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Edinboro, Pa. – The Mercyhurst football team completed a sweep of its Erie-area rivals by upsetting No. 15 Edinboro 24-21 Thursday night at Edinboro's Sox Harrison Stadium. Edinboro is the highest ranked team the Lakers have beaten since defeating No. 13 Saginaw Valley State in 2004.

 

With the win, Mercyhurst improves to 5-1 in the conference and will host California (Pa.) Saturday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. for the PSAC West Division Championship and the right to play in the PSAC State Game Nov. 8 against the champion of the East division. Cal is 5-0 in the division heading into Saturday's game against Slippery Rock.

 

Senior Theo Hall has made a career coming up with big plays at Mercyhurst and Thursday night's prime time affair may have been the biggest showcase of his talents. He picked off a Trevor Harris pass in the second quarter and returned it 46 yards to set up the Lakers' first touchdown of the evening. With Mercyhurst trailing 21-10 midway through the third quarter, Hall had a 49-yard kickoff return and drew a 15-yard facemask penalty to set up another Laker score. But his biggest play came in the final moments of the contest.

 

With Mercyhurst clinging to a 24-21 lead, Edinboro drove down the field in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter and attempted a 25-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. Hall broke through the line and came up with the fourth blocked kick of his career to preserve the win.

 

Edinboro dominated from a statistical standpoint but the Lakers did the little things right to win the game. The Fighting Scots had 413 yards of offense, compared to just 194 for Mercyhurst, but Edinboro missed two field goals, including the blocked kick at the end of the game, and turned the ball over three times.

 

Despite those facts, Edinboro built a 21-10 lead midway through the third quarter on a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a blocked punt that set up another score. Just as it looked as if the Lakers were reeling, Hall had his big kick return and Kensy completed the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Dave Stallard, his second score of the game. He also scored in the first half when Ben Jennings' fumble bounced into the end zone and Stallard fell on the ball.

 

Mercyhurst still trailed 21-17 early in the fourth quarter when defensive end Zac Wild hit Harris on a quarterback scramble and forced a fumble that Demond McDonald recovered at just about midfield. The Lakers drove to the Edinboro 31 yard line and decided to go for it on fourth-and-one. Stokes found a lane around end and raced to the end zone to put Mercyhurst on top 24-21 with 9:11 to play.

 

Stokes had just 31 yards rushing in the first half but finished with 26 carries for 122 yards and his rushing touchdown, which tied Mercyhurst's single season records for both rushing touchdowns (13) and total touchdowns (14).

 

Defensively, Zac Wild led the Lakers with 11 tackles. His brother Ian Wild added 10, while Jimmy Kokrak had nine and a sack. Charlie Gleisner also had nine tackles and 0.5 sack.

 

Edinboro falls to 7-2 on the year and 4-2 in the PSAC West. Mercyhurst is now 6-3 overall and the Lakers' 5-1 division record clinches no worse than a tie for second in the division. The team plays its final two games at home beginning with the contest for the West Division title Saturday at 1 p.m. against Cal.