MONTGOMERY, Ala. (August 26, 2023) – A competitive game against a nationally-ranked opponent opened the Brent Dearmon era and the United Athletic Conference era of North Alabama Football on Saturday, as the Lions fell to No. 20 Mercer by a 17-7 final at the FCS Kickoff inside the Historic Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.
Despite the loss, the UNA defense made headlines with its effort against one of the higher-ranked offenses in the nation, including an FCS Kickoff game record by UNA safety Edwin White Schultz with 14 tackles. White Schultz had nine solo tackles, a tackle for loss and one forced fumble that prevented a touchdown inside the five-yard line.
The opening drive resulted in a touchdown for the nationally-ranked 20 Bears, but the Lions evened things up in the opening frame with a three-yard touchdown run by TJ Smith. Mercer took the lead at the half with a short field goal, as UNA made a stop near the goal line to avoid a late half touchdown.
The Lions were on the move on the opening drive of the second half, but were stalled by a weather delay that lasted roughly 75 minutes. The seven-play drive resumed at 5:58 p.m. and ended with a blocked field goal by Mercer. Momentum began to turn late as the Bears scored early in the fourth quarter, forced UNA to turn it over on downs during its final drive and later ran out the final 5:42 with an 11-play drive of their own.
On a positive note, UNA won the turnover battle, as the Lions recovered a muff punt and later forced a fumble inside the five yard line to prevent a Mercer touchdown in the second half. Meanwhile, the Lions maintained a clean sheet and did not commit any turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
Mercer 7, North Alabama 0: After UNA elected to defer to the second half, Mercer received the ball and went 49 yards on nine plays after a kick return to midfield. The Lions stopped the Bears on third down with a tackle by Gregory Reddick and Elijah Elmore short of the stick, but Mercer converted the fourth down situation and later turned it into points with a 14-yard pass from Carter Peevy to Ty James in the corner of the end zone just five minutes into the game.
Mercer 7, North Alabama 7: After forcing Mercer to go three-and-out inside its own 20 yard line with a tackle for loss by Gregory Reddick, UNA took over near midfield and used six plays to go 51 yards for the first touchdown in UAC history. The combo of TJ Smith and Noah Walters engineered the drive with Smith capping things off with a strong three-yard run to the right. Sam Contorno nailed the extra point to tie things up near the end of the quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Mercer 10, North Alabama 7: The Mercer defense came up with a major fourth down stop with 7:59 left in the half, taking over at its own 34 yard line. The Bears used 11 plays to go 59 yards, but were stalled near the goal line thanks to strong coverage on a third and goal pass to the end zone. The Bears settled for a 24-yard field goal from Reice Griffith with 4:40 remaining.
FOURTH QUARTER
Mercer 17, North Alabama 7: After a scoreless third quarter headlined by a weather delay, the Bears found some breathing room with an eight-play, 41-yard drive capped off by Micah Bell’s three-yard run.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Due to lightning detected in the area, the FCS Kickoff underwent an hour-long weather delay. The last known time UNA had an extended weather delay was on Sept. 22, 2018 against Azusa Pacific — UNA’s first home football game in Division I history.
Another notable weather delay came on Sept. 24, 1988 against Delta State in Cleveland, Miss. The game was stopped multiple times for tornado warnings, but ended in a 27-24 road win for the Lions and the first win under new head coach Bobby Wallace.
Playing his first game as a Lion, redshirt sophomore safety and Kansas transfer Edwin White Schultz recorded a game-high 14 tackles, including 10 in the first half alone. He had two tackles in three games with the Jayhawks all of last season.
The 14 tackles tied the previous record set by Chattanooga’s Tavon Lawson in 2017 and North Dakota State’s Jordan Champion in 2015.
The Lions used two quarterbacks, as Noah Walters led the passing game by going 10-for-17 through the air for 65 yards. TJ Smith finished 2-for-7 for 27 yards. The duo combined for 46 rushing yards and a score.
Sophomore running back Jalyn Daniels led the Lions with 49 yards rushing on just three attempts. His longest play from scrimmage came on a 30-yard sweep to the right side on the first play after the hour-long weather delay.
Redshirt junior Kobe Warden led the receiving corps with six catches for 37 yards, including 15 yards after catch. Warden caught all six of his targets with a long of 14 yards.
Freshman punter Adam Watford averaged 43.2 yards per punt on four attempts with a long of 50 yards in his UNA debut.
As a team, UNA went 2-for-5 on fourth down conversions.
The Lions and Bears had the exact same total of offensive yards in the first half. The Lions had a 54-53 yard advantage in passing, while the Bears had a 98-97 yard advantage in rushing for 151 total yards.
The Lions had three consecutive drives that went at least eight plays and 42 yards but resulted in two loss of downs and a blocked field goal. The latter of those ended in a 16-play, 74-yard drive near the goal line to start the third quarter.
The margin remained single digits up until the 11:45 mark of the fourth quarter as Mercer scored on a three-yard run by Micah Bell.
The Lions now hold a 42-29-4 all-time record in season openers.
Mercer becomes just the second team from Georgia to own a winning record against the Lions, joining Kennesaw State. UNA has winning records against seven teams from The Peach State.
Today marks the first game in the history of the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The Lions also own rights to the first-ever touchdown scored in the league’s history.
COMING UP NEXT
The Lions will make their 2023 home debut next Saturday, Sept. 2 against Chattanooga inside Braly Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. in Florence.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
