SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College football team held the ball for more than 40 minutes and ran more than twice as many plays as Millsaps College in a dominant 20-7 victory on Saturday afternoon at Jerry Apple Stadium. The 'Roos are now 3-2 overall and 2-1 in Southern Athletic Association play.
Austin College held the Majors to just 199 yards in the game and only 40 yards after halftime, while the 'Roo ground game exploded in the second half en route to 269 yards on the ground and 485 yards of total offense.
The teams traded punts on their opening possessions, but the 'Roos found paydirt at the 7:46 mark when Colt Collins pushed his way into the endzone from a yard out after connecting with Hagan Vrazel for 42 yards on the previous play, making it 7-0 after the extra point from Matthew Smith. The Majors answered on the ensuing drive, getting a 16-yard touchdown run by quarterback Amryn Jeffrey to square things up with 4:45 left in in the opening quarter.
That remained the score heading into the second quarter, where the 'Roos would get the only points in the rest of the half as Smith connected from 25 yards out with 10 minutes left in the half to make it a 10-7 game. Millsaps had a chance to answer with a field goal of their own on their next drive, but Andrew Byrd's 44-yard attempt sailed wide right.
Austin College extended its lead to 17-7 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, as Collins picked up his second rushing touchdown of the day to finish off an 11-play drive that covered 91 yards, with all but 12 coming on the ground. The 'Roos got their final points of the game early in the third quarter as Smith connected from 28 yards out at the 12:08 mark to make it 20-7.
The Majors went 3-and-out on the ensuing drive to give the ball back to Austin College with 11:04 left, and the 'Roos would hold the ball for the rest of the game, putting together a 19-play drive to end the game. The 'Roos drove all the way down to the Millsaps three before penalties and a sack pushed them all the way back to nearly midfield, but facing third and goal from the 46, Vrazel managed to draw a pass interference call on the Majors to keep the drive alive and essentially allow Austin College to run out the rest of the clock.
Collins finished the game completing 14-of-37 passes for 216 yards with two picks and added 64 rushing yards and two scores, and Evan Powell led the ground attack with 117 yards on 13 carries. Josh Lockhart rushed six times for 56 yards, and Maika Brinkerhoff had four catches for 43 yards while Aaron Rideaux caught three passes for 47 yards. Eight different players each had four tackles to lead Austin College defensively, and Darius Hypolite came up with an interception while Keegan Nichols had four QB hurries.
Jeffrey completed 14-of-31 passes for 133 yards and a pick for the Majors, and Fritz Walker had nine carries for 30 yards. Austin Russell caught five passes for 38 yards, while Christian Roberts made 13 tackles to pace Millsaps defensively.
Austin College is on the road next weekend as they head to Tennessee to take on Sewanee.