DANVILLE, Ky. – On an afternoon when Centre football honored milestone anniversaries of its 1985 and 1995 conference championship teams, the Colonels delivered a victory in the wildest game of the season thus far, outscoring the Millsaps Majors 37-36.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- After Millsaps kicked a field goal on the first series of the game, the Centre offense went to work and methodically marched down the field. The Colonels did most of their damage on the ground as
Tyler Blythe ran for 33 yards on the drive.
Jack Gohmann connected with
Dant Bowling on a ten-yard touchdown pass to put Centre on top 7-3.
- The Majors recaptured the momentum as the teams switched sides, scoring a late first quarter touchdown and stopping Centre twice on fourth down. The Centre defense responded well as
Nik Dixon snuffed out a quarterback sneak on fourth down to get the ball back just shy of midfield.
- Centre quickly took advantage of the short field, again relying on the running game to gain most of their yards. A pass interference penalty on fourth down put Centre in the red zone and Blythe punched it in from four yards out to put Centre back on top 14-10.
- The Colonels missed on a couple of scoring opportunities at the end of the second quarter as they fumbled deep in Millsaps territory on one drive and missed a field goal late in the quarter as the two teams entered the locker room with Centre holding a 14-10 edge.
- The third quarter began with a bang as
Cree Ross, who had a kickoff return for a touchdown nullified by a penalty in Centre's last game, took the opening kickoff of the period and dashed 102 yards for a touchdown, and Centre took a 20-10 lead after a missed extra point.
- Just as quickly, the Majors struck back. After the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, Millsaps connected on a 55-yard touchdown pass.
Luke Cole blocked the PAT and Centre led 20-16.
- After forcing a Centre punt on the next drive, Millsaps quickly drove down the field again and hit another deep ball from 29 yards out for the go-ahead touchdown.
- The two teams traded punts before Gohmann hit
Blake Busson for a huge gainer to get Centre into the red zone again. From there, freshman
Gioanni Hunter powered his way in for a 14-yard score and Centre went back on top 27-23.
- The shootout continued as Millsaps converted a bomb for a 43-yard gain to get inside the 20. Centre was called for pass interference in the end zone on fourth down and the Majors snuck it in two plays later, but could only go up 29-27 after a missed extra point.
- Now it was Centre's turn and Hunter moved the chains with an unlikely conversion on the ground on 3rd & 20. With the ball near midfield, Gohmann and Busson connected again on a deep ball to reach the Millsaps 2. Hunter scored on the next play and Gohmann delivered a strike to
Travis Maufer for a two-point conversion to make it 35-29.
- Millsaps wasted no time getting back into the lead as a 51-yard touchdown run put the Majors back in front 36-35.
- The Majors forced a punt on the next series, but
Will Boehm flipped the field as his punt was downed on the 2.
Temes Kahsay had consecutive tackles for losses, with the second one occurring in the end zone for a safety that made it 37-36 in favor of the Colonels.
- After Millsaps forced an interception on the next Centre drive, the defense got the ball back for the Colonels as
Brennan Bareswilt got a strip sack and recovered the fumble for Centre.
- Millsaps had one last drive to score the winning points and reached the Centre 14 after a long quarterback run with a minute to go, but as the Majors tried to position the ball for a potential game-winning field goal attempt,
Ryan Combs knocked the ball loose and
Will Nichols recovered the fumble to preserve the win for the Colonels.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Colonels racked up 530 yards of total offense. The running attack had by far its best game of the season as Centre ran the ball 42 times for 263 net yards.
- Centre had three players rush for 75 or more yards, led by Hunter, who had 94 yards on just 11 carries for two touchdowns.
- Gohmann completed 21 of 37 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown. His most frequent target was Bowling, who caught seven passes for 50 yards and a score. Busson did not reach the end zone, but recorded 124 receiving yards on four catches.
-
Wyatt Fowler led the Centre defense with seven tackles, three TFL and two sacks.
NEXT UP
Centre will hit the road on Oct. 11 as they head to Tennessee to face the Maryville Scots.
