Official Stats
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven football team committed seven turnovers on Saturday afternoon losing to Millsaps College 27-10 at Harper Davis Field in the fifth edition of the Riverside Rumble. The Blazers threw four interceptions and lost three fumbles in route to their second loss of the season. The miscues by Belhaven arguably could have been the difference in the game.

                                               

The Blazers (0-2) got the ball to open the game and put together an outstanding drive as they marched it all the way to the Majors (1-1) one yard line. Belhaven had the ball first and goal at the eight yard line following a ten yard run by Barry Johnson out of the “wildcat formation”. Ricardo Bolton then took it down to the one on a seven yard carry and it looked like the Blazers were going to jump out to an early lead. However, Johnson would lose three yards on the next play and then quarterback Dewayne Whitten got sacked and lost the football as David Dale recovered for Millsaps.

 

Following a five play drive by the Majors which resulted in a punt, Belhaven got the ball back on their own 21 yard line. On the second play of the drive, Whitten threw his first interception of the contest as he tried to go over the middle and had the pass picked off by Will Hawkins giving the Majors the ball on the Blazer 30 yard line.

 

Millsaps took advantage of the miscue by driving 30 yards for their first score of the game. Quarterback Chris Graves found an open Tye Menist in the back of the end zone to make it a 7-0 Majors lead with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter. Millsaps threatened to score again at the beginning of the second quarter orchestrating an 11 play drive that culminated in a field goal attempt by Taylor Russilino. Belhaven's Melvin Dyson ruined the Majors plans by blocking the 24 yard attempt thus keeping the lead at 7-0 for Millsaps.

 

Unfortunately, Belhaven couldn't take advantage of the shift in momentum and eventually with 9:18 left in the half, Millsaps would begin what proved to be another scoring drive following a punt by Michael Wilson. The Majors engineered a six play 46 yard march to the end zone which was capped off on an eight yard touchdown pass from Graves to O'Rear. With the extra point, the Majors led 14-0 with 7:10 to go in the half.

 

It looked like the Majors would strike again before halftime, but Belhaven's Jeffrey Maxwell had different plans as he intercepted Graves on a deflected pass and returned it to the Millsaps 45 yard line with 57 seconds to go in the second quarter. The Blazers moved the ball to the Majors five yard line but on second and goal Whitten was sacked for a loss back to the 15. With four seconds on the clock, Belhaven had to settle for a 32 yard field goal by Justin Miller making the score 14-3 Millsaps as both teams headed into the locker room.

 

Millsaps got the ball to begin the third quarter and were forced to punt it back to Belhaven. Once again the Blazers moved the ball effectively, but Bolton on a second and ten play fumbled it back to the Majors as Colby Langston fell on the loose change at the Millsaps 35.

 

The Majors then translated that fumble into an 11 play 65 yard touchdown drive when Graves tossed his third touchdown of the game finding running back Shane Bowser in the flats for a ten yard score. Russolino added the extra point extending the Millsaps lead to 21-3.

 

However, Belhaven refused to go down without a fight by putting together their best offensive drive of the season. The Blazers marched 74 yards in 10 plays to get their first touchdown of 2009. Johnson played a key role in the drive with two carries and a pass completion out of the wildcat formation. The scoring play came on a fourth down and goal from the Millsaps six as Bolton caught a pass in the flats from Whitten and broke two tackles as he muscled his way to the house for the score. Miller converted the extra point and the Blazers trailed 21-10 with 2:53 to go in the third quarter.

 

Belhaven got the ball back with 1:31 to go in the third, but another interception gave it right back to Millsaps. The Blazer defense was then able to stop the Majors and forced a punt as the third quarter came to a close. Belhaven's offense took over on their own one yard line and methodically moved the ball down the field on a good mix of run and pass plays. Whitten was able to make some things happen on the ground and through the air taking the team to the Millsaps 20. However, the turnover bug bit the Blazers again as Whitten's pass was picked off at the two by Brent Jerrell and returned 52 yards to Belhaven's 46.

 

The Majors then converted it into another three points on a Russolino 41 yard field goal with 5:36 to go in the game expanding the Majors lead to 24-10. The Blazers still had a chance only down two scores, but on their next drive Whitten fumbled the ball and Millsaps took over on the Blazers 29 with just under four minutes remaining in the game. Following the fumble, the Majors put the game away on another field goal off the foot of Russolino from 30 yards out to make it a 27-10 Millsaps lead. Belhaven failed to score on their final possession and the Majors came away with the 27-10 win.

 

Bolton led the Blazer offense with 57 yards rushing and caught five passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. Cordario Calvin had seven catches for 84 yards while Kevin Dizer made three receptions for 46 yards. Whitten completed 18 of his 27 pass attempts for 202 yards and a touchdown. Whitten was also picked off three times on the day and was sacked five times by a relentless pass rush from Millsaps. As a team, Belhaven racked up 334 yards of total offense with 216 coming through the air. The Blazers rushed for 118 yards on the afternoon.

 

DeMorrius Jones led the Blazer defense with six solo and five assisted tackles followed by Reginald Lumpkin with seven solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Belhaven's Maxwell and Eddie Grecu tallied interceptions in the contest.

 

Millsaps was led on offense by running back Shane Bowser who carried the ball 12 times for 120 yards. He also caught a 10 yard touchdown pass from Graves. Kenny Metzger churned out 54 yards on 11 carries and as a team Millsaps had 212 yards of their 368 total yards on the ground after Mississippi College all but shut down the Majors ground game in their season opener. Graves ended up completing 20 of his 33 pass attempts for 144 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. O'Rear had five of the receptions for 18 yards and a touchdown with Gary Davis catching four balls for 33 yards followed by Michael Galatas with four catches for 29 yards.

 

Defensively, Jonathan McNair had eight solo tackles and David Dale had 4.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. Will Hawkins picked off two passes while Lee Klein and Brent Jerrell each had an interception. As a team, the Majors had six sacks and four quarterback hurries on the afternoon.