Not often does a coach say these words to his team after a loss: “You played a helluva game tonight.’’

Those words were uttered by Baylor coach Phil Massey on Friday night, however, after his Red Raiders played toe-to-toe against nationally ranked and defending state champion Montgomery Bell Academy.

MBA, ranked No. 1 in Division II in the state and No. 40 nationally by rivals.com, scored touchdowns in the second and fourth quarters Friday night and edged past host Baylor, 14-3.

MBA (3-0) came into the game a huge favorite after defeating national power Cincinnati Moeller, 21-6, last Sunday in the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium.

“You showed a lot of heart tonight,’’ Massey told his team after the game. “We’ve just got to learn to finish it.

“Tell me any reason we can’t be playing for a state championship. We’re going to be better than this week next week because we want it.’’

Baylor (1-1) trailed by 7-3 at halftime and had a chance to take a lead in the third quarter, but its drive was stopped with an interception at the MBA 9.

Two possessions later, MBA put the game away when Fitz Lassing caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Wise.

MBA’s first touchdown came in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Dent Shillinglaw.

Baylor’s only points came in the second quarter on a 48-yard field goal by Tanner Taylor.

MBA’s Wise completed 14 of 25 passes for 170 yards and rushed for 93 yards on eight carries. Shillinglaw added 73 yards rushing on 16 carries. Hooper Paty had five catches for 55 yards for the Big Red.

Junior tailback Sam Williams had a powerful performance against MBA with 111 yards rushing on 24 carries.

Brett Murray had an interception for Baylor, which will travel to Greater Atlanta Christian next week and the play host to Brentwood Academy.

STATISTICS

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
¬--------------------- -- -- -- -- -------

MBA…..…..…..…………..0 ..7 ..0 7 -- 14
Baylor….……….…………0 ..3 0 0 -- ..3

Scoring Summary:

MBA—Dent Shillinglaw 1 run (Andrew Fletcher kick) 10:50 2nd quarter
BAY—FG 48 Tanner Taylor (7:46 2nd quarter)
MBA—Fitz Lassing 9 pass from Spencer Wise (Fletcher kick) 10:47 3rd quarter

Statistics:
…………………………………………MBA……….Baylor

First Downs….. ………………………....17……….......10
Yards Rushing…………………………..181………….123
Yards Passing…………………………...170..………….49
Passes Comp-Att-Int ………………….14-25-1……8-16-3
Punts (Number-Ave) …………………1-36.0….…….2-38.5
Fumbles-Lost ………………………..…3-3………….1-0
Penalties-Yards ………………………..8-75………….4-20

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)