10.26.13 Special Issue: Mississippi

OCT.26.2012 14 theTrinitonian

Special Section

Remembering the Saturday marks five years since the famous play that put Trinity in the national spotlight

Tigers and the Millsaps College Majors took the field in Jackson, Miss. that day. It appeared the game would soon come to an end, with the Tigers down by two points and more than 60 yards away from a touchdown. As Millsaps readied themselves for their usual celebratory tradition, Blake Barmore, then-senior quarterback and the rest of

by Tommie Ethington the offense gathered in a huddle, with Editor-in-Chief the earlier decisions of the day and the The events of Oct. 27, 2007 continue significance of the game hanging over to baffle sports fans even today. their heads.

Some think it was fate, others argue Going into the game, there had been coincidence or luck, but it would be expectations for a close match as the hard to find anyone who doesn’t think Division III powerhouses both ranked it was a miracle. in the top 20 and had a strong, long There were two seconds left on standing rivalry. the clock when the Trinity University “The year before that was the first time that Trinity had lost conference in the last decade, and we lost it to “It’s the magic of Millsaps,” Barmore said. “There was sports — that it can certainly a revenge factor for us going change people’s lives. in, and we were all kind of excited You can have the because we had more or less circled most extraordinary of that game on our calendars knowing circumstances come that it would probably be the game that together when you we were playing for our conference least expect it. It’s championship.” really unforgettable.”

According to Barmore the game played out as follows: It had started with a score by the Tigers on the opening possession, Jonathan Wiener followed by a lull and Trinity racking Class of 2010 up a few points in field goals. Going into the fourth quarter, the Tigers

photo courtesy

of Justin Parker

Above: The seven Trinity players that touched the ball during the 15-lateral play pose on their home field, exhibiting on their hands how many times they each touched the pigskin that day in Jackson, Miss.

Middle right: TU Quarterback Blake Barmore, Class of 2008, starts the Mississippi Miracle play off with a toss to junior wide receiver Shawn Thompson. The Tigers would go on to beat Millsaps 28-24. file photos

Far right: Millsap defenders scramble after the Trinity offense as they fight to keep their dreams of the SCAC championship alive and make college football history.

theTrinitonian OCT.26.2012

Special Section

15

Mississippi Miracle

were down by two touchdowns.

Getting into their two-minute drill formation, they were able to score on one possession. They got the ball back again and scored once more, now only needing a twopoint conversion to tie the game.

When they missed the two-point conversion opportunity, they were forced to kick the ball off to Millsaps, only to have it returned.

The decision to throw the short pass that would eventually result in what media outlets later called “Lateralpalooza” was based on a 25 mph headwind that discounted the usual Hail Mary pass and the hope that the Millsapps defenders would go deep, leaving the middle of the field uncontested. According to Barmore, the mention of lateraling only occurred when junior wide receivers Shawn Thompson and Riley Curry walked to the line of scrimmage.

“Shawn said to Riley, ‘Hey, if I do end up catching this ball, try and get behind me and we’ll just lateral it.’ That was the only mention of lateraling as far as I know; I don’t think I even heard it,” Barmore said.

As luck would have it, the play worked in the Tigers’ favor, with Millsaps’ defense going deep, leaving Barmore with only the option of passing the ball to Thompson.

“It’s one the most amazing plays in all of football history just simply because you could go out there and try to recreate it with no defense and would have trouble getting all fifteen laterals. Sure, all the stars were aligned, but it’s a tribute to the kids because they never stopped. ”

0

Jason Guthrie

left side and if he throws it my way I might score’, but he jetted off to the right and he went untouched all the way to the end zone.”

The final count included 15 laterals shared between seven players, some of whom touched the ball more than once, and a 61-yard play officially recorded as a 44-yard touchdown pass from Barmore to Curry, which resulted in a 28-24 Tiger win over the Majors.

