Football Spoils Millikin's Opener
Published: April 13, 2021
DECATUR, Ill. -- The football team opened their season with a thrilling 48-41 win at Millikin Saturday afternoon. Offense controlled the contest as the squads combined for nearly 1,100 yards of total offense during the afternoon.
Quarterback Brendan Chambers led Greenville's offensive attack as he rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two touchdowns in a well-rounded performance.
Greenville opened the scoring on a seven yard run by Jacob Stull to make it 7-0 Panthers.
The Big Blue then answered back with 21 straight points to go up 21-7. Millikin scored late in the first quarter on a 40 yard run by Sean Dunning. Dunning would score again early in the second quarter on a three yard run. Nick Pippin then hit Brady Cufaude on a 30 yards pass to make it 21-7 Millikin.
Greenville then scored three straight touchdowns in the second quarter to build a 28-21 advantage at the half. The Panther scores came on a 63 yard run by Chambers and another Chambers touchdown when he recovered his own fumble in the end zone. The final second quarter touchdown was a three yard pass from Chambers to Shawn McKnight.
Greenville opened the third quarter with a 38 yard touchdown run by Chambers and a 21 yard scoring run by Zibeon Washington to go up 41-21.
The Big Blue then battled back with three touchdowns. Dunning scored on a 14 yard run to make it 41-28. Pippin then hit Mike Blakely on a 23 yard pass to make it 41-35. Millikin's final score came with 1:34 left in the game on a five yard pass from Pippin to Brendan Bauers. A missed Big Blue extra point them made it 41-41.
Greenville then hit on a big pass play of 66 yards from Chambers to McKnight with 37 seconds to pull out the victory.
Stull rushed for 164 yards for Greenville. Chambers racked up 155 yards on the ground and was 12-23 passing for 178 yards and two scores.
Dunning rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns lead the Big Blue offense. Pippin making his Millikin debut was 19-42-1 for 276 yards and three scores. Taylor Sanders led the Millikin receivers with four catches for 78 yards.
Cody Lopez had 12 tackles for Greenville. Adam Rosner was Millikin's top tackler with 8.5 tackles including three tackles for a loss.
The Panthers opened their season 1-0 for the first time since 2009. They return to action next Saturday as they host Minnesota-Morris at 12 p.m. in Greenville.
(Contributions by Millikin University Sports Information)
