FINAL SCORE
Mercer Bears at VMI Keydets game details
Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 1:30 PM ET
Foster Stadium · Attendance 3,031
Put the final score in perspective.
Mercer finished 51 points ahead. The teams combined for 57 points. This is an unadjusted scoring comparison, with no allowance for possessions, opponent strength or overtime.
The reported halftime score was Mercer 27, VMI 3. Across the 4 regulation quarters with line-score data for both teams, VMI outscored its opponent in 0 and Mercer in 4. A quarter advantage counts scoring in that quarter only.
How these comparisons are calculated ↗QUARTER BY QUARTER
Line score
THE MATCHUP IN NUMBERS
Team statistics
| 1st Downs | 28 | 8 |
| 3rd down efficiency | 6-15 | 3-15 |
| 4th down efficiency | 3-3 | 0-0 |
| Total Yards | 658 | 102 |
| Passing | 256 | 41 |
| Comp/Att | 18/30 | 4/11 |
| Yards per pass | 8.5 | 3.7 |
| Rushing | 402 | 61 |
| Rushing Attempts | 47 | 42 |
| Yards per rush | 8.6 | 1.5 |
| Penalties | 7-63 | 4-20 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 0 |
| Fumbles lost | 0 | 0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 |
| Possession | 31:45 | 28:15 |
PLAYER BOX SCORE
Mercer Bears
passing
| Jaylen King | 14/23 | 202 | 8.8 | 1 | 1 |
| JP Pickles | 3/4 | 34 | 8.5 | 1 | 0 |
| Adrian Parker | 1/3 | 20 | 6.7 | 1 | 0 |
rushing
| Zahmari Palode-Gary | 10 | 130 | 13.0 | 1 | 64 |
| Karlise Price | 7 | 82 | 11.7 | 1 | 52 |
| JP Pickles | 6 | 66 | 11.0 | 1 | 27 |
| Micah Bell | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 | 25 |
| Billy Martin | 6 | 34 | 5.7 | 0 | 11 |
| Devon Caldwell | 7 | 26 | 3.7 | 0 | 13 |
| Jaylen King | 5 | 25 | 5.0 | 0 | 15 |
| Adrian Parker | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 |
| Cam Hill | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 0 | 2 |
| Eric Rasheed | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 | 0 |
receiving
| Brayden Smith | 3 | 58 | 19.3 | 0 | 36 |
| Kel Calixte | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 1 | 40 |
| Kaden Hanson | 2 | 43 | 21.5 | 1 | 23 |
| Eric Rasheed | 3 | 40 | 13.3 | 0 | 23 |
| Travion Solomon | 3 | 27 | 9.0 | 0 | 17 |
| Jackson Kostmayer | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 1 | 12 |
| Asa Gregg | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 |
| Devon Caldwell | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 |
| Zachary Lowe | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 |
fumbles
defensive
| Jyarius Carter | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Marquis Williams | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sam Martin Jr. | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Gunn | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antonio Butts Jr. | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ean Johnson-Kelley | 4 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Polke | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeremy Richardson | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evin McDowell | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aiden Holewski | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mac Bradley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Emmanuel Lane | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shareef Jackson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Goggins | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Ferguson | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kobe McInnis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| CJ Favors | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brayden Smith | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jayvyn Fraziars | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kehinde Akintunde | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nigel Gay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ronin Dangler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Batu Subasi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
kickReturns
| Sam Martin Jr. | 1 | 68 | 68.0 | 68 | 0 |
| Aiden Holewski | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
puntReturns
| Brayden Smith | 5 | 75 | 15.0 | 42 | 0 |
kicking
| Simon Zeidan | 4/4 | 100.0 | 39 | 6/6 | 18 |
punting
| Senin Seymour | 1 | 34 | 34.0 | 0 | 1 | 34 |
PLAYER BOX SCORE
VMI Keydets
passing
| Ian Reynolds | 3/10 | 33 | 3.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Chandler Wilson | 1/1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 0 |
rushing
| Aslin Shipe | 7 | 37 | 5.3 | 0 | 19 |
| Leo Boehling | 9 | 22 | 2.4 | 0 | 7 |
| Cole Varner | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 0 | 16 |
| Trevin Simon | 4 | 7 | 1.8 | 0 | 4 |
| Traveion Slaughter | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 0 | 4 |
| Kam Johnson | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zander Lewis | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| Team | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ian Reynolds | 4 | -5 | -1.3 | 0 | 5 |
| Drew Parrott | 1 | -5 | -5.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chandler Wilson | 7 | -14 | -2.0 | 0 | 2 |
receiving
| Cade Cox | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 12 |
| Traveion Slaughter | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 |
| Brooks Martin | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | 9 |
defensive
| Nic Land | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ethan Haston | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Powell | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Isaiah Grevious | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EJ Wilborne | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Riveros | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keegan Guyton | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Henry Berling | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jacob Moore | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Camden Clinton | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Erick Roman | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rod Tasco | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Matthias Corbin | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nathan Jackson | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| David Czapp | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Joyce | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Camron Watkins | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Landon Snyder | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terry Dorsey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ayden Babich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Elijah Brooks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan McCarthy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Phoenix Ward | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ashton Dixon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Baylor Necessary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1–25 of 29 records
1 / 2
interceptions
| Terry Dorsey | 1 | -2 | 0 |
kicking
| Jack Joyce | 1/1 | 100.0 | 49 | 0/0 | 3 |
punting
| Ben Shrewsbury | 9 | 364 | 40.4 | 1 | 2 | 54 |
| William Lees | 1 | 37 | 37.0 | 0 | 0 | 37 |
HOW IT HAPPENED
Scoring summary
| 1 | 13:12 | Simon Zeidan 39 Yd Field Goal | 3 – 0 |
| 1 | 4:15 | Jack Joyce 49 Yd Field Goal | 3 – 3 |
| 1 | 0:00 | Jackson Kostmayer 3 Yd pass from JP Pickles (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 10 – 3 |
| 2 | 3:55 | Simon Zeidan 36 Yd Field Goal | 13 – 3 |
| 2 | 1:48 | Zahmari Palode-Gary 64 Yd Run (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 20 – 3 |
| 2 | 0:14 | Kel Calixte 40 Yd pass from Jaylen King (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 27 – 3 |
| 3 | 9:59 | Simon Zeidan 28 Yd Field Goal | 30 – 3 |
| 3 | 6:42 | JP Pickles 5 Yd Run (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 37 – 3 |
| 4 | 14:48 | Kaden Hanson 20 Yd pass from Adrian Parker (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 44 – 3 |
| 4 | 8:45 | Simon Zeidan 23 Yd Field Goal | 47 – 3 |
| 4 | 6:24 | Karlise Price 52 Yd Run (Simon Zeidan Kick) | 54 – 3 |
ESPN · Updated Oct 11, 11:25 PM UTCData methodology