Samford Football Falls To No. 18 Mercer, 31-21

Saturday, October 17

Birmingham, Ala.

6 PM

Samford University

1-6 , 1-3

#18 Mercer

6-2 , 3-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Mercer	21	7	0	3	31
Samford	8	3	3	7	21

Game Notes Final Game Book (PDF)

10.17.26 | Football

Box Score Final Game Book (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford football team fell behind early and was unable to catch up in a 31-21 loss to 18^th-ranked Mercer Saturday night at Pete Hanna Stadium.

With the loss, Samford fell to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in Southern Conference play. Mercer improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.

"I think you have to take your hat off to Mercer," Samford head coach John Grass said. "They are a really good football team, well coached, really good roster. With all that being said, we didn't help ourselves any."

For Samford in the loss, Ken Cherry rushed 13 times for 108 yards on the night. Preston Bird caught four passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. Backup quarterback Coulter Cleland had a rushing touchdown as well for the Bulldogs.

Jalen Nelson, Spencer Conn and Max Steve led the Samford defense with eight tackles each. LaShon Young followed with seven tackles.

For Mercer, Devon Caldwell rushed 13 times for 134 yards. Quarterback J.P. Pickles had three rushing touchdowns for the Bears. Jyarius Carter had an interception he returned for a touchdown, while Cameron Goggins also had an interception for the Bears.

Mercer took the lead on the opening drive of the game when Pickles scored on a six-yard run to give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 11:55 to go in the first quarter. On the ensuing drive, Mercer's Carter intercepted a Samford pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-0 with 11:08 left in the opening period.

Pickles scored again, this time on a 22-yard run, to make the score 21-0 at the 8:03 mark in the first quarter. Samford got on the scoreboard late in the first quarter when Gabarri Johnson hit Bird for a 12-yard touchdown pass and then Johnson hit Cannon Pigg for the two-point conversion to make the score 21-8 with 5:22 left in the opening quarter.

Pickles scored on a three-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 28-8 with 10:07 left in the second quarter. On the last play of the second quarter, Samford's Ty Ippolito kicked a 53-yard field goal to cut the Mercer lead to 28-11 heading into the locker room at halftime.

On the opening drive of the third quarter, Ippolito kicked a 30-yard field goal to bring Samford to within 14 points at 28-14 with 10:21 to go in the third period. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Mercer's Simon Zeidan kicked a 29-yard field goal to push the lead to 31-14 with 14:57 to go in the game. With 25 seconds to go in the game, Cleland scored on a 10-yard run to make the final score 31-21.

Next up, Samford will play at Furman on Saturday, Oct. 24. The game is set for a 1 p.m. (CT) start from Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C.

FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS:
For the latest news and information on Samford football, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordFootball (Facebook), @SamfordFootball (Instagram) and @SamfordFootball (Twitter).