Erie, Pa. – The Mercyhurst football team posted a defensive effort for the ages Saturday, holding Cheyney University to just 68 yards of offense in a 35-0 shutout. The Lakers dominated the time of possession battle to blank an opponent for the first time since a 48-0 win over Pace Nov. 6, 1993.

 

Ben Jennings rushed for 142 yards as the Lakers compiled 320 yards on the ground, the most since the team put up 402 in the shutout victory over Pace almost 15 years ago. Richard Stokes added 98 yards and freshman Carnell Evans had 63 yards to go with two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

 

The big question heading into the contest came at the quarterback position after starter Joe Laffey broke his hand in the first quarter of last week's 14-10 loss to Wayne State. Garrett Kensy started and went 6-of-10 for 35 yards and a six-yard touchdown pass to Dave Stallard on the Lakers' first possession of the game. Kensy did not play a week ago but has experience after starting at Mansfield before the Mountaineers dropped the program two years ago.

 

Cody Ladutko also saw some time behind center, finishing 1-of-2 for 17 yards. One other Mercyhurst player completed a pass as linebacker Bryan Boyce successfully executed a fake punt late in the second quarter by passing to freshman defensive back Ian Wild for a 26-yard completion. Jennings carried the ball on the next six plays, capping off that drive with a four-yard touchdown plunge to make it 14-0 with only 51 seconds left in the first half.

 

Mercyhurst head coach Marty Schaetzle took the air out of the ball in the second half as the Lakers went 88 yards on 13 plays during their first drive of the third quarter, finished off by a 14-yard Stokes touchdown. Mercyhurst passed just once on that drive, a 17-yard Ladutko completion to Stallard.

 

After forcing Cheyney to punt on its next possession, the Lakers used up 10:55 with a mechanical 19-play, 90-yard drive that was closed out with Carnell Evans' first career touchdown, a 23-yard scamper. The Lakers passed just one time on that possession and then never put the ball in the air again. Evans' second touchdown came with 4:10 to play in the contest and finished the scoring.

 

For the contest, Mercyhurst had a school-record 40:51 in time of possession and held Cheyney to only 33 yards rushing, the lowest total since the University of Indianapolis ran for only 12 yards Oct. 23, 2004. Cheyney's 68 yards of offense was the lowest total allowed since Niagara had an abysmal -56 total yards against the Lakers Sept. 14, 1985.

 

The defense was effective in holding Cheyney to only three first downs and allowed the Wolves to run only 34 plays, the lowest total ever for a Mercyhurst opponent. Because of that, no defender was able to compile big tackle totals and Jimmy Kokrak led the team with six. Freshman Christopher Clegg had the only sack of the contest and record 1.5 tackles for loss. Kokrak also had 1.5 tackles for loss.

 

Mercyhurst was able to keep possession of the ball and run the clock by being especially effective on third and fourth down. The Lakers were 9-of-15 on third downs and were perfect on four attempts on fourth down. As well, the team scored touchdowns on all five of its possessions inside the Cheyney red zone.

 

Mercyhurst improves to 1-1 on the season with the win, while Cheyney falls to 0-2. The Lakers will have a tough game looking ahead at Bloomsburg Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Huskies have defeated a pair of ranked teams to open the season.