2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game

Millsaps brought a 5–0 conference mark into the game, Trinity a 3–1 conference record, essentially turning the regular season contest into a play-in game with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's automatic playoff bid on the line. A Millsaps win would secure the playoff berth for the Majors; a Trinity victory would give them control of their own destiny—if they could win their remaining conference games Millsaps would be unable to overtake them. Coming into the game, Trinity was ranked #19 in the country, while Millsaps was ranked #24 according to the D3football.com poll, despite the Majors one game lead in the conference standings. The previous year, Millsaps had ended Trinity's streak of 13 straight SCAC titles with a 34–12 upset over the Tigers on the same field to clinch the 2006 SCAC crown. ==Game summary==

Trinity got the ball to start the game and used four plays, culminating in a 25-yard run by Chris Baer, to score a touchdown. Millsaps was unable to get a first down and they punted back to Trinity. On the punt, Trinity's Caleb Urban fumbled the ball and Eric McCarty of the Majors recovered at the Trinity 40-yard line. The Tigers defense prevented the Majors from reaching the end zone so the Majors attempted a field goal, which was no good. The Tigers punted on their next possession and then Majors quarterback Juan Joseph's pass was intercepted by Lee Patterson at the Trinity 4-yard line. The Tigers also ended their drive when Blake Barmore's pass was intercepted by Ray Kline. Millsaps took over at the Trinity 20-yard line and four plays later scored a touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Joseph to Louis Conley. A punt by each team left Trinity with the ball and the score was tied at 7 at the end of the first quarter. ==Final play==

The Tigers had time for only one snap so there was no time to move into field goal range. They needed to score a touchdown in one play, working from their own 40-yard line. Believing that 60 yards was too far away to complete a Hail Mary pass, Trinity coach Steve Mohr called for a 10-15 yard underneath route. NCAA statistical guidelines state that the yardage on a play with multiple laterals goes to the ball carrier who had the ball the longest, or the player scoring a touchdown. This is done to simplify things for the official scorer, as opposed to having to record each independent lateral. As a result, the play-by-play record of the game officially records the play as "Blake Barmore pass complete to Shawn Thompson for 16 yards to the MSPS44, Riley Curry for 44 yards to the MSPS0, 1ST DOWN TRINITY, TOUCHDOWN, clock 00:00." NBC said "If this wasn't the most memorable game-ending play in college football history, it likely was the longest play -- by a multiple of two -- in the game's history." SouthernCollegeSports.com called it the longest play and commented "Perhaps the most amazing thing about this longest play ever is the fact that not a single flag was thrown for a rules infraction." The San Antonio Express-News, MSNBC, CBS Sports and The Dallas Morning News Sports Illustrated, and ESPN used the term "Lateralpalooza". ==Broadcast==

The announcing crew for the game consisted of a five-person team with only one video camera. Jonathan Wiener, a Trinity sophomore English major from Jackson, Mississippi, had the play-by-play. Justin Thompson, (brother of Shawn Thompson, one of the play participants) of New Braunfels, Texas, was the color analyst. Bill Swint of New Braunfels, Texas, ran the video camera assisted by Butch Maddux of China Spring, Texas. The video and audio feeds were mixed and uploaded live to a streaming videocast server by Bob Edwards of Dallas, Texas. The game was broadcast live on the internet but was not otherwise televised. According to The New York Times, "Wiener kept his cool through the frenzy and described most of the details precisely as they occurred. The replay of the video with Wiener’s description has been shown on national television and has become a hit on the Internet." As Curry scored the touchdown, Wiener shouted, "Curry scores! The game is over! The Tigers lateraled it and kept lateraling!! And the game is over! The Tigers win! The Tigers win!" ==Analysis==

With the win, the Trinity Tigers remained in contention for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championship as well as an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs. Millsaps would have secured a spot in the playoffs had they won. Trinity won the championship for 2007, receiving a playoff berth but was ultimately eliminated in the first round by the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor. Sports analysts compared the ending to The Play, Jake Curtis of the San Francisco Chronicle said that the Trinity play made the play by California "look like conservative play-calling." Joe LaPointe of The New York Times called the broadcast of the play "The laterals heard round the world." Mike Christensen of The Clarion-Ledger, the hometown newspaper of Millsaps, called it "one of those you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it plays". David Chancellor of San Antonio's WOAI called it "one of the greatest plays in sports history". ESPN reported, "In the digital age, even D-III games can go global in a flash. And so a slice of fame normally reserved for the semiprofessionals at the big-dollar Division I programs was bestowed upon the Tigers. That night they gathered in the lobby of their hotel near the Millsaps campus to watch, in disbelief, as they made SportsCenter." ==See also==