JACKSON – The Millsaps Majors Football Team picked up its first win of the season Saturday afternoon in front of a large crowd at Harper Davis Field. The Majors got 14 points in the 4th quarter and a strong defensive performance to roll to a 24-7 win.
The game started off with a bang when freshman Mike Barthelemy took the opening kickoff 92 yards to the LaGrange two. He pounded it in the next play and the Majors (1-1) led 7-0 in the opening 12 seconds.
The Panthers (0-2) began to mount a drive before quarterback Michael May sent an arid pitch on an option and sophomore Alex Stewart recovered the fumble.
Both teams traded possessions before junior quarterback Garrett Pinciotti completed passes of 15 yards or more to juniors Dustin Fawcett and Kegan Joplin and sophomore Thomas Theriot. It led to an attempted 28 yard field by freshman Beau Brady that flew wide right to end the first quarter.
Both teams traded possession before the Panthers went on a 12 play, 85-yard drive ending in an Aaron Duncan two yard run to tie the game up.
After a three and out by Millsaps, the Panthers took over at their own 24 yard line with 3:51 left in the second half. Two plays later Michael May's pass was tipped and intercepted by junior Greg Blasiar, his first of the season. He returned it to the LaGrange 31, giving Millsaps an opportunity to take the lead before the half.
Pinciotti went 6-for-9 on the drive which included a fake field goal run by Fawcett to lead to a Brady field goal. The Majors thought they found paydirt when Pinciotti found Theriot for the one yard touchdown on fourth and one, but a holding penalty negated that play. The bigger story was the hit Pinciotti took which knocked him out for the remainder of the game.
Junior Konner Joplin took over at quarterback to start the second half and managed the offense very well throughout the game. The Majors were on the brink of breaking the game open in the third quarter as they drove down to the LaGrange eight. However, Joplin and Barthelemy seemed to be off on a handoff and the ball came loose and was recovered by Sam Lowe of the Panthers.
Both defenses continued to hold going into the fourth quarter.
Millsaps attempted to go for in on fourth down early in the quarter but Joplin's pass missed Theriot for the turnover on downs at the Panther 34. Both defenses held strong as the three and outs continued to mount.
The Majors got the ball back with 9:58 remaining in the game when Joplin went to work completing a beautiful 17 yard pass to senior tight end Tony Bellan, putting Millsaps back into Panther territory. One play later, the Majors set up the screen for Barthelemy who weaved his way in and out of traffic on his way to a 43 yard touchdown to give the Majors the 17-7 lead.
Millsaps held for a three and out before LaGrange sent a snap over punter Drake Nahlworld head. From there, Theriot rushed it in from one yard out to give the Majors the 24-7 lead late in the fourth.
Sophomore Jonathan Moore sealed the deal as he picked off Ed Russ' pass to solidfy the win in the home opener.
Barthelemy finished the day with 157 All-Purpose yards and two touchdowns. Both Pinciotti and Joplin combined to go 20-for-33 for 209 yards and a touchdown. Konner's brother, Keegan hauled in six catches for 38 yards while Bellan led all receivers with 40 yards receiving on two catches.
It was another tough day for Michael May and Ed Russ of LaGrange combining to go 6-for-15 with two interceptions. Russ led all rushers with 62 yards.
Defensively, junior Marvis O'Sirio led all tacklers with 10 and 1.5 tackles for loss. His partner, junior Jeb White added nine tackles and a tackle for loss. Freshman Nick Ehrhardt had a sack on the day while Stewart and junior Randy Thackrey each had half of a sack. The Millsaps defense held the Panthers to only 206 yards of total offense. Craig Ryan led all tackles for LaGrange with eight.
The Majors prepare to hit the road again at they will travel to Pineville, Louisiana to take on the Louisiana College Wildcats (1-0). Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. at Wildcast Stadium.
