Keeping It Heel
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UNC Football: Tar Heels blow past Mercer on Senior Day

By Zack Pearson

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after their 38-22 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Mack Brown of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after their 38-22 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The UNC Football program blows by Mercer on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill to keep their bowl hopes alive with one game to go.

The conditions were sloppy as rain came down in Chapel Hill but it didn’t slow down the North Carolina rushing attack.

UNC ran all over the Mercer Bears early on in Saturday’s game in Kenan, scoring two rushing touchdowns in the first four minutes of this game to take a 14-0 lead. After that, they didn’t look back as they cruised to a 56-7 win.

Senior Antonio Williams got the scoring started with a 11 yard touchdown run after Mercer fumbled on their first offensive play of the game. Then after a quick three-and-out by the Bears, Michael Carter found the end zone on a 45-yard touchdown run to go up 14-0.

The Tar Heels would extend their lead in the first quarter after Mercer’s drive stalled thanks to a fake field goal gone wrong. A few plays later, Sam Howell got into the fun. The freshman found Dyami Brown for a 66-yard touchdown pass on the Tar Heels’ 10th offensive play of the game to extend the lead to 21-0. Howell’s touchdown pass was his 30th of the year, tying quarterback Mitchell Trubisky’s single-season record from 2016.

UNC would continue to pour it on throughout the game and Howell would get the record.

Howell found Jake Bargas just a few minutes later for a touchdown pass, giving him the record and UNC the 28-0 lead. The quarterback added another touchdown pass in the game, finding Emery Simmons for a 33-yard score.

UNC led 42-0 at the break and would add 14 more points in the third quarter. Mercer added their touchdown in the fourth quarter to end the shutout.

The Tar Heels rushed for 376 yards on the ground and finished with 531 total yards of offense. Carter had 159 yards rushing on 9 attempts, to lead the Tar Heels.

UNC now needs a win over rival NC State next Saturday to clinch a bowl berth.

Next. Howell sets record. dark

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