Trinity Vs Milsap

[eulesseagle]

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/10/28/vide...ty-vs-millsaps/

[GreenBat]

Football: Trinity wins on miracle play

Web Posted: 10/27/2007 11:11 PM CDT

Jerry Briggs

Express-News Staff Writer

The Trinity Tigers executed a 15-lateral, "Mississippi Miracle” on the last play Saturday afternoon to score the winning touchdown, stunning the Millsaps Majors 28-24 on the road to stay alive in the chase for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference title.

The play that covered 60 yards was recorded in official statistics as a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Blake Barmore to wide receiver Riley Curry.

But the Tigers, battling the defending conference champions in Jackson, Miss., will always remember it as more than that.

"It was the most remarkable play I've ever seen in college football," Trinity coach Steve Mohr said in a telephone interview.

An hour after the game, the Tigers were still trying to figure out how Millsaps failed to make a tackle that began out of desperation at the Trinity 40, with the Majors leading 24-22, and two seconds remaining.

Junior receiver Shawn Thompson caught a pass over the middle from Barmore at the Millsaps 44 and started a series of laterals.

It ended with Curry picking up the final lateral off the turf and running for the score, denying what would have been a conference-title clinching victory for the Majors.

"As soon as I saw (Curry) in the end zone, I fell down and started crying," Barmore said. "I'm kind of a big baby."

Mohr said fireworks went off prematurely to celebrate the Millsaps victory.

"Our tackle, Wade Lytal, got a block near the goal line and Riley dove into the end zone," said Mohr, who estimated that there were 14 laterals and that eight Trinity players touched the ball. "I've never seen anything like it."

On the last play, Trinity coaches wanted four receivers to go deep and for Barmore to throw it short over the middle to Thompson, a junior from New Braunfels Canyon. Thompson told Trinity players in the huddle to be ready for a pitch.

Pitch it, they did, back and forth, across the field. On the final lateral, a wobbly over-hand throw from Brandon Maddox to the near hash mark, Curry fielded it on one hop and ran through the Millsaps defense to score.

"There were five or six (Millsaps) guys right there," Curry said. "They thought when the ball hit the ground that it was over, and they stopped. They just kind of watched me run past them."

Barmore, who passed for 339 yards and two touchdowns, was in a state of disbelief.

"This is such a surreal feeling right now," Barmore said. "It's just pure joy. I can't even describe it."

Trinity sophomore Jonathan Wiener, who made the Internet radio call, said he told his audience before the last play that it would take something "crazy” to happen on the last play for the Tigers to win.

"It took a miracle, and that's about what it was," Wiener said. "We figured something crazy had to happen. It did."

What made the victory so sweet for Trinity players was that it unfolded at Harper Davis Field, where they lost 34-12 last year and were forced to watch the Majors celebrate an SCAC title.

This time, Trinity (7-1, 4-1) did the celebrating, with players piling on Curry in the end zone. The victory gave the Tigers an opportunity to control their own destiny for the SCAC championship. Millsaps (6-2, 5-1) can only hope that Trinity loses one of its final two games.

If both win out, the Tigers would hold the tiebreaker for the SCAC's automatic bid to the Division III playoffs.

Trinity plays at home next week against Centre, Ky. The Tigers finish on the road on Nov. 10 at Austin College.

[FirefightnRick]

Just before Curry fields the final lateral off the ground, find and watch #35 for Milsap. He had just gotten up from making a tackle on this side of the field and then makes his way over in front of where Curry fields the final lateral. He must have thought the ball bouncing in front of him killed the play as he just stands there while Curry runs right on by. Amazing.

Rick