(Portions of this story were taken from the Millsaps
website)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Oliver Galicki, Andres
Wallace, Jordan Granville, John Shivers and Adam Williams paved the
way for a season-high 576 total yards and fifth-ranked Millsaps
College earned a 56-27 victory over 14th-ranked Trinity
University Saturday afternoon at E.M. Stevens Stadium.
The 56 points scored was the most against a Trinity team in the
SCAC era.
The victory gives Millsaps at least a share of the SCAC
championship and guarantees the Majors the league's automatic bid
to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior All-American hopeful Juan Joseph completed 30-of-43 passes for 370 yards and three TDs and also rushed for 91 yards and two more scores as Millsaps not only clinched an automatic playoff berth but snapped a 13-year home conference winning-streak (37 games) for the Tigers dating back to 1995.
Millsaps (8-0, 6-0 SCAC) won its 10th-straight game while sending Trinity to its first loss of the 2008 season after opening the year at 7-0.
"We hit on all cylinders today," offensive coordinator John David Caffey said. "It's probably our best performance of the season but we can still perform better. We followed our game plan that we practiced all week and definitely showed up for the showdown."
Millsaps set the tempo on the opening play from scrimmage, using Jonathan Brooks' 26-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. However, Trinity's Riley Curry was deemed down by contact and the touchdown was wiped off the board - one of two on the afternoon (Michael Galatas 85-yd kickoff return for touchdown).
Trinity (7-1, 4-1 SCAC) would score first two series later, taking advantage of a Joseph fumble on a called option play that set the Tigers up on the Majors' 24-yard line. After the turnover, Bryant Wilson marched TU 24 yards on seven plays, connecting with Al Furlow from 12-yards out for the 7-0 lead.
Millsaps responded right back 1:08 later, using a career-long 55-yard kick return from sophomore Michael Galatas to set the Majors up at TU's 32-yard line. After a 10-yard rush from Joseph, the senior found fellow senior Eric McCarty from 20-yards out over the middle to knot it at 7-7.
After forcing TU into a three-and-out on its next possession, Millsaps took its first lead of the contest on its best drive of the day, a 9-play, 80-yard drive over 3:15 that ended in a 14-yard run from Joseph and a 14-7 lead.
Ten unanswered from the Tigers off Peter Licalzi's 25-yard field goal and Wilson's 26-yard TD pass regave them the lead at 17-14 and energized the crowd of 3,213 before 10 unanswered from the Majors gave the visitors a 28-17 lead at intermission.
Millsaps would take total control of the game in the second half, scoring TDs on four of its five possessions while limiting the Tigers to just 10 points to come away with the convincing, 29-point win.
With the game at 42-27 and the Tigers' driving to make it an 8-point game, senior Jacob Hanberry's interception in the end zone on the second play of the fourth quarter was the key play that sealed the win for the Majors. Millsaps would score two more TDs and pull away late.
Behind Joseph's stellar afternoon that will likely garner him D3football.com and SCAC Player of the Week honors, McCarty caught nine balls for 115 yards and a score, Galatas caught four for 82 yards and a score, Raymece Savage grabbed six for 49 yards and Shane Bowser grabbed four for 56 yards and a score. Wilson completed 18-of-31 passes for 275 yards, three TDs and two INTs for TU, connecting with Chris Coleman a team high five times for 67 yards.
Defensively for Millsaps, Lee Klein had a team high eight tackles, Denarold Anderson had seven tackles, 2.0 TFL and a sack and Hanberry had seven tackles, two breakups and a key interception in the fourth quarter. For the Tigers, Dennis Grebe had a game high 10 tackles.
The Majors will return home next weekend for a Homecoming showdown with Colorado College, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Before kickoff, 20 Millsaps seniors will be recognized in addition to halftime festivities.
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