Although the Mercer Bears lost their last game to Chattanooga in 1941, don’t tell that to the fans of 2013.
The Bears hosted the Reinhardt Eagles, playing their first game in program history, Saturday, but the fans didn’t know the difference between tailgating in Athens and drinking a beer in Macon.
“We really don’t have any traditions,” Mercer athletic director Jim Cole said. “We’re literally starting our own traditions. Very seldom are you on that ground floor, so 50 years from now, my son can look back and say hey, the team put that in place.”
Tents surrounded Anderson field while fans grilled hot dogs, played beer pong and screamed “Let’s go Bears.” On a beautiful, hot, sunny day, Bears fans were listening to the Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney while eating the same stereotypical entrees that will be found at every SEC stadium this season.
The Georgia Bulldogs might have a larger, more tradition-filled stadium, but fans in Macon couldn’t tell the difference.
A single Bulldogs tent was set up in a parking lot adjacent to the stadium, but the fans standing underneath it wore orange and black, not red and black.
Mercer unveiled plans to construct Anderson field Nov. 11, 2012, and less than 10 months later the Bears were warming up to continue the tradition of football at Mercer.
“It’s good to see people actually in the stands,” a fan said walking into the stadium, while another fan walking past the entrance said, “It’s about time.”
Temperatures peaked in the high 80s as fans tossed orange-and-black streamers back and forth and cheerleaders tumbled on the turf of Anderson Field.
Teams in the SEC are often identifiable with certain rivals: Auburn and Alabama, Georgia and Florida. But Mercer isn’t like that. The Bears will play in the Pioneer Football League, with teams such as Jacksonville and San Diego. But Saturday the Bears faced the Eagles, a team whose program is just as new as the Bears.
Emory Dunn, Mercer’s director of athletic admissions, said admission percentages this year were 47 percent male and 53 female, with the percentages evening out slightly over the past year.
The Bears and Eagles followed the typical drills and stretches any team might go through before a football game, but fans nearly filled the stadium 30 minutes before kickoff to watch the Bears do something they haven’t in several decades.
“We’re never going to be an Auburn, on that scale, but I think, on a relative scale, we can be like an Auburn as far as the quality of our operations,” Cole said. “We might not have 90,000 tailgaters, but in the 10,000 we have, they’re doing it right, they’ve got lots of energy. It’s just on a smaller scale, and we will strive to provide a quality product like those schools do.”
Orange and black balloons were released into the sky as Mercer stormed the field at 6 p.m. Reinhardt won the toss, but deferred to Mercer, taking first possession of their inaugural game.
Mercer quarterback Jim Russ took a shot deep to the end zone on the first play, but Reinhardt’s Juice Arnold intercepted the pass, taking the momentum away and giving the Eagles their first possession in program history.
Both offenses started anxious on their opening possessions, but after settling down, Reinhardt scored the first points early in the first, and Mercer drove the ball on the following possession to take the lead 7-6.
Both teams scored a combined 57 points going into the fourth quarter, but Russ tossed a touchdown pass to J.T. Palmer to take the lead 34-29. After Mercer tied the score 31-31, the Bears held on fourth down and forced an Eagles turnover with 31 seconds remaining.
Russ completed a 46-yard pass to set up a 31-yard field-goal attempt by Josh Shutter with time winding down in the fourth quarter. With seven seconds remaining, Shutter’s kick was good, and the Bears won their first game of the season 40-37.
Mercer was picked to finish 11th in the PFL preseason poll and will face three of the top four teams in the division: Drake, Jacksonville, Butler and San Diego.
Saturday wasn’t just the beginning of Mercer’s season, but the emergence of a tradition lost more than 70 years ago.
“I’m relieved to get everything off the ground, get kickoff out of the way and now you’re kind of in old sports mode, you want to win,” Cole said. “We’re excited that we have an overflow crowd and Middle Georgia is happy and Mercer is excited, but it’s just back to the name of the game. You just have to win.”
