McCallie's Deangelo Hardy looks for running room in the Blue Tornado 21-6 win over Baylor.
photo by Greg Davick
It was a long week for the McCallie Blue Tornado football squad and it showed Friday night as the big blue fought off the challenge of a stubborn Baylor 21-7 at Pete Potter Field with an overflow crowd on hand for one of the city’s fiercest rivalries.
“A W is a W,” said McCallie head coach Ralph Potter moments after the battle in an attempt to paint a positive on it.
Perhaps the biggest positive about it, though, was the fact it was in the rear view mirror with a much-needed bye week on the horizon for the McCallie squad.
“We just had a lot going on this week, and we tried to stay focused, but after 12 straight weeks we were tired tonight and it showed.
I guess the best thing about it is we know we have the ability to win an ugly game now,” remarked tailback Stone Roebuck, who scored a pair of TDs and was the spark that carried a confused McCallie offense.
The adrenalin of last week’s upset of top-ranked Brentwood Academy was replaced for many of the McCallie players with the sudden death of Tim Mason, a longtime youth coach in Cumberland youth foundation and a mentor to several of the players. Coupled with a week’s worth of prep for a bitter rival, and a ninth straight week of action without a bye and the Big Blue was feeling the exhaustion.
“The bye week is here and it couldn’t have come at a better time. We have so many things we have to work on. We did not play well tonight, and that was frustrating, but we’ve got a week to recuperate, finish the season out strong and get ready for that second season. Other than beating Baylor, I don’t think you will find a lot of players happy with the performance tonight,” said McCallie quarterback DeAngelo Hardy. “It just wasn’t our best effort.”
After the impressive win at Brentwood Academy, there were very few folks on either side who gave this one much of a chance to be as competitive as it turned out, and that was a credit to Baylor, which used its off week to put in a completely different defense to combat McCallie’s potent offense.
“They did some things we really had to adjust to. I mean, it was nothing like we had prepared to face, a complete different defense. Baylor is a well-coached team and hats off to them. They were ready,” Potter added. “Their strength is those guys up front. It’s just not a good matchup for us from that standpoint.”
Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, their offense was completely stymied by McCallie’s aggressive defense and a huge turnover on Baylor’s second play from scrimmage set up the Blue Tornado at the Baylor seven. Dane Beard pounced on the Baylor fumble and Hardy slipped into the end zone three plays later for a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
“I’m just really proud of the effort and the work the kids put in to get ready for this game and throughout the course of it. After the fumble and the easy score, it would have been really easy to lie down, but they didn’t,” said Baylor boss Phil Masey.
In fact, after the two teams exchanged punts following 3-and-outs, Baylor put together its most impressive drive of the night, going 80 yards in 12 plays. The drive was aided by three McCallie penalties – a thorn in the Blue Tornado side all night – and Lorenzo White found Patton Ford for a 19-yard jump ball in the end zone on the fourth play of the second quarter. The point after hit the upright, however, and McCallie still led 7-6.
The Blue Tornado responded with an 80-yard drive of their own as Roebuck got his first action of the game, ripping off chunks of yardage on the drive. The senior carried it the final three times, including a 39-yard jaunt to the Baylor seven and scored two plays later from the one. His PAT kick made it 14-6 and that’s where it stood at the break. Roebuck finished the night with 127 rushing yards on just 11 carries.
McCallie (8-1, 4-1) all but finished off the DII-AAA East/Middle Region battle with an 80-yard drive to start the second half, and this time it was Hardy doing the damage. The elusive quarterback broke free on a 46-yard run and Roebuck finished it off with a 12-yard run to make it 21-6. And from there, the defense took care of the rest.
Baylor was held to 69 rushing yards on 33 attempts and completed just one pas for a total of 88 offensive yards. The Red Raiders (3-5, 1-3) also lost a pair of fumbles and threw an interception. McCallie lost one fumble and threw an interception as well, but was hurt more by the 117 penalty yards.
“We have a lot of things we need to clean up, but to be where we are at this stage of the season knowing we still haven’t played our best game is kinda exciting. We will definitely take advantage of this bye week,” Potter said.
McCallie still managed to ring up 297 yards of offense with 263 of it on the ground, but 144 of it came on three plays. Roebuck had runs of 59 and 39 while Hardy had the 46-yarder. The Red Raiders held their own with the exception of those, limiting McCallie to 119 rushing yards on the other 36 carries.
Baylor will battle Father Ryan this week before closing the year against MBA. McCallie has clinched at worst a No. 2 seed with the win, and has a shot at the top spot in the region pending the outcome of the MBA-Brentwood Academy game. A BA win would secure McCallie the region title.
The win was McCallie’s third straight in the historic rivalry and cuts Baylor’s lead to 43-37 in the all-time series which began in 1908.
Former McCallie coach Terry Evans was honored at the half as the school named the refurbished McCallie locker room in his honor.
BAYLOR 0 6 0 0 -- 6
McCALLIE 7 7 7 0 -- 21
M – DeAngelo Hardy 2 run (Stone Roebuck kick) (10:08, 1st)
B – Patton Ford 19 yd pass from Lorenzo White (kick failed) (10:38, 2nd)
M – Stone Roebuck 1 run (Stone Roebuck kick) (7:24, 2nd)
M – Stone Roebuck 12 run (Stone Roebuck kick) (8:51, 3rd)
Stats
B STATS M
8 1st Downs 13
39-69 Rush 39-263
19 Pass 34
88 Total 297
1-2-1 Passes 4-10-1
5-27 Penalties 10-117
3-36.7 Punts 2-39.0
5-2 Fumbles 1-1
Individual Stats
Rushing:
Gabriel Stulce 14-43, Noah Martin 10-18, Santeri Valpas 4-8, Patton Ford 1-6 (B); Stone Roebuck 11-127, DeAngelo Hardy 18-119, B.J Harris 8-28, Shannon Walker 2-0 (M)
Passing: Lorenzo White 1-2-1 19 (B); DeAngelo Hardy 4-10-1 34 (M).
Receiving: Patton Ford 1-19 (B); Thompson Byrd 3-23, Brandon Benn 1-11 (M).
Records: Baylor 3-5, 1-3 (DII-AAA East/Middle); McCallie 8-1, 4-1 (DII-AAA East/Middle).
(Contact James Beach via email at 1134james@gmail.com or Twitter @beachnut1134)