Chandler Breaks Loose In Second Half As MBA Beats Baylor

Strong Second Half Key As Red Raiders Fall, 35-21

  • Friday, October 23, 2015
  • John Hunt

Montgomery Bell Academy is the defending state champion for D-II football and they proved why on Friday night at Baylor's Heywood Stadium.

Breaking away from a 14-14 tie at intermission, the Big Red scored three second-half touchdowns -- including the last two in the final five minutes -- to beat Baylor by a 35-21 final to nail down second place in the East/Middle Region.

It was really a much closer game than that final score might indicate.

MBA improves to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in region play while Baylor is now 7-2 overall and 3-2 in region play.

Baylor may have lost more than a football game as quarterback Wil Austin suffered an injured hand in the second half and didn't finish the game.  He will be x-rayed on Monday.

MBA's Ty Chandler is one of the most highly recruited high school players in the state.  He has already received over 100 D-I college offers, but after watching the hard-running junior perform, it's easy to see why.

Baylor's defense knew all about him and did a good job of containing him in the first half when he only had 64 yards on 16 carries.

But he more than made up for it in the final 24 minutes as he added 123 yards on 20 carries to finish with 187 yards on 36 trips.  His three second-half touchdowns were more than enough as MBA pulled a close game out of the fire with a productive second half.

"Baylor missing that field goal to start the second half and us driving for a touchdown at that point was huge," said MBA coach Marty Euverard shortly after the game ended.

"Ty's long run in the second half broke it open for us, but I'm just happy to get a road win against a very good Baylor football team. 

"We went more to a power scheme on offense in the second half and basically put the game on the shoulders of our offensive line as we did more running to the perimeter, but this was a very important win for our team," he added.

"MBA has a good team and you can't take anything away from them, but we didn't play our 'A' game tonight," said Baylor coach Phil Massey afterward.

"We've been pretty good with our offensive execution all year and I have all the confidence in the world that we'll come back hungry next week.

"Our defense did some good things.  We had guys in good position, but you have to make tackles.  The Chandler kid is a very good running back and he played hard.  But at the end of the day, we have to keep getting better and now we have to get ready for Father Ryan," he said in reference to next Friday's final regular-season game in Nashville.

MBA's Cameron Wade recovered a fumble on Baylor's first play following a Big Red punt at the start of the game and it took all of one play for MBA to score.

Quarterback Glenn Coleman hooked up with Chapman Malone for a 51-yard touchdown strike and the lead was 7-0 following the PAT by Dean Cheevers with 9:11 remaining in the first stanza.

Baylor came back to score twice as Austin scored on runs of 4 and 1 yard in the second quarter, the second one with 2:59 remaining before the break.

MBA never panicked and moved 80 yards in eight plays for the tying touchdown with 44 seconds left.

Facing a fourth-and-10 from the Baylor 39, Coleman hooked up with Malone for the touchdown pass.  Malone made the catch along the left sideline before quick-stepping past two Baylor defenders into the end zone.

Baylor took the second-half kickoff and picked up four first downs, but Austin was sacked for a six-yard loss by Brett Starr on third-and-6 from the 10, forcing a 33-yard field goal attempt by Victor Ulmo.

His kick had plenty of length, but was wide left as MBA took over with 7:26 left in the third quarter.

It took 14 plays and more than six minutes, but the Big Red took the lead again when Chandler bulled into the end zone from the 1 with 1:11 left in the third.  Cheevers' kick was blocked by Ulysses Strawter for a six-point lead, but MBA was able to add two more TDs in the fourth to keep that block from being a critical play.

MBA got another TD run by Chandler with 4:39 to play as he broke loose down the left side and raced 50 yards for the score as the Big Red was finally able to get a little breathing room.

A fumble recovery by Karlton Bruton at the Baylor 7 gave MBA great field position again with 2:50 to play.  Chandler scored from the 3 on the second play for a commanding 35-14 lead with 1:54 left.

Reserve quarterback Bryce Verble hooked up with Ryan Parker on a 53-yard touchdown pass with 1:40 to play, but Baylor was out of timeouts and all MBA had to do after recovering an onside kick was to snap the ball three times before the game ended.

 MBA finished with 343 total yards, including 224 on the ground and 119 through the air.

Chandler was the leader with 187 yards on the ground while Malone's two catches for 90 yards led the Big Red receivers.

Baylor finished with 315 total yards, including 206 on the ground and 109 through the air.

Austin added 65 yards in the second half to his 41 in the first for 106 yards on 21 carries.  Parker was next with 81 yards on a dozen attempts.

Parker had the longest reception of 53 yards while Gunnar Rickets had a 41-yard catch in the first half.

Both teams finished with 14 first downs.

While Baylor will be at Father Ryan next week, MBA will be at home to host Ensworth.

MBA  7  7  6  15 -- 35

BAYLOR  0  14  0  7 -- 21

MBA -- Chapman Malone 51 pass from Glenn Coleman (Dean Cheevers kick), 9:11 left in first;

BAY -- Wil Austin 4 run (Victor Ulmo kick), 11:55 left in second;

BAY -- Austin 1 run (Ulmo kick), 2:59 left in second;

MBA -- Malone 39 pass from Coleman (Cheevers kick), 0:44.3 left in second;

MBA -- Ty Chandler 1 run (kick blocked), 1:11 left in third;

MBA -- Chandler 50 run (Clint Blackwell pass from Coleman), 4:39 left in fourth;

MBA -- Chandler 3 run (Cheevers kick), 1:54 left in fourth;

BAY -- Ryan Parker 53 pass from Bryce Verble (Ulmo kick), 1:40 left in fourth.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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