SEWANEE, Tenn. - The University of the South football team, after scoring on its first possession of the game, trailed Millsaps College, 23-14 with less than nine minutes left in the third. The Majors would hold off a late rally by the Tigers to steal a 30-27 win in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) opener from historic Hardee-McGee Field at Harris Stadium.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final Score: Millsaps (2-2, 1-0) 30, Sewanee (2-2, 0-1) 27
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HOW IT HAPPENED
-After the Majors started the game on a three-and-out and a punt that was pinned to the Sewanee one-yard-line, the Tigers went to work. Needing 99 yards for the touchdown, 75 of them came on the ground by
Michael McGhee. On the third play of the drive, the senior flipped the field, going from his own three-yard-line to the Majors 22.
-Two plays later,
Jeremiah Young used a 14-yard run to get the home team on the board first.
-After another three-and-out by Millsaps, Sewanee had its drive stalled at their own 29-yard-line, but after a Tiger fumble on the punt gave the Majors life starting at the opposition's 11.
-On a third down, the Majors punched the ball in from four yards out to even the score at seven apiece.
-Special teams was out again in full force for the Majors. After they stalled the Tigers again,
Jack Satterfield had his punt blocked by Jackson Demouy, and the visitors, once again, had excellent field position.
-Starting from the Sewanee 29, the Majors used one play to retake the lead. From there, the Majors did not look back.
-The teams played pretty evenly from there for the rest of the half. Millsaps posted a 60-yard score from Brody Davis to Moise Tezzo, but a missed point-after-attempt made it a 13-point score, 20-7, at the break.
-Sewanee had the opening possession to start the second half. On a tough third down play, McGhee found a lot of daylight again, running 70 yards to get the Majors four-yard-line.
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Price Pennington took the next two carries to make it a 7-0 affair and end a stretch of 20 unanswered points by the visitors.
-On the next possession, Millsaps was forced to punt, but another botched fumble on the return gave the Majors to keep the drive going. The Majors were stalled again by the Sewanee defense, and they settled for a 36-yard field goal by Ethan Klapatch to increase the lead to nine points, 23-14.
-Midway through the third, the Majors put together a 13-play, 81-yard drive that went into the early stages of the fourth quarter. The seven-plus minute possession ended in an 18-yard rush by Moise Tezzo to start the final stanza.
-Running out of options and time, Sewanee did trim into the 16-point deficit as McGhee carried all five plays in the drive that saw him go 47 yards to the house. Sewanee made it interesting, down 10 points, 30-20.
-After the Tiger defense forced the Majors to punt, Sewanee went back to work. On the first play from scrimmage,
Damerian Wigenton caught the lateral and threw a perfect strike to
Cyrus Wilson for the 66-yard score. Sewanee was a field goal away from evening the contest up.
-The defense did its job, as they forced another Millsaps punt to give the ball back to the Purple and White with 3:25 to go in the game. However, after the Majors pinned McGhee three yards behind the line of scrimmage on second down, back-to-back incomplete passes gave the ball back to Millsaps, where they would hold on to it for the final 2:20 of the contest.
SEWANEE KEY STATISTICS
-It was a career day for senior
Michael McGhee. He improved his high of 149, which happened last year at Millspas, to a 241-yard performance on 21 carries. Averaging 11.5 per game, the Chattanooga native eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in his career and is over 500 on the season.
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Cyrus Wilson caught 81 yards through the air with a touchdown, while
Jeremiah Young and
Price Pennington each scored a TD on the ground.
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John Harbison and
Quinn Johnson each tallied a sack, as Johnson posted 13 total tackles with 2.5 for a loss.
Kason Holder also posted 11 tackles.
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Jack Satterfield punted the ball seven times and averaged 51 yards a punt. Recording three punts of 50 yards or more, he missed the school record by three with a 79-yard boom off his foot. The record is currently held by John Cleveland C'18 with an 82-yard punt in 2015, also against Millsaps.
MILLSAPS KEY STATISTICS
-Brody Davis threw for 198 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 55 yards on 13 carries.
-Montreal Felix posted 78 yards on 16 carries on the ground, while Moise Tezzo caught just two passes, but one was for 60 yards and a score.
UP NEXT
Sewanee will hit the road for the first time in 2022 with a trip to Centre College next week for a 1 p.m. ET / noon CT kickoff. The game will take place at Boyle County High School Stadium.
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