While Barmore and the players navigated their way into the history books, coaches and fans watched in disbelief from the sidelines. Two of their peers, sophomore Jonathan Wiener and senior Justin Thompson were in the broadcasting booth that day, and their account of the game, which became more animated as the play progressed, can still be heard in the background of the infamous YouTube video. They are remembered as the voices behind the “Mississippi Miracle.”

“You never want to yell and scream as a broadcaster and I look back now and listen to it and have mixed feelings because I sound like I’m just screaming my head off but it was so exciting and so improbable and it was the only way I would have known to do it,” said Wiener, a Mississippi native, who actually grew up just down the street from

the Millsaps campus and now works as a sports broadcaster for a Fox news affiliate in Jackson, Miss.

“Watching the clip, it all seems frivolous and you think it’s going nowhere, but it’s when Barmore

“You certainly hate to lose your familiar opponents...but Trinity is a building program; they’ll find another group to play, and I’m sure they’ll be successful when they do.”

Blake Barmore Class of 2008

starts to run the ball and he’s got a convoy that you think ‘hey wait a second, they could have something here’,” Wiener said. “The whole time you’re not believing it, you’re just calling it. Once they scored and we made sure there was no penalty, it was euphoria for basically the next 72

see MEMORY Page 16

4 2 61 7 15 X

Number of seconds left on the clock

V

“I remember taking the snap and everybody going deep and seeing Shawn cutting across the field wide open, and I remember throwing, and then after that I remember sitting back and thinking, “Okay, whoa, he just lateraled. Okay, they lateraled again. I need to get behind it and see if I can get the ball,’” Barmore said. “The last thing I remember is Riley getting the ball at the very last lateral and thinking ‘If I stay on the

Assistant Football Coach

Number of yards traveled in the play

For more, visit www.trinitonian.com

photo by Anh Viet-Dinh

Number of players who touched the ball

Parker photos courtesy of Justin

Number of lateral passes before the touchdown

-

Number of points between Trinity & Millsaps in the final score

theTrinitonian

16 OCT.26.2012

Special Section

Memory of Millsaps game lives on • continued from Page 15 hours. We were just trying to grasp what had happened. It was so hard to describe and so exciting. It was pandemonium — in the best kind of way.”

Judging by the media frenzy that followed, sports fans around the country agreed with Wiener. That evening, a clip of the game was played on ESPN’s popular show, “SportsCenter,” and articles recounting the miraculous moment were published in The New York Times, USA Today and Time magazine. Attention in the form of awards soon followed.

In the Dec. 24, 2007 issue, Time magazine declared the game the “#1 Top Sports Moment of 2007,” and the “Miracle 15-Lateral Play” earned the Tigers a $100,000 general scholarship and the title of “The Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year,” an accolade that, up until that point, had never before been awarded beyond the NCAA Bowl Subdivision.

But the players and assistant coach Jason Guthrie agree that one of the most exciting moments came with their

nomination in the category of “Best Play” at the 2008 ESPY awards, ESPN’s annual sports award ceremony.

“When we went out to the ESPYs, a lot of people including celebrities like Jerry Rice—whether they knew about it or not, somebody told them to know about it—they went up and said great things to the kids,” Guthrie said. “That’s something you can’t take away. That’s a memory that they’ll have forever.”

While the Tigers eventually lost to a Super Bowl play, the moment remains monumental.

“Regardless of the level of the play and all the criticism it got, it’s one the most amazing plays in all of football history just simply because you could go out there and try to recreate it with no defense and would have trouble getting all fifteen laterals,” Guthrie said. “Sure, all the stars were aligned, but it’s a tribute to the kids because they never stopped.

The play was 62 seconds long when the average football play lasts seven seconds, and a long play lasts for only 10-12 seconds. So you’re talking about a 55-second increase in the average play

Millsaps coach reflects Aaron Pelch answers questions, tells the story from the other side of the field

by Aynav Leibowitz

Sports Intern What was your confidence level before the game started?

