JACKSON
-- Casey Younger tallied nine tackles and three
sacks, Jonathan Brooks picked off two passes, and Marcus
Harris returned
one interception for a touchdown as the Millsaps defense
held Rhodes to 146 total yards and forced seven turnovers
before 2,112 on a cloudy Saturday afternoon.
Playing without star quarterback Juan Joseph, the Millsaps
offense turned in a solid performance, rolling up 361 yards
behind junior backup Burt Pereira, who completed 18-of-24
passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for
a team-high 52 yards.
In their
opening drive, the Lynx marched 30 yards in nine plays
to the
Millsaps
29, however, All-SCAC First Team selection Casey
Younger stuffed running back Matt Gilbert on fourth-and-inches
to end the threat.
From that point, the Majors allowed just 27 more yards the rest
of the first half, harassing quarterback Mark Oliver and forcing
the Lynx into turnovers in three consecutive series.
On 3rd-and-14
at the Rhodes 16, Jonathan Brooks picked off Mark Oliver and
returned it to the 18. It took just one play for the
Majors to cash in, as Pereira hooked up with Eric McCarty on
a fade route to put the Majors on top early 7-0.
The following
possession, David Dale scooped up an Oliver fumble and returned
it to the Rhodes nine. Once again, the Millsaps
offense took advantage of the short field when Pereira scrambled
around the left side on 3rd-and-goal from the three.
Things went from bad to worse for Rhodes, as All-SCAC cornerback
Marcus Harris stepped in front of an Oliver pass and raced 37
yards for the second interception return of his career. Millsaps
led 21-0 and had only run eight plays on offense and held the
ball for one minute.
The second
quarter was a defensive struggle, as neither team managed a
first down until the Majors pieced together a 14-play,
82-yard drive. At the Rhodes one, however, the Majors were stuffed
on four consecutive plays. The rest of the half saw neither team
mount any kind of scoring threat and Millsaps went to the locker
room with a 21-0 lead.
The Millsaps
offense came out of the locker room on fire and opened up the
floodgates, scoring on back-to-back possessions.
On the first play of the half, Pereira faked a hand-off and ran
around the left end for 28 yards inside Lynx territory. On 3rd-and-six,
the Majors kept the drive alive when Pereira hit Savage for a
14-yard completion to the 31. Two plays later, Pereira threw
a picture-perfect pass to Guy Smith for a 33-yard touchdown to
complete the six-play, 78-yard drive.
After the
defense halted a potential scoring threat, the Majors iced
the game, going 71 yards in three plays.
After Pereira hooked
up with Michael Galatas for 39 yards, Nick Namias took it the
rest of the way, carrying the ball twice for 27 yards capped
off by a 12-yard touchdown run.
Two possessions
later Kenneth Metzger put the icing on the cake with an electrifying
43-yard touchdown run, bouncing off a pair of defenders while
keeping his feet, to put the Majors up
42-0 late in the third quarter.
The Majors
racked up 154 yards on the ground, averaging better than 5.0
yards a carry behind the duo of Namias and Metzger, who rushed
for 41 and 46 yards respectively.
The shutout
was the first for Millsaps (3-1, 2-0 SCAC) since a 9-0 victory
in the 2004 Backyard Brawl against
Mississippi
College. Younger’s nine tackles led the defense, followed
by Denarold Anderson with eight and Cedric Lawrence with six.
David Dale finished with two sacks and two fumble recoveries.
Lawrence, Marcus Stokes and Fred Wiley also tallied a
sack apiece, as quarterbacks Oliver and Matt Ungashick were
sacked eight times.
For Rhodes
(2-1, 1-1 SCAC), Oliver completed just 4-of-19 passes for 65
yards and four interceptions. Josh McMurray led the Lynx on
the ground with nine carries for 51 yards.
Defensive back Chip Hilley led the Lynx with eight tackles.
Next week
the Majors will travel to Greencastle, Ind., for a huge SCAC
showdown with the DePauw Tigers. Last year the Majors
defeated DePauw 31-7, giving the Majors their first victory over
DePauw since the Tigers joined the SCAC. Kickoff is set for 1:00
p.m. and can be heard on ESPN Radio 1240 AM in the Jackson area
and online at www.espnradio1240.com.
