San Antonio - Trinity's football team couldn't hold on to a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, as Millsaps defeated the Tigers 27-23 in a key Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon.
Trinity (1-2, 0-2 SCAC) led 23-14 heading into the fourth quarter, thanks to a late touchdwn run by quarterback Patrick Dickinson - his third TD run of the game.
Millsaps (2-2, 2-0 SCAC) answered quickly, though, cutting the lead to just two points (23-21) early in the fourth, then scoring again on a long pass play to take the lead with 9:34 remaining.
The Tigers generated just 64 yards of offense in the second half, and didn't get a first down in the fourth quarter, as the Majors pulled off their second straight road win in this series.
For Head Coach Steve Mohr, in his 21st season with the Tigers, it's the first time since 1992 that the Tigers have been 0-2 to start SCAC play.
“We needed a stop at the end and didn't get it. We allowed two big plays that set up touchdowns," said Mohr. "Overall, the kids came out and played hard, both sides of the ball. There were some momentum shifts in the game that obviously happen during the course of a football game. But I told the guys I'm proud of the way they came out and fought against the conference champs. You live with the results. You don't like them, but you live with them. As long as you have the effort, that's all you can take right now.”
Running back Patrick Granchelli had his first career 100-yard game, carrying the ball 22 times for 116 yards. Patrick Dickinson finished with 26 yards rushing and the three scores. It marked the first time a Tiger player scored three rushing touchdowns since Chris Baer did it against Texas Lutheran in 2007. The last quarterback to score three times on the ground was Roy Hampton in a playoff game against Mary Hardin-Baylor in 2001. Dickinson was 12-21 passing for 107 yards and one interception.
Millsaps had two different 100-yard receivers on the day, as both Jason O'Rear and Shane Bowser broke the century mark. O'Rear finished with eight catches for 104 yards and a touchdown, while Bowser caught five passes for 167 yards and a score. Bowser's 67-yard touchdown put Millsaps ahead for good, and it was actually thrown by O'Rear on a trick play.
Trinity's Caleb Urban had 11 yards rushing, 33 yards receiving, and 127 yards in kickoff returns (four returns). He also intercepted a pass at the end of the first half, and returned it 42 yards to give him a total of 213 all-purpose yards in the game.
Will Hawkins had 11 tackles to lead all players for Millsaps, while Jonathan Osei-Kuffour led Trinity with seven tackles in the game. The Tigers finished with three sacks total - two of which came from Phillip Hiner-Leamon. Ben Robinson had five tackles (one for loss of four yards), and picked up Trinity's first turnover on defense when he recovered a third-quarter fumble.