“We were playing pretty good football, we had only lost one game and leading into it was our homecoming game versus Mississippi College, so going into that game, our confidence level was pretty high.”

What was going through your mind during that game?

“It was such a tight ball game, and it was back and forth, very well played. There were a lot of really great players on the field for both teams. I think what gets lost in that pitch play, though it was an amazing play, is the fact that it was a really good football game leading up to that final play.

Trinity guys are going to say it was a great finish, Millsaps guys are going to say, ‘no it wasn’t,’ but leading up to it, I think it was a really good football game. During the game, we still felt pretty good about the way the game was being played, and we felt good that we could pull this down.”

Right before Trinity had its miracle play, there was a timeout called. Do you remember what was said?

“I can re-cap the whole thing for you. It is burned in my mind.

We called a time-out on offense; it was a fourth down. We called a time-out to decide what play we were going to run. It was really a discussion about what we were going to do, talk to the quarterback, talk to the guys, and talk about what we wanted to get done.”

After the loss, was there sympathy or anger?

“I think first thing was a bit of shock, then upset, obviously, because you feel like you had multiple opportunities to make plays and stop the plays. So I tink you’re a little angry, but then you just kind of throw your hands up; there’s not much you can do.

Things just happen, and you can’t stop them. There was very little sympathy, I can promise you that.

There was a little bit of anger, though; there was a little bit of shock. Those were probably the most tangible feelings we had.”

What did you take from the game as a Coach?

“In a way, it’s a great learning experience because it is something we can always talk to the players about, and I will always talk to the players about.

About finishing and being able to point to that example and say, ‘Hey, I was apart of this thing, and this is what happens when you don’t finish a game.’ No matter how much time is left on the clock, you have to play till the final horn sound. So, I think thats the most important thing: being able to pass that message along to the players of the current team and other players down the road from here until the end of my career. Every second matters and you have to play until it’s over.”

Was there any pressure coming back the following years?

“No, in fact I think there was very little pressure for us. For us, I think it was an easier game the following year because we had all the motivation to win the game. It was a situation that we felt like we played well enough to win leading up until the last play [in 2007]. So 2008, from our standpoint, it was much easier to get our players up to play.”

and for those kids to keep going and keep fighting, I mean … that’s amazing.”

Five years and millions of YouTube views later, people still talk about the play, with ESPN even running a special commemorative series on the front page of their website last year.

“It’s the magic of sports — that it can change people’s lives,” Wiener said.

“You can have the most extraordinary of circumstances come together when you least expect it. It’s really unforgettable.”

Along with the anniversary, this year also marks the end of the intense rivalry between Trinity and Millsaps due to the dissolution of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). While Guthrie says Trinity will likely continue to play Millsaps because they are good competition for the Tigers, the game will not contribute to any sort of conference rankings.

“You kind of hate to see that history go away,” Barmore said. “You certainly hate to lose your familiar opponents and the automatic bid that goes along with playing in the SCAC conference, but Trinity is a building program; they’ll

find another group to play, and I’m sure they’ll be successful when they do.”

The Tiger football team now looks to the future, both immediate and longterm. On Saturday, they take Millsaps on at home, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

As the players suit up and fans pack the stands, Guthrie will be getting ready to coach the Tigers with memories of the past, but a focus on the upcoming battle.

“I think the one thing that game is a testament to is you never know what’s going to happen and you should never pack your bags until it’s absolutely over and you know you don’t have another opportunity. As long as you’re within a score with any time remaining on the clock, you’ve got to do something to try and make it happen,” Guthrie said. “We had two seconds left on the clock, and had everything not fallen into place, it may not have happened. But it did, and the kids were ready to do something.

They wanted to win the game. I think that kind of fight says a lot. I know it was five years ago, but that still holds true every week; we’re going to keep fighting until the last whistle blows.”

photo by Anh Viet-Dinh

compiled by Chloe Pope-Levison graphic by Caroline Jakubowski