COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Junior Krys Cates caught his second touchdown pass of the night with 1:47 to play, then grabbed the two-point conversion to help lift Tennessee Tech (1-2) to a 29-22 non-conference victory over Mercer (2-1) Saturday night in front of 9,028 fans in Tech's Tucker Stadium home opener.
Cates caught seven passes for a career-high 197 yards and two touchdowns and junior quarterback Jared Davis passes for 301 yards, passing for two touchdowns and rushing for another to spur the offense.
"It was super uplifting," Cates said about the team's win.
Mercer hung around and hung around, adding a few points at a time with three field goals after falling behind early, and the Bears eventually found a way to pull ahead 22-21 with a one-yard touchdown run by John Russ with 2:52 to play in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagle offense, which had faltered on its previous four possessions and had to punt, got things going in the final seven minutes after the Bears had missed on a 39-yard field goal try to extend the lead.
Davis found freshman Austin Hicks for 16 yards, handed to Ladarius Vanlier for a seven-yard gain, and then rushed for 10. After another 13-yard completion to Hicks, Davis hit Jordan Smith on the sideline two plays later and he broke a tackle to go 16 yards to the Mercer 20.
Radir Annoor carried it 11 yards to the eight, where Davis hit Cates on third down to the touchdown. After sustaining a five-yard penalty, Tech went for two from the eight and Cates made a leaping grab over the defender in the corner of the end zone for the seven-point lead.
Vanlier had just a few words to describe how the offense approached the game-winning scoring drive.
"All gas, no brakes," Vanlier said.
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The Bears moved 34 yards to midfield in the 1:47, but the Tech defense rose to the occasion and forced two incomplete passes and got a stop on third down after a two-yard gain. On fourth-and eight, senior Jordan Patrick's pressure caused a final pass attempt to misfire and the Golden Eagles got their first check in the win column.
Davis was 18-for-26 for 301 yards passing, his second 300-yard game in three games this season. In addition to Cates, Smith had four catches for 39 yards and Hicks caught three for 44.
Tech's leading receiver, Brock McCoin, left the game early with an injury after making two catches.
Tee Mitchell led Mercer with 130 rushing yards on 19 carries, while Russ had 58 yards rushing on 12 carries. Russ was 19-for-36 for 155 yards with one touchdown.
Senior linebacker Tra'Darius Goff led the Tech defense, matching his career-high with 16 tackles. Jay Rudwall, another senior linebacker, added 13 tackles while Patrick finished with 10 tackles and a quarterback hurry. Stephen Bush had nine stops.
Mercer had 87 plays in the contest and 416 yards of offense, holding the ball for more than 34 minutes. Tech finished with 357 yards on 56 plays.
Tech took the opening drive and moved 75 yards in two plays, with Davis hitting Cates for a 74-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Mercer scored on an eight-yard pass from Russ to Avery Ward, but Mike Cain blocked the PAT for a 7-6 Tech lead.
Tech added two touchdowns, the first on a seven-yard run by Davis followed by a one-yard dive by Dorian Carter for his first career touchdown to make it 21-6.
Mercer kicker Jagger Lieb converted field goals of 24, 26 and 19 yards to bring the Bears to within 21-15 in the third quarter, before the visitors took the lead on an 11-play, 63-yard touchdown drive.
Tech opens Ohio Valley Conference play next Saturday (Sept. 26) with a 6 p.m. game at Murray State.