SEWANEE, Tenn. –
Jacorin Thomas rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another, accounting for 260 yards, but Birmingham-Southern limited Sewanee to one touchdown in the second half and held off a late Tigers rally, 38-32, in football action here Saturday at Harris Field.
The game was tied at 22 at the half and the Panthers led 29-28 headed to the fourth quarter. Birmingham-Southern missed an extra point and a field goal in the first period and went for two-point conversions the rest of the way, converting four over the final three quarters.
Thomas tossed a one-yard TD pass in the first quarter and added scoring runs of 23 and one yard, the second one giving Sewanee a 29-22 lead with 9:18 left in the third quarter.
Thomas Speed took a short pass and turned it into a 51-yard scoring play two minutes later for BSC. The two-point try gave the Panthers a 30-29 edge.
Birmingham-Southern scored again with 8:06 remaining in the contest, capping a 12-play, 76-yard drive with a 22-yard completion from Matt McClary to Owen Phillips, who also caught the two-point play, giving BSC a nine-point lead.
The Tigers answered with a 14-play, 64-yard drive, converting two third downs and a fourth down on the possession, but the drive stalled and
Jack Satterfield converted a 28-yard field goal with 3:41 to play. Sewanee's defense got a stop to get the ball back, but Cole Porch's punt took a BSC bounce and was downed at the Sewanee 4-yard line.
Thomas completed a 29-yard pass to
Cooper Alford, but the next snap was at the quarterback's feet and he was unable to get a handle on it. Birmingham-Southern's Joey Kiernan won the scramble for the ball and BSC kneeled on it twice for run out the clock.
McClary finished 11-of-19 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, with Speed accounting for 97 yards receiving. Kobe Hughes hurt the Tigers on the ground, carrying 18 times for 116 yards and two scores for the Panthers.
Michael McGhee gained 92 yards rushing for four attempts in the first quarter before leaving the game with an injury. Thomas posted 82 yards on the ground on 26 carries and completed 14-of-22 passes for 178 yards.
Dyer Barnes caught four passes for 96 yards, including a great one-handed grab that set-up the one-yard score by Thomas in the third quarter.
Dagum Samuel's fumble on a pass on the first offensive play of the game gave Birmingham-Southern the ball at the Sewanee 25. Three plays later Hughes rushed 19 yards for a score but Birmingham-Southern's extra point was wide right for a 6-0 advantage.
McGhee got Sewanee on the board on the first snap of the ensuing possession, racing around right end and outrunning two defenders down the sideline for the end zone and a 75-yard TD run.
Kason Holder intercepted a tipped pass near midfield and set-up the Tigers with good field position for their next drive. Barnes caught a 15-yard pass and Thomas rushed twice for a combined 21 yards. Two runs from McGhee made it 1
st-and-goal and on third down, Thomas found
Jo Cantrell for a one-yard TD pass in the back of the end zone for a 14-6 Tigers advantage.
BSC's following drive ended with a missed field goal after two bad snaps led to an incompletion and a sack. The Panthers knotted the game on the first drive of the second quarter, moving 40 yards on seven plays. The drive was set-up by a 32-yard punt return from Dayton Green and ended with a seven-yard TD run by Hughes. The two-point conversion pass from McClary to Hayden Morton was successful, tying the game at 14.
Speed posted 15 and 31-yard receptions for Birmingham-Southern later in the period and runs by Hughes and McClary preceded a one-yard scoring run from KyHeim Montford. The Panthers made the two-point conversion again for a 22-14 lead with 4:12 left in the half.
Sewanee's offense finally came alive late in the period with runs from Thomas and
Walker Robinson totaling 20 yards and a pass interference penalty pushing the ball to the BSC40. Three plays later Thomas made an incredible run, escaping pressure to the right, then cutting back across the field, breaking tackles at multiple instances for a 23-yard TD run. He hit Samuel for the two-point conversion, tying the contest at 22 at intermission.
Sewanee travels to Rhodes College next week for a 1 p.m. kickoff and returns home October 21, facing Berry College.
