Eisenhower head coach Jim Penley speaks to his team during a timeout in Friday’s 48-21 Region 3 loss to Mercyhurst Prep in Russell. Times Observer photo by Steve Younger

RUSSELL — It was Mercyhurst Prep’s Vinnie Feliciano’s night as he ran for 300 yards on 21 carries and scored four touchdowns as the visiting Lakers defeated Eisenhower 48-21 in Region 3 football.

Mercyhurst scored on its first offensive play when a double pass went 67 yards to Tyler Quinn for the game’s first points, Carson Mertz connected on his first of six point-after kicks to give the Lakers a 7-0 lead.

Mercyhurst would add another score on its next possession on a 3-yard run by Evan Wojtecki before the Knights would find the end zone.

After Caleb Jakubczak’s 37-yard kickoff return, the Knights used runs by Logan Penley to get down to the 4-yard line before Jakubczak would carry it in for the score. Bryce Wilkins was successful on all three of his point-after kicks to make the score 14-7 with 2:01 left in the first quarter.

Jakubczak would get the first of his two interceptions in the game to stop the Lakers’ next drive, but the Knights were forced to punt. A bad snap put Mercyhurst in great field position on the Eisenhower 30-yard line.

The Lakers wasted little time, scoring on their first play to take a 21-7 lead with 7:12 remaining in the second quarter.

Eisenhower drove the ball down to the Lakers’ 12-yard line, and on first down Jakubczak hit Logan Penley with a short pas. He weaved his way through the Lakers defense for a touchdown. The point-after kick made it 21-7, which held up at the half.

Mercyhurst opened the second half with an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and they never looked back.

The Lnights got the ball and were driving when the Lakers forced a turnover. Mercyhurst took over on the Knights’ 39-yard line. Feliciano would take a handoff and race down the sideline for a 61-yard score to increase his team’s lead to 35-14 with 10:37 left in the third quarter.

The Knights’ final touchdown came on a 2-yard run by Penley at the close of the third quarter.

For the Lakers, Feliciano added his final two touchdowns on runs of 7 and 76 yards.

“I was really proud of the boys’ effort tonight. I felt like we did a great job in the first half and we controlled the line of scrimmage,” Eisenhower head coach Jim Penley said. “Prep made some good adjustments and was able to get some long runs. It is always hard to play up in classifications, but we will learn from this and it will make us a better team in the future.”

Jakubczak ran nine times for 84 yards and Penley added 77 yards on 18 carries. Jayden Chase caught two passes for 65 yards.