GAMBIER, Ohio – More than half of the 31 drives in Saturday's football game at McBride Field ended in touchdowns as the Hiram College Terriers and Kenyon College Lords combined for 1,251 yards of offense. When the smoke cleared, it was the Terriers who claimed a 62-56 victory in the North Coast Athletic Conference shootout.

The Lords' 549 yards of offense and 56 points were season-highs. Their 410 yards in the air and 139 yards on the ground were also season-highs. Additionally, the 56 points were the most scored by a Kenyon team since the 2007 squad opened the season with 70 points against Grinnell College.

Sophomore quarterback Thomas Merkle shouldered the Kenyon offense, accounting for every one of those 410 passing yards, just 28 yards short of his single-game College record. He connected on five touchdown passes and picked up one rushing touchdown.

Freshman running back Seamus McCurren put on a show, too. He piled up 114 rushing yards, 171 receiving yards and scored the first three touchdowns of his collegiate career. Daniel Russell, another freshman, and junior Ian Robertson both caught two touchdowns. Russell racked up 70 receiving yards, while Robertson tallied 111.

Unfortunately for the Lords, a few of those numbers were surpassed by the Terriers, who saw sophomore quarterback Rodney Myers Jr. throw for 268 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 93 yards. Hiram's featured back, senior Danny Robinson, dominated the game. He used his 23 carries to rack up 220 rushing yards and four touchdowns. C.J. Maner added 111 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on just three carries. Overall, the Terriers had 434 rushing yards.

Hiram (2-4, 1-4 NCAC) scored three of the game's first four touchdowns. Myers hit Luther Fortson III on a 28-yard TD toss and then Robinson and Maner followed with scoring runs to give the Terriers a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter. Amazingly, the two back-to-back scores from Hiram in the second quarter were the only time that happened throughout the game. The teams traded touchdowns the rest of the way.

Kenyon's first score occurred on the first play of the second quarter and was a four-yard strike from Merkle to Robertson. Two more TD passes to McCurren and Russell pulled the Lords within 28-21, but Hiram got to halftime with a 34-21 lead.

The teams picked up the same pace in the second half. After Merkle sprinted the ball into the Hiram end zone, Maner responded with a 32-yard touchdown rush for Hiram, only to be one-upped by a 52-yard run from McCurren. Each team scored once more before the third quarter expired with Hiram clinging to a 48-42 lead.

Two more touchdowns were traded in the first ten minutes of the fourth quarter. Then, with 5:30 left on the clock, Robinson put a major dent in Kenyon's comeback hopes by summoning a 75-yard run into the end zone, putting Hiram up 62-49.

Unshaken, Merkle led Kenyon on an 84-yard drive, its longest of the game. The Lords marched to Hiram's two-yard line, where McCurren bullied his way over the goal line to once again narrow the Terriers' lead to six points.

With the game on the line, Lords Taaj Davis and Curt Williams stood strong for the Kenyon defense, gumming up Hiram's ground game and trapping the Terriers in a fourth-and-two pressure cooker with 44 seconds remaining. In the end, however, Myers came up with a clutch eight-yard pass to Maner, claiming one more first down for Hiram to effectively end the game.

Saturday's contest wrapped up a three-game home stand for the Lords (0-6, 0-5 NCAC), who will go on the road next week to face Allegheny College.