BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A Millsaps touchdown in the closing seconds of the game was enough to force overtime at Birmingham Southern Saturday afternoon. But a Majors fumble in the extra frame set up a field goal for BSC that split the uprights and pushed the Panthers past Millsaps 20-17.
BSC scored the first two touchdowns of the game. After the Millsaps offense was forced to a three-and-out in the early stages of the first quarter, the Panthers returned the punt to the Majors 45 yard line and began their drive. It took them under four minutes to take the ball down field, the Panthers completed the drive with a 12 yard touchdown pass with seven minutes left in the first.
Birmingham took a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the second quarter. The Panthers began the drive with 18 seconds left in the first and drove the ball 84 yards down field in just over four minutes. This time BSC brought the ball to three yard line and punched it in the end zone with a short rush.
Millsaps cut the Panthers lead in half with their first touchdown shortly before halftime. A
Nick Gradnigo interception allowed the Majors to start at the Birmingham Southern 25 yard line. It took just three plays for Millsaps to score. After a 20 yard rush put the Majors four yards away,
Kain Mitchell ran it past the goal line to bring the score to 14-7 going into halftime.
After BSC converted on a field goal to push the lead to 17-7 just five seconds into the fourth quarter, Millsaps made their comeback late in the game. It began when
Malcolm Ben got in the way of a fourth-down pass to give the Majors the ball back on their own 33 yard line with under four minutes to go.
Fritz Walker III and
Andrew Warren then broke off long runs to set up
Andrew Byrd with a 47 yard field goal that just made it over the top of the upright to bring the game to a one touchdown deficit with two minutes to go.
With time against the Majors, the defense came away with a big stop to give the ball back to the offense with one minute to go. Millsaps began the drive at their own 40 and it took quarterback
Bubba White just 30 seconds to go down field and score. White connected with
Tanner Menist for 30 yards,
Brandon Stockerl for 19 and finished it off with a 13 yard touchdown pass over the middle to
Ty Durham. The field goal was good to tie the game at 17 and force overtime.
A fumble on the Majors first overtime possession was recovered by BSC, and allowed a 26 yard game-winning field goal for the Panthers to take it 20-17.
Millsaps has now dropped four straight games and falls to 3-6 on the season and 2-5 in the SAA. The Majors conclude their season on Saturday, November 11th at 1:00 p.m. at Hendrix.
