SUWANEE, Ga. - Birmingham-Southern rallied from a 21-2 third quarter deficit to defeat in-state rival Huntingdon, 35-29 in double-overtime. Millsaps and Trinity also posted wins for the the SCAC as the league went 3-2 in non-conference play during week two last weekend.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College fell in a 21-3 hole after one quarter and was unable to recover, falling 54-17 to East Texas Baptist University on Saturday night in Marshall. The ‘Roos drop to 0-2 on the year with the loss. ETBU racked up over 200 yards both passing and rushing and won the battle for field position thanks to a 47.5 yard kick return average for the game and the ‘Roos were unable to get much offense going despite having just one less first down than the Tigers all night. ETBU built a 30-3 lead heading into halftime, and a 21-0 third quarter that included two touchdowns in less than 90 seconds put any hope of a comeback out of reach for the ‘Roos, who amassed 214 yards through the air but only 88 rushing yards on 48 attempts. Noah Jesko came off the bench to produce both of the Austin College touchdowns, passing for 116 yards and a score and finding the end zone once on the ground. Scott Loy had 59 receiving yards, including a 44 yard touchdown reception late in the game for the ‘Roos. Austin College will be looking for its first win next Saturday when they host Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Jerry Apple Stadium at 1 p.m. in conjunction with 1981 National Championship Recognition Day, when members of the 1981 NAIA National Championship football team will be returning to campus to be honored.
Centre (1-0) had a bye this past week and will return to action Saturday, Sept. 17. The Colonels will host Washington & Lee University in their home-opener. The Colonels and Generals last met Sept. 23, 2006 with Washington & Lee coming away with a 24-15 road win in Danville, Ky.
Millsaps opened its home portion of the 2011 season with a 24-7 win over LaGrange College. Freshman Mike Barthelemy had 157 All-Purpose yards on the day including a 92-yard kickoff return, a rushing and a receiving touchdown. Sophomore Thomas Theriot added the final touchdown late in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Defensively, the Majors forced three turnovers on the day. Millsaps travel to Louisiana College on Saturday to take on the Wildcats in Pineville at 5 p.m.
Washington University (2-0) built a 31-7 halftime lead and went on to defeat Rhodes 0-1) 48-21. The Bears hit the scoreboard on their first possession on a Dan Burkett to Easton Knott 37 yard touchdown pass, before Rhodes answered with a Buddy Legens 20 yard TD reception to even the score at 7-7. Knott had two more touchdown receptions in the first half, of nine and 16 yards. Tyler Perkins had a career-high 30 completions in 55 attempts with one interception for 332 yards. Jack Lartigue had 12 receptions for 161 yards, including a touchdown reception. Jake Jackson was on the receiving end of seven of Perkins attempts. Joseph Raby, Justin Toliver and Tom Zigtema each had 8 tackles and Stanton Brown had one interception. Rhodes home opener will be September 17 against Trinity with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m.
In its first road contest of the season Sewanee fell at Washington & Lee, Saturday, 31-14. Despite the loss the Tigers still managed 242 rushing yards, good enough for a 4.6 yards per carry average. The one difference between the first two weeks of play came from the Tigers inability to keep drives alive, after going only 5-of-15 on third down. Individually, junior Murphy Walters and senior Alfonza Knight played well, as the two defensive backs combined for 17 tackles and one sack. Now with their even 1-1 record the Tigers will take their longest road trip of the year this Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT matchup with Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Tigers and Loggers. Overall, it should be an interesting matchup as Sewanee will again look to keep the ball on the ground, while Puget Sound lives and dies through the air. In fact in their first contest of the season the Loggers had 71 passing attempts for 395 yards.
Trinity used a 20-point first quarter to jump-start them to a 43-14 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Saturday night. The Tigers played their first – and only – home game of September, finishing with their highest point total since the season finale in 2009. After breaking a scoreless tie with a seven-play drive late in the first quarter, Trinity took advantage of the game’s first turnover to score again in just two plays. After the defense held, the Tiger offense needed just one play to score again to make it 20-0 before the end of the quarter. Nykolas McKissic accounted for four of the team’s six touchdowns, completing 15-18 passes for 231 yards and three scores. He also scored a rushing touchdown from 11 yards out in the opening quarter. His completion percentage (83.3) for the game is tied for the fourth-highest in school history (min. 10 completions). Trinity’s defense gave up just 29 yards of offense in the first half of play, and forced TLU into nine drives of three plays or less for the game. Kyle Trella averaged 45.7 yards/punt (6-274) in the game, which is the third-highest total in Trinity history. The Tigers open SCAC play on the road this weekend, facing off against Rhodes College on Saturday afternoon. Last season, Rhodes defeated Trinity 22-16 in San Antonio, but Trinity leads the series with a 16-12 overall record. The two teams have split the last four meetings.
For the complete SCAC Gridiron Weekly for Week 2, click here.
