FERRUM, Va. -- Ferrum College defeated Maryville College 24-10 in football this afternoon at home to stay atop the USA South Athletic Conference standings.  The Panthers made it five straight with the win, and improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the USA South.

Box Score:  Ferrum 24, Maryville 10

Marcus Mayo, who made his second start of the season at quarterback, played the entire game.  Mayo completed five of 11 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions and no sacks.  Mayo also rushed 20 times for 133 yards and a score, averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

The Panthers' first two drives went to the Maryville 11 yard line and 15 yard line.  Both times the Panthers came up empty when PK Clint Slappey's field goal attempts of 28 and 32 yards were both wide right.

Mayo put Ferrum on the board when he raced 16 yards to the left corner of the end zone at 7:50 of the first quarter.  Maryville came right back on its next drive to score on a Tim Connor to Landon Dunford 42-yard pass for a 7-7 halftime score.

Ferrum held the Scots scoreless In the third quarter, while scoring 10 points.  Slappey missed a third field goal attempt, this one from 39 yards, early in the second half, but connected on a 20-yard attempt with 2:44 left in the third.  Makya Jackson then hauled in a Mayo pass from 10 yards out to put the Panthers up 17-7 with 1:16 remaining in the third.

Maryville's Brad Daniell was successful a 20-yard field goal at 12:32 of the fourth quarter to cut the Ferrum lead to 17-10.  Daniell was last year's hero after kicking four field goals, including the game-winner in OT, of Maryville's 26-23 win.

TB Mike Vann kept Ferrum's next drive going with an 18-yard run up the middle on 4th-and-1 from the Maryville 36, then hauled in a Mayo pass from two yards out for Ferrum's final score with 5:33 left to play.

Vann had 91 yards rushing on 10 carries, averaging 9.1 yards per carry.  Le'Bryan Patterson added 67 yards on seven rushes.  Vann had 145 all-purpose yards today ... 91 rushing, two receiving, and 42 on a pair of kickoff returns.

Maryville (3-3, 2-1 USA South) switched quarterbacks midway through the second quarter when starter Derek Hunt was sacked hard by Ferrum CB Zack Brown and had to leave the game.  Backup Tim Connor was 5-17 passing for 114 yards and a score for Maryville.  Hunt was 7-10 for 55 yards.  Neither Maryville QB gave up an interception, but both were sacked once.  Rommell Hightower rushed 19 times for 92 yards for the Scots.

Ferrum put up 439 yards of total offense, 293 rushing and 146 passing.  Maryville had 286 yards total offense, 117 rushing and 147 passing.

Defensively, LB Jamar Moseley was in on 11 tackled for Ferrum, five solo and six assisted, including 1.5 tackled for loss.  Bud Christie was in on nine tackles for Maryville, six solo and three assisted.

Ferrum (5-1, 3-0 USA South) will go on the road next Saturday to face Methodist University.  The USA South contest is set to begin at 1 p.m. in Fayetteville, North Carolina.