Complete Game Notes

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University football team (5-1, 3-0 PSAC West) has won five games in a row since losing in the season opener against Notre Dame College back on August 30. But, the Lakers have lost two straight in their rivalry series against cross-town foe Gannon (1-5, 0-3 PSAC West) and will look to reverse that trend on Saturday, October 13 at Gannon University Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

Mercyhurst leads the all-time series with the Golden Knights 9-5-1 and the 16th meeting between the two schools will tie the record for the most frequent opponent in Mercyhurst's program history. The Lakers went 7-9 against Buffalo State from 1981-1997.

Last week, Mercyhurst knocked off Lock Haven 19-10 to improve to 5-0 lifetime against the Bald Eagles. Mercyhurst needed a 15-play touchdown drive that took 8:03 off the clock to hold off a late Lock Haven rally. Meanwhile, Gannon suffered a 44-24 loss at Edinboro to drop its fifth straight game.

Last season, Mercyhurst led Gannon 20-10 late in the third quarter, but the Golden Knights outscored Mercyhurst 20-7 over the final 17 minutes to leave Mercyhurst with a 30-27 victory over the Lakers. In that game, Travis Rearick left the game in the third quarter with what turned out to be a season-ending injury. Anthony Vendemia took over the reins and has started every game from that point on to move into the school's top 10 in career passing yards.

NOTES

Last Week
Mercyhurst hung on for a hard-fought 19-10 victory over Lock Haven to run the team's winning streak to five straight games. Junior running back Allen Jones II rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown and the Lakers put together a 15-play, eight-minute-plus drive late in the fourth quarter, capped off by a three-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Vendemia to Jeff Groene to seal the victory.

Jones-ing For More
Junior Allen Jones II rushed for 111 yards on Saturday against Lock Haven to become the 12th player in school history to record 1,000 career rushing yards. Jones has three 100-yard games over the last five contests and now has 1,009 rushing yards at Mercyhurst in just 17 games. He needs 20 yards to pass Darryl Lewis (1984-87) for 11th and 262 yards to pass Brian Haberstock (1987-90) to crack the school's top ten.

Jones averaged 5.8 yards per carry last season, which was the third highest total in school history. This season, he has upped his average to 6.2 yards per carry.

Jones also reached 1,000 in both yards of total offense and all-purpose yards in the process. He has 1,009 yards of total offense (30th on the all-time list) and 1,073 all-purpose yards (42nd on the all-time list). He trails David Lough, who became the third player from Mercyhurst to get called up to the Major Leagues and now plays for the Kansas City Royals, by one all purpose yard on the all-time list.

Safety First
Two weeks ago against Cheyney, Mercyhurst redshirt freshman T.J. Latimer blocked a Wolves' punt that ended up resulting as a safety for the Lakers. It was Mercyhurst's first safety since August 27, 2005 against Gannon.

ECAC Honors
Latimer earned the ECAC's Division II Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against Cheyney two Saturdays ago. Latimer tied for the team lead with five solo tackles to go along with the blocked punt that resulted in a Mercyhurst safety. Latimer became the sixth player in a four-week span to be honored by the ECAC.

For their performances against Slippery Rock, Brandon Brown-Dukes and Serge Augustin were honored as Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively by the ECAC. Brown-Dukes and junior placekicker Steven Wakefield earned honors after the victory over Millersville, while junior Vladmir Rock earned an award after the Lakers' win over Clarion.

Brown-Dukes Near Record Pace
Despite only rushing for 39 yards against Lock Haven last Saturday, redshirt freshman Brandon Brown-Dukes is still very close to keeping pace for the highest single-season rushing total in school history. With 707 yards this season (117.8 per game), he trails Gerald Anderson's 2010 total of 1,313 yards by 606 yards with five regular season games remaining. If Brown-Dukes continues at his season's pace, he would finish with 1,296 yards. Anderson, however, played in 13 games during Mercyhurst's historic 2010 season.

Brown-Dukes' season total of 707 has already eclipsed the leading rusher in 23 of Mercyhurst's 31 seasons of football and is also already the ninth largest total in history.

Running Wild
Over the course of the last five games, Mercyhurst has rushed for 1,257 yards (251.4 yards per game) and 14 touchdowns. That number includes 254 yards three Saturdays ago against Slippery Rock, a defense that had allowed 88 yards per game entering its contest with the Lakers. Redshirt freshman Brandon Brown-Dukes has taken over the reins as the lead back and, after rushing for just 39 yards in his first collegiate start against Notre Dame College, he has rushed for 668 yards and nine touchdowns on just 110 carries (6.07 yards per carry) over his last six games. He currently ranks 22nd among Division II players in rushing yards per game (117.8).

In just his second career start, Brown-Dukes became the fifth player in program history to rush for more than 200 yards in a game, finishing with 213 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Millersville. He was the first played to rush for more than 200 yards since Gerald Anderson rushed for 237 against LIU Post in 2010. His yardage output was the fifth-highest total in program history. All told, Mercyhurst had 379 yards rushing in the victory over the Marauders, the most by the Lakers in a game since rushing for 402 yards in a 48-0 win over Pace on November 6, 1993.

Three-Peat
Brown-Dukes tied a school record against Slippery Rock with three consecutive games of 150 or more rushing yards. He tied the school's all-time rushing leader, Richard Stokes, who also rushed for 150 yards or more in three straight contests back in 2007. Despite not reaching the mark two weeks ago against Cheyney, Brown-Dukes tied his career high with three rushing touchdowns. He also accomplished the feat against Millersville in week two.

Points At A Record Pace
Through six games, Mercyhurst has scored 202 points (33.7 points per game), marking the second-highest point total in school history to start a season. The 1985 Lakers, under head coach Tony DeMeo, racked up 237 points in their first six games, including a school-record 82 points in an 82-0 win over Niagara (September 14, 1985).

The 2010 team holds the record for most points in a season with 354, while the 2007 squad holds the record by averaging 32.1 points per contest.

Bruner Reaches Milestone
With 114 yards receiving against Slippery Rock, senior wide receiver Paris Bruner became the 12th player in school history to record 1,000 career receiving yards. Bruner has only caught 13 passes this season, but averages 23.6 yards per catch (307 yards). Sam Scarpaci holds the single season record by averaing 26.7 yards per catch in Mercyhurst's inaugural season of 1981. Mercyhurst Hall of Famer Scott Gorring holds the career record by averaging 18.9 yards per reception. Bruner currently sits at 17.7 yards per catch for his career.

He has 1,117 receiving yards, 11th on the all-time list and just 28 yards behind Calvin Kelly (2004-05) to move into the top ten.

Vendemia Also Hits Milestone
With 141 yards of total offense in the Lakers' win over Slippery Rock, redshirt junior quarterback Anthony Vendemia became the 16th player in school history to record 2,000 yards of total offense. He has 2,371 for his career - 11th on the all-time list. He trails Greg Haski (1985-88) by 185 yards to move into the top ten.

Vendemia earlier became the 10th quarterback to throw for 2,000 career yards in week three's victory over Clarion. He has 2,409 passing yards for his career - eighth on the all-time list. He needs 865 yards to catch Mac McArdle (3,274 from 1999-01) for seventh.