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MERCER: Mercer Mustangs defeat West Middlesex Big Reds 48-20
The Mustangs rushed for 511 yards for a 48-20 win to stay tied for first place.
MERCER — Mercer High remains in a tie for first place after a 48-20 victory over West Middlesex Friday in a District 10 Region 1 game.
“The guys came out to play right from the start and I am very pleased with the effort I got from them tonight,” Mercer (8-1, 5-1) coach Pat McClearn said.
“I am just looking up at the scoreboard right now and I was worried everything we gave them the ball.
“They have two or three guys over there who can take it the distance at any time and I give [West Middlesex coach] Jason [McElhaney] a lot of credit. They are well-coached and they played hard right to the end of the game.”
McElhaney said Mercer’s success was just a matter of good execution of a game plan.
“They didn’t do anything differently than what we saw in the film,” he said. “They are just real aggressive downhill players and they executed very well. We knew what to expect and what was coming, but we just couldn’t handle it for the entire first half.”
The Mustangs rode the legs of Rawlins Huntley, Terrence Davis, Herbie Hennegan and Andrew Erdos to rack up 511 yards, all on the ground.
Huntley led the Mustangs with 184 yards on 14 carries and a pair of scores, while Davis wound up with 161 yards on 22 tries and two TDs.
Erdos also scored twice and Hennegan only touched the ball five times, but recorded 61 yards and one touchdown.
“I don’t think we had a passing yard again tonight and I am amazed by that, “ said McClearn. “The backs ran hard, the line blocked hard up front and it was just a good night for us.”
In the preseason, McClearn felt the strength of his club would hinge on the offensive and defensive lines, and as it turned out, he was right on target.
Getting the job done up front for the Mustangs have been Josh McGinnis, Billy Redmond, Nick Nan, Ray Dominguez, Nick Ream, Rich McCullough, Tyler Baroni and Cody Frey.
“When you have 500 yards rushing, what else can you say?” praised McClearn. “They are just great kids who show up every day and work extremely hard. They know their glory comes when they see their teammates get into the end zone. That is what you want from offensive linemen and they have done it for us all year.”
McElhaney was also quick to point out that the game was won in the trenches.
“They are big, strong and physical,” he said. “They have a great offensive scheme for the personnel they have and they just executed it to perfection tonight.
I didn’t want to see us quit regardless of what the score was and when it was 35-6, we could have packed it in, but we didn’t,” McElhaney said. “The kids kept playing hard, got a couple of touchdowns and that gives us something to build on for next week.”
Leading the Big Reds were Kyle Allen and Mark Saylor, with 84 and 77 yards rushing, respectively. Quarterback Kyle Wimer only threw the ball five times, completing two, both to Ryan Chupak for 72 yards.
Saylor tallied two of the three West Middlesex touchdowns on a 50-yard run and an 84-yard kickoff return, while the third Big Reds score came on a 58-yard pass from Wimer to Chupak.