• Official Stats
JACKSON - Millsaps College held the league's second-ranked offense to a season-low 219 total yards, including just 70 on the ground, and used three touchdown passes from senior quarterback \#Chris Graves\# to snap visiting Centre College's 10-game winning streak in a 24-0 Homecoming win on Saturday afternoon.
Millsaps won its fourth consecutive over the Colonels and kept them winless in Jackson since 2000, using a stifling defense that picked off a pair of Grant Conliffe passes in the second half and had a total of 11 quarterback hurries on the day.
Graves' pair of touchdown passes to \#Tye Menist\# from 3-yards out and \#Shane Bowser\# from 42-yards out with 2 seconds left in the first half gave Millsaps a 14-0 halftime lead, as the Majors' defense limited Centre to just 68 yards in the opening 30 minutes.
\#Will Hawkins\#' interception on the Colonels opening drive of the third quarter setup another Millsaps score to put the Majors up comfortably 21-0, using an 11-play, 55-yard drive over 5:04 that ended with a Graves to Menist 19-yard connection.
Centre would drive into Millsaps territory its ensuing possession looking for their first score, but would come up short on 4th-and-9 and turn it over on downs. Again Centre drove into Millsaps territory its following possession after a solid stand from its defense, taking it 44 yards down to the 26 before a failed 4th-and-2 attempt.
\#Kevin Peters\#' league-leading sixth interception setup the Majors' final score of the afternoon with just over 5 minutes left in the game, taking it down to the Centre 41-yard line. A pair of \#Kenny Metzger\# rushes then moved it down to the 29-yard line and Millsaps would get to the 19 before \#Taylor Russolino\# kicked his school record-tying 24th career field goal from 36-yards out.
One final turnover for Centre just as time expired capped off a spectacular effort from the Majors' defense, as \#Brent Jerrel\# recovered a Chase Porter fumble for the 24-0 win.
Hawkins' 10 tackles led all Majors on the day, giving him double digit tackles in four straight, while \#Miles Sager\# added seven tackles and \#David Dale\# grabbed his SCAC-leading ninth sack. Centre was led by Brian Sneed with 10 (2.0 tackles-for-loss).
Graves finished 21 of 35 for 261 yards and three touchdowns, hitting 10 different receivers on the day. He's now thrown for 17 touchdowns and no interceptions the last five weeks, a stretch of 164 passes without an interception. Menist caught a career-high two touchdowns, including a 19-yarder early in the second half.
Conliffe was 19 of 30 for 149 yards and two picks for Centre, being sacked twice. Jonathan Pinque, the top running back in the conference, was held to just 48 yards on 13 carries (3.7 avg). He also caught a team-high five passes for 48 yards.
Millsaps (5-3, 4-1 SCAC) will hit the road next weekend for its final conference game of the year, traveling to Sewanee (0-7, 0-4 SCAC) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff. SID Kevin Maloney will handle the play-by-play on the webcast feed, filling in for Derrel Palmer.
A Millsaps win over Sewanee will secure a fourth-straight SCAC Championship.
