OFFICIAL STATS
SEWANEE, Tenn. - Junior kicker
Taylor Russolino banged through his school-record 25th career field goal and junior teammate
Michael Galatas broke two records with his 75-yard kick return for a touchdown in the second quarter as visiting Millsaps rolled to a 61-7 win at Sewanee to secure a share of a fourth consecutive SCAC Championship.
Galatas' kick return for a score gave him 658 kick return yards this year, breaking All-American Chris Jackson's old mark of 568 return yards in 2006. The kick return for a score was also the third of his career, breaking Jesse McRight's record of two.
Millsaps piled up 474 yards of total offense behind five rushing touchdowns and a pair of Chris Graves TD tosses to Jason O'Rear from 7-yards out and Galatas from 57-yards out. Sewanee managed just 135 total yards on the day and were held to 0 of 16 on third down, while allowing 60 points for the first time since a 65-0 loss to Alabama in 1937.
The Majors (6-3, 5-1 SCAC) jumped out to a commanding 40-0 halftime lead, scoring on their first four possessions and capitalizing on a pair of
Miles Sager blocked punts and a kick return from Galatas.
Shane Bowser also found the end zone on the ground for the first time this year on his 94th carry, scoring from 15-yards out for Millsaps' first score.
Sewanee (0-8, 0-5 SCAC) managed just 47 yards of total offense in the opening half and were held to minus-3 yards in the second quarter, but found the end zone on its second possession of the second half off a 27-yard scamper from Zeke Wilson.
Millsaps would respond with 21 unanswered points over the final quarter and a half, taking its ensuing drive 74-yards on five plays, capped by Graves' 57-yard strike to Galatas to stretch their lead to 47-7.
Kenny Metzger's 4-yard touchdown run and freshman
Garrett Salter's electric, 63-yard score sealed the deal on a 61-7 road victory.
Sager had a team-high eight tackles, a forced fumble and two blocked punts to lead the Majors' defense, while
Will Hawkins added six tackles (2.0 TFL) and
Kyle Hughes had four tackles and their lone sack of the day. Chalankis Brown led Sewanee with 11 tackles, whereas three Tigers picked up a sack.
Graves stretched his career-best streak without an interception to 192 attempts, throwing for his 19th touchdown in the last six weeks to go along with 1,537 yards. He hit a season-high 11 different receivers on the day, including Galatas twice for 93 yards and a score and
Jeff Hampton twice for 63 yards.
Millsaps will enjoy an off week Nov. 7 before returning to action against Birmingham-Southern on Nov. 14 at Harper Davis Field as part of Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. As always, Derrel Palmer will be handling play-by-play duties on the webcast which will start at 12:30 p.m. with the pregame show.