The Millsaps Majors, in their home and conference opener, rushed 49 times for 233 yards of offense behind the largest offensive line in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, in a 20-18 win over Centre College Saturday night at Alumni Field in the driving rain.

Sophomore running back Tyson Roy, a transfer from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, rushed for a career-high 153 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdowns. Roy had 104 yards rushing and scored both touchdowns when the Majors took their 20-7 lead into the halftime break.

After being told he would not be able to play on Saturday senior quarterback Brandon Morris came of the bench when starter Raymece Savage appeared to be injured after emerging from a pile of humanity after driving his team to the Colonels 26-yard line.

Morris, who had injured his surgically repaired shoulder on a personal foul call two weeks ago against NAIA competitor Belhaven College, connected on his first play with freshman wide receiver Louis Conley in the endzone in the second quarter to put the Majors up 14-0.

Freshman Eryc Lorino chipped in 62 rushing yards on 14 carries and Savage had 19 on seven carries. Savage finished 4-5, throwing for 33 yards and had one interception while Morris went 3-3 for 52 yards with one TD and no interceptions.

The Colonels, down by 10 points late in the fourth quarter, went to the air attack behind 2003 second team All-SCAC team member Brian Behrendt. Behrendt completed 31 passes on the night in 53 attempts, but amassing just 272 yards which is just a 4.2 yard per play average.

The Colonels threw numerous short passes in an attempt to break tackles and pick up big yardage, but the Majors weren't able to hold All-SCAC performer David Crowley scoreless. Crowley caught nine passes for 122 yards and one score.

The Majors were however, able to bend but not break against the high-powered offense of the Colonels. Freshman linebacker Stephen Parr led all tacklers with 12 stops including two for loss followed by rover Ross Rutledge with eight. Outside linebacker Marshall Brown had six tackles including one for loss.

Defensive end Casey Younger had five tackles including a sack that killed a drive for the Colonels and forced a punting situation. Junior defensive end David Cutter had three stops which included a 10-yard tackle for loss and freshman safety Ronnie Wheat had a fumble recovery and two tackles. Corners Ray Kline and Kirk Jackson had a pass deflection each and defensive tackle Matt McCain had one pass break up to go with his three tackles.

The Majors scored three times in the first half and the Colonels scored three times in the second half. The Colonels rushed for only 57 yards as a team they had 78 total plays for 329 yards. The Majors had 58 total plays for 318 yards of total offense. The Majors lost a fumble and had eight penalties to the Colonels no fumbles and no penalties. The Majors were 6 of 10 on third down