-year freshman Calvin Jones who finished with four catches for 67 total yards.
 
On the ensuing possession, Mercer got the first of two long field goals from Devin Folser as he split the uprights from 50 yards away to push the Bears back in front by 10, 24-14.
 
Midway through the third quarter, WCU cashed-in its first takeaway of the game as Nick Oelrich pounced on a football punched loose by Ty Harris. Three plays later, Davis found Benjamin on a 36-yard hook-up to make it a three-point game late in the third quarter. Richard McCollum later made it a new ball game on the third play of the fourth quarter, splitting the uprights from 24 yards away as a WCU drive stalled inside the Bear 10-yard line, tying things at 24 apiece.
 
WCU's next two possessions ended with interceptions, though, that Mercer turned into points. Folser hit a school-record 51-yard field goal after the WCU defense – and Bear penalties – stymied a drive. On WCU's ensuing possession, a downfield pass was deflected and fell into the hands of Lance Wise who returned the pick 56 yards to the one-yard line where Davis scored on the next play to put the game out of reach.
 
Safety Jacob Harris was credited with nine total tackles, adding a pass break-up and blocked punt on a solid afternoon. Linebackers Kareem Taylor and Ty Harris finished with eight stops apiece with Harris adding one for loss to accompany his forced fumble. Ivan Hogans tallied seven tackles including three for loss with an 11-yard sack with both Timothy Jamison and Rod Gattison also recording sacks for WCU. Mercer linebacker Ken Standley joined Wise with eight tackles with Standley posting 3.5 tackles for loss including one of three Bear sacks.
 
Western Carolina enjoys its bye week next weekend before playing back-to-back road games in the Palmetto State, beginning with an Oct. 23 date with The Citadel Bulldogs in Charleston. The two-game South Carolina road swing also includes an Oct. 30 match-up with Wofford in Spartanburg.
 
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