SEWANEE, Tenn. - The Sewanee football team used a big second half rally to get the deficit from 27 to six points late in the fourth quarter, but the rally fell short, as the Tigers were downed by the Warriors of Hendrix, 48-42, Saturday afternoon from historic Hardee-McGee Field at Harris Stadium.
The Tigers and Warriors evened the scoring with two touchdowns apiece in the first quarter. On the first possession of the game, Sewanee went on a 12-play, 76-yard drive that ended in a Warren Holland two-yard rushing touchdown.
However, on Hendrix's first possession of the game, they evened the score with a two-yard pass from quarterback Miles Thompson to Michael Spainhour.
After a Sewanee punt, the Tigers' defense kept the momentum in their favor, going three-and-out, forcing Hendrix to punt from their own 25-yard-line.
After Garrett Wolf's 41-yard kick, William Phillips caught the catch from the Sewanee 34, and found a lane to the endzone for the punt return for a touchdown to retake the lead, 14-7, with 4:01 left in the opening frame. The freshman has scored two touchdowns either on defense or on special teams.
Once again, Hendrix responded after a Sewanee score, driving down the field 55 yards for a touchdown of their own to tie the contest back up thanks to a Thompson pass to Nate Hodapp for six yards.
After a Sewanee (2-3, 1-2) punt at midfield that was downed at the Sewanee five, Hendrix went the 95-yard trek to make the contest, 21-14 with 8:52 left in the half.
For the third time in the game, the contest would be tied up after a team went up on a touchdown, as the Tigers' Alex Darras found Allan Puri for a 13-yard reception to make it 21-all with 4:56 left in the half.
The Warriors (4-1, 2-1) scored twice under the two-minute mark to lead 35-21 heading into the half.
With 4:34 left in the third quarter, Hendrix made it a 42-21 lead with a seven-yard rush by quarterback Thompson.
In the fourth quarter, Thompson found Hodapp again for a 29-yard touchdown reception to give the Warriors a 48-21 lead with 12:33 left in the ball game.
On the next possession, Sewanee went on a seven-play, 66-yard drive to get the game within 20 points, 48-28. Mikey Plancher ran three yards for the six points.
On the next Hendrix possession, after a false start on the offense, Thompson threw into the Tigers secondary and Wesley Porter caught the ball at the Sewanee 39.
With 7:15 left in the fourth, the offense took off only 1:32 on the game clock, and put seven more points on the scoreboard. Plancher found the endzone for a four-yard touchdown rush.
After a three-and-out by Hendrix, the Purple and Gold made the contest a six-point deficit thanks to an eight-yard touchdown reception by Micah Maes from Darras.
Down six with 4:01 to go, Hendrix was able to get the first down, even after the Tigers tried to stop the clock with their timeouts.
The Tigers would eventually get the ball back with a 1:32, needing 65 yards for the score for the tie, plus the point-after attempt for the lead. Driving down to the red zone thanks to a to an 11-yard run by Darras and a 19-yard catch by Cyrus McCullough.
At the Hendrix 11, Darras attempted two passes, but they were incomplete. On third down, Darras would connect with a Sewanee receiver in the end zone, but a holding call was called on the offense to make it third down and 20 yards to go.
On the replay of the down, Darras' pass was incomplete. With less than 30 seconds to go, the team could not convert the fourth down due to another incomplete pass.
Darras set a new career mark in pass completions and yards, going 24-for-45 for 353 yards and two touchdowns and interceptions each.
Mikey Plancher ran the ball 13 times for 53 yards, scoring twice, while Warren Holland ran six times for 27 yards and a score.
Sewanee's 486 total offensive yards is the most this season, surpassing 476 against Washington & Lee in Week 2.
On defense, Conoly Koontz led the contest with 12 total tackles, 10 solo, with two tackles for loss.
Lee Menefee had eight tackles, 2.5 for loss, forced one fumble and one pass breakup.
Sewanee will next host Berry for Family Weekend. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday week at historic Hardee-McGee Field at Harris Stadium.
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