Mercer Rides JP Pickles past Abilene Christian 34-17
Five turnovers, none of them Mercer's. That is a decent place to start with a 34-17 win over Abilene Christian, a game the Wildcats led by 10 in the second quarter.
Mercer scored first, on a 6-yard pass from Travion Solomon to JP Pickles (yes, the quarterback caught it). Abilene Christian then took over with two straight touchdowns, a 1-yard Deonte Dean run and a 13-yard Tucker Parks run, and added a field goal for a 17-7 lead in the second quarter. Mercer answered with a 44-yard field goal and a 2-yard Pickles run with 49 seconds left in the half to tie it at 17.
The second half belonged to Mercer. Pickles threw a 38-yard touchdown to Brayden Smith, Simon Zeidan kicked a 23-yard field goal, and the lead was 27-17 entering the fourth. Pickles then ripped off a 59-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left. From the second quarter on, Mercer outscored Abilene Christian 27-3.
The offense was lopsided in a funny way. Mercer threw for just 83 yards and ran for 279 on 46 carries. Abilene Christian had more total yards, 387 to 362, and more passing yards, 195 to 83. It also threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles, which tends to cancel yardage advantages. Mercer had no turnovers and two sacks.
Mercer moves to 3-1 and Abilene Christian slides to 1-3. For fantasy, Pickles was the whole story at 41.7 points. Parks scored 22.3 on the losing side, even with the three picks, because he also ran for 85 yards and a score.