HIRAM, Ohio – With its first win of the season in sight, the Kenyon College Lords were outscored 14-0 in the fourth quarter of Saturday's football game and fell, 28-24, to the Hiram College Terriers.

Kenyon (0-6, 0-5 NCAC) found itself trailing 14-9 at the half, but bounced back with third-quarter play that featured two touchdown tosses from junior quarterback Thomas Merkle. With 6:21 left in the quarter, Merkle connected with senior receiver Ian Robertson on an eight-yard scoring strike that capped an 11-play, 45-yard drive, giving Kenyon a 17-14 lead.

Hiram then moved the ball down to the Kenyon 41-yard line, but got stopped for a loss on a fourth-down play. Kenyon took over on its own 42-yard line and put together a six-play, 58-yard drive that was highlighted by a 37-yard pass from Merkle to junior Zach Filips.

Those touchdowns gave Kenyon a 24-14 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Playing with a sense of urgency, the Terriers answered on their first drive of the fourth quarter. The drive was sustained by big pass plays from quarterback Randy Tucker to Luther Fortson for 21 yards, and from Tucker to Moe Yarbrough for 33 yards. The Hiram scoring drive, which covered 74 yards in total, was capped with a three-yard touchdown toss from Tucker to Tahj Lorthridge. That pulled the Terries within three points with 11:45 still left on the clock.

Kenyon picked up one first down on its next drive, but stalled at the Hiram 46-yard line, where they faced a fourth-and-23. Freshman Grayson Lawrence punted to the ball to the 25-yard line, where the Terriers took over with 8:53 remaining.

Hiram (2-4, 1-4 NCAC) then orchestrated the winning drive, one that spanned 75 yards and chewed 8:19 off the clock. The 17-play drive featured 11 running plays that kept the clock moving. It also featured a 25-yard pass from Tucker to Andre Dixon and a key fourth-and-two conversion at the Kenyon 10-yard line. The final play of the drive was a two-yard Tucker run that put the Terriers ahead with just 34 seconds left in the game.

Tucker finished 20-of-33 for 231 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Merkle was a bit better, going 38-of-62 for 373 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Merkle's top target was Robertson, who caught a Kenyon single-game record 19 passes for 192 yards and the third-quarter touchdown. His reception total eclipsed the previous Kenyon record of 18 catches set by Brian Hunca in a 2016 game at DePauw University.

Filips, Gage Anzulavich and Sean Garrett each had five catches. Anzulavich accounted for the other Kenyon touchdown back in the second quarter, when he hauled in a 14-yard strike from Merkle.

The Kenyon passing game got no help from the running attack, which managed just 14 yards on 16 attempts. On the other side of the ball, Hiram rushed for 145 yards on 41 attempts. Isaiah Jones had 64 yards and touchdown for the Terriers, while Marquithias Johnson added 63 more rushing yards.

Defensively, Kenyon got a game-high and career-high 19 tackles from junior linebacker Sam Dickey, who also had a sack and 2.5 tackles-for-loss. Zavier Chisholm Hensley had two sacks and Josh Jones came up with an interception to go along with eight tackles and a break-up.