JACKSON — The physical style of play from the Presidents of Washington and Jefferson College proved too much for Millsaps in a 35-20 NCAA Division III second round playoff victory on a misty Saturday afternoon at Harper Davis Field.

Curt Jones of Washington and Jefferson scored two touchdowns in the final 96 seconds to pace the Presidents (11-1) into a third-round match-up next week against Mary-Hardin Baylor. Millsaps saw a historic season under third-year coach Mike Dubose end at 11-1. It was the first time the Majors had won 11 straight games to start the season and it was second time in school history the school reached the second round of the Division III playoffs.

“This group of seniors accomplished a lot,” Dubose said, praising his seniors which included defensive starters Marcus Harris and Marcus Stokes, two former Vicksburg High players. “These guys lost only one conference game in three years and did not lose a single conference road game. They definitely raised the bar here.”

The Majors, however, did not have an answer to the balanced offensive attack of the Presidents. WJC rushed for 235 yards, 208 of it by Jones, who had four touchdowns on runs of 1, 2, 7 and 52 yards. Quarterback Bobby Swallow, a candidate for national player of the year honors in Division III, completed 22 of 31 passes for 246 yards.

“They outhit us,” Dubose said pointedly. “I didn’t get us prepared well enough to play a physical game and I told that to my team after the game. We just couldn’t get the ball away from them and when you get outhit like that you have very little chance to win at this level.”

Down 14-7 in the second quarter, Washington and Jefferson unleashed its time-hogging offense with a 17-play, 73-yard drive that took 10:26 off the clock. The Presidents converted two fourth downs in the drive, the biggest a 5-yard pass from Swallow to Luke Espe on a fourth-and-4. Five plays later, Swallow dove in from the 1 to tie the game at 14 after Joe Kelly’s kick.

WJC coach Mike Siranni said Kelly’s inexperience and his offensive’s senior experience were the reasons why he went for four, fourth-down conversions. The Presidents’ first drive ended on downs at the Millsaps 2 and another one ended midway through the fourth quarter that allowed Millsaps a chance to take the lead.

“We decided if it was a manageable fourth down, we’d go for it. Joe is our backup kicker and that had something to do with it, but we are also really good on fourth-and-short type plays,” Sirianni said. “We changed some things for this game. Normally, we don’t huddle. Today, we did, because we wanted to burn the clock and keep their offense off the field.”

The Majors’ big problem was settling for field goals after scoring touchdowns on two of their first three drives.

Gary Davis’ 67-yard kickoff return gave Millsaps a first down at WJC 19 with 1:43 left before halftime. The Majors reached the 2, but opted for a 19-yard field goal by Taylor Russolino that made it 17-14.

Russolino added a 25-yard kick to cap the Majors’ first drive of the second half to up the lead to 20-14.

The Presidents answered with Jones’ second touchdown run on a 2-yard plunge to make it 21-20 with 8:22 left in the third quarter.

Millsaps’ defense finally stopped the Presidents on their next drive with a turnover on downs at the Majors’ 25.

Early in the fourth quarter, facing a fourth-and-11 from the WJC 44, Dubose opted for a fake punt but Bert Pereira was dropped for a two-yard loss.

On the next Majors possession, Juan Joseph converted three first down passes to set up a 38-yard field goal by Russolino that could’ve put Millsaps ahead with 6:57 left. The kick, though, sailed just wide leaving WJC in the lead at 21-20.

“I thought our defense would get a stop and we’d get the ball back, that’s why we went for the field goals,” Dubose said.

“You just had to credit their defense. We had some hit and miss plays, that didn’t hit,” said Joseph, who finished 31 of 42 for 333 yards. Joseph is a Conerly Trophy finalist and he set the Southern Intercollegiate Conference career passing record on a 44-yard TD toss to Eric McCarty that gave Millsaps a 7-0 lead. Shane Bowser had the other Millsaps score on a 1-yard run with 13:20 left in the second quarter to make it 14-7.