JACKSON – The Millsaps Majors and the Trinity Tigers met for the final time in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Saturday. The two rivals put on an exciting show in the final matchup highlighted by tremendous play from both defenses. In the end, the Tigers escaped Jackson with a 10-3 win over the Majors.
Freshman Mike Barthelemy took the opening kickoff 43 yards to the Trinity 49, giving Millsaps great position to start the game. Two plays later, on third and five, junior quarterback Garrett Pinciotti's throw sailed over his intended receivers head and into Zach Wright's hands of Trinity for the games first turnover.
Trinity drove the ball down to the Millsaps 23 before Garret Biel missed a 39 yard field goal to keep the game scoreless.
The Majors started their second drive with a 13 yard completion to junior receiver Jason O'Rear from Pinciotti; however, O'Rear had to leave the game due to an injury. Two plays later, Pinciotti's pass was intercepted again, this time by Tyler Barrett at the Trinity 43 yard line.
The Tigers wasted no time as Nyk McKissic found Jonathan Osei-Kuffour down the middle of the field for a 51-yard gain to the Millsaps 6. One play later, McKissic found Hagen Kattner in the corner of the endzone for the touchdown and the early 7-0 lead.
Millsaps started its next drive with 6:31 remaining in the first quarter and proceed to hold the ball for 13 plays which included hard running from sophomores Thomas Theriot and Jett Williams and many short passes from Pinciotti to freshman Mike Barthelemy and junior Dustin Fawcett. Freshman Beau Brady capped off the drive with a 29 yard field goal to cut the deficit to four at the start of the second quarter.
Trinity responded with an 11-play, 44-yard drive that ended with Garrett Biel hitting a 36 yard field goal to give them a 10-3 lead.
Millsaps went three and out and Trinity took over at their own five yard line after a great punt by junior Stephen Gates. The Tigers took that possession with 8:00 remaining in the half and drove it to the Millsaps 47 where they would eventually have to punt, but not before taking 7:35 off the clock as both teams headed into halftime.
Neither team could move the ball in the second half as neither team got to the other side of the field except early in the second half when Trinity went as far as the Millsaps 48. When the Majors started their next drive with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter, junior Konner Joplin entered the game to replace Pinciotti.
The first three drives of the fourth quarter were three and outs before Millsaps gained possession with 9:28 remaining. The Majors rushed the ball six straight times to get into Tiger territory before a miscommunication between Joplin and his receiver found the ball in Barrett's arms again for his second interception of the game.
Trinity attempted to milk the clock away with 5:13 remaining as they ran nine plays to set up a Biel field goal from 40 yards out to try and finish the game. His kick flew wide right and Millsaps took over at their own 23 with 1:31 to go.
After a completion to sophomore Abe Hutcheon and two straight incompletions by Joplin, the Majors faced 4th and four with the game on the line. Joplin found Fawcett who had slipped and fallen but still managed to make a phenomenal catch at the 40 yard line. The next play, Joplin found O'Rear, who returned on this series as he ran it down to the Trinity 44. The Majors then faced a 3rd and 15 before a pass interference call put the Majors down to the Trinity 34.
After a completion to O'Rear and a scramble to the Tiger 22 by Joplin, the Majors faced 1st and 10 at the Trinity 22. However, miscommunication between Joplin and his receiver again caused an interception, this time by his former high school teammate, Ben Robinson and Trinity held on for the 10-3 victory.
Offensively, the Majors struggled again, only accumulating 195 yards of total offense. Joplin finished the day 9-for-17 with 70 yards passing and two interceptions while Pinciotti went 6-for-15 with 31 yards passing and two interceptions. Theriot led all rushers with 27 yards on six carries while Williams added 24 yards on six carries. O'Rear led all receivers with three catches for 37 yards.
For Trinity, Patrick Granchelli led the way with 107 yards on 23 carries. Quarterback Nyk McKissic added 141 yards passing and a touchdown while Osei-Kuffour was his favorite target with three catches and 68 yards.
Defensively, Millsaps held a high powered Trinity offense to only 262 yards total. Junior Jeb White had a career day with 17 tackles while junior Marvis O'Sirio and senior Jordan Nolan added nine each. Freshman Jeff Milner continues to shine in his first year as he picked up two huge sacks including a forced fumble that was recovered by Trinity.
The win for Trinity snaps a three game losing streak to Millsaps dating back to 2007. The Majors fall to 1-3 on the season and 0-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference while Trinity moves to 4-0 and 2-0 in the conference.
Millsaps travels to Sewanee, Tennessee next weekend to take on the Sewanee Tigers in the mountains. This conference matchup is set for 1 p.m. kickoff time.
