ABILENE, Texas (Interstat) — Mercer scored in every quarter and pulled away in the second half to beat Abilene Christian 34-17 in a NCAA Football Championship Division game on Saturday at Wildcat Stadium. The visiting Bears improved to 3-2, while the home Wildcats fell to 1-4. Mercer led 20-17 at halftime after trading scores with Abilene Christian in the first two quarters. The Bears added a third-quarter score and a fourth-quarter touchdown to secure the win. JP Pickles accounted for three touchdowns for Mercer, and the Bears defense intercepted two passes and recorded two sacks. Abilene Christian moved the ball through Tucker Parks but finished with 17 points.

Mercer scored 10 points in the first quarter, 10 in the second, seven in the third and seven in the fourth. Abilene Christian scored 14 points in the first quarter and three in the second. Mercer opened the scoring when Travion Solomon completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Pickles with 10:13 left in the first quarter. The Wildcats answered with Deonte Dean’s 1-yard run with 6:06 left in the first quarter and Parks’ 13-yard run with 53 seconds remaining in the opening period. Brandon Perez added a 22-yard field goal with 9:52 left in the second quarter. Mercer answered with Simon Zeidan’s 44-yard field goal and a 2-yard touchdown run by Pickles with 49 seconds left before halftime. Zeidan made a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter, and Pickles broke free for a 59-yard touchdown run with 1:51 remaining in the fourth. Perez missed a 48-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the fourth.

Pickles completed 8 of 11 passes for 77 yards, ran 18 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns, and caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Solomon. Solomon completed his only pass attempt for the 6-yard score and ran once for 4 yards. Devon Caldwell led Mercer on the ground with 23 carries for 132 yards and added one reception for 1 yard. Brayden Smith caught six passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. Micah Bell ran four times for 13 yards. Eric Rasheed had one catch for 8 yards. Javious Bond returned a kickoff for minus-2 yards. Senin Seymour punted five times for 246 yards, and Simon Zeidan handled kicking duties.

For Abilene Christian, Parks completed 16 of 28 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown and ran 16 times for 85 yards and a score. Rovaughn Banks Jr. ran 11 times for 92 yards and caught one pass for minus-1 yard. Raydrian Baltrip caught four passes for 79 yards and returned a punt 7 yards. Dallas Dudley had three receptions for 47 yards. Deonte Dean ran twice for 4 yards and caught one pass for 9 yards and a touchdown. Alex Broome ran five times for 16 yards and caught one pass for 6 yards. Trae Hill ran three times for 10 yards and made one tackle. Luke Moffitt caught one pass for 25 yards, JC French-Love one for 10 yards, Blake Suber one for 9 yards, Larry Benton III one for 7 yards and Keonde Henry two for 4 yards. Jace Gilbert punted once for 38 yards, and Carson Finney returned a punt for no gain.

Mercer’s defense finished with 10 tackles from Jeremy Richardson and nine tackles, one sack and one quarterback hurry from Ronin Dangler. Jyarius Carter added six tackles. Nigel Gay and Mike Polke each made five tackles, with Gay recording a quarterback hurry. Sam Martin Jr. and Kobe McInnis each had four tackles, and McInnis added a sack. Cameron Goggins intercepted two passes. Justin Ferguson intercepted one pass and made one tackle. Eric Brantley Jr. had two tackles and three quarterback hurries. Ke’Vion Wellington had two tackles and a quarterback hurry. Kehinde Akintunde and Ethan McDowell each made three tackles. Shareef Jackson, Cam Moore, Javonte Walker, Marquis Williams, Evin McDowell, Ean Johnson-Kelley and Aiden Holewski also recorded tackles. Emmanuel Lane appeared for the Bears but did not record a statistic.

Abilene Christian’s defense got nine tackles apiece from Dillon Williams and Boone Morris. Darius Moore made eight tackles. Christian Oku and Javeon Wilcox each had six tackles. Williams also returned a punt for minus-1 yard. Brandon Perez made a 22-yard field goal and missed from 48 yards. The Wildcats’ next game is at home against West Florida, while Mercer is scheduled to visit Virginia Military Institute.

Mercer entered the game with a 3-2 record after earlier wins over Texas A&M-Commerce and Presbyterian and losses to Furman and Georgia Tech. Abilene Christian moved to 1-4 after an earlier win over Idaho and losses to Stephen F. Austin, Texas Tech and Lamar. The Bears’ win ended a two-game slide. The Wildcats have now lost four of their last five games. Mercer’s next games include a trip to Virginia Military Institute, a home game against Western Carolina and a visit to Samford. Abilene Christian is set to host West Florida and Central Arkansas before traveling to North Alabama.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Abilene Christian 39, Mercer 38. Interstat’s ELO system gave Abilene Christian a 58 percent probability to win. Mercer had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of +3.5. The total score of 51 went under the over/under line of 48.5.