Baylor High School’s football team (7-1, 3-1) defeats region foe Knoxville Catholic High School (5-3, 1-3) 34-20 in what Baylor Head Coach Phil Massey referred to as a ‘boxing match’ on Friday night.
“I felt like it was sort of a boxing match where you punch and counter punch.” Baylor Head Coach Phil Massey said.
Baylor’s stout defense was the key to the game as they created two turnovers, forced the explosive Irish offense to settle for two field goals and stopped them on a crucial fourth down late in the game.
Baylor senior linebacker Noah Martin picked off Knoxville Catholic’s Kaden Martin on the second play of the game which gave the Red Raider’s offense great field position. It only took two plays for Baylor to get on the board as star junior running back Elijah Howard fainted and juked his way to a 30-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked resulting in a 6-0 score line.
Knoxville Catholic would respond with a nine play 80-yard drive that was capped off with a 5-yard rush by sophomore back Keondre Jarmon to take a one point lead 7-6.
Baylor would counter with an 15 play 80-yard drive which resulted in a 1-yard rush by Noah Martin to retake the lead 13-7.
The Irish ‘punched’ back with an 11 play 71 yard drive, but were held to a 26-yard field goal by the Baylor defense.
On the ensuing kickoff Noah Martin set the Red Raiders up at the Irish’s 3-yard line after a 92-yard return. Howard registered his second touchdown of the night on the next play to make it 20-10.
Both teams swapped punts on the next two drives, but Knoxville Catholic would keep it a one score game going into the half. With just 1:02 to work with, the Irish went 54 yards before settling for a 42-yard field goal as time expired to make it 20-13 at halftime.
Knoxville Catholic put together a 4 play 42-yard drive on the first possession in the third quarter which included a fourth and seven conversion. That drive ended with a 6-yard rush by Jarmon to tie the game up at 20-20 going into the pivotal fourth quarter.
Baylor got bailed out on their next drive as junior quarterback Neyland Jean threw an interception, but the play was called back with a roughing the passer penalty, which awarded The Red Raiders with an automatic first down. Howard ripped off a 32-yard run on the following play eventually setting up Jean to score on a 1-yard rush to make it 27-20.
The Irish used 12 plays to get the ball to the Baylor 38 yard line, but ran into a Red wall which resulted in a turnover on downs.
With four minutes left in the game Baylor was tasked with keeping the ball away from the Irish. Knoxville Catholic’s defense came up big only allowing nine yards leaving Coach Massey with a tough decision.
“A lot of times as a coach, you try to get a feel for your players, their energy and what they wanted. Our offensive line said ‘put it on our back, we want it’. So we put Noah (Martin) in as the blocking back for our quarterback – it was actually the same play that we ran for a touchdown, it’s an all tackle power lead play for the quarterback. Neyland (Jean) did what he was supposed to do and the line provided a hole.” Coach Massey said.
After the fourth down conversion, the Irish morale was low and Howard hit them hard scorching them on a 44-yard touchdown run to make it 34-20.
“We just kind of put the team on his (Howard’s) back and he has not disappointed us at all.” Coach Massey said.
Knoxville Catholic gave it one last try, but Kaden Martin was picked off for a second time by Noah Martin.
“You wish you had 12 Noah Martins on the team,” said Coach Massey. “He brings great effort every day, has a great positive attitude, he’s a great teammate and I am awfully proud of him.”
Baylor will host a tricky Montgomery Bell Academy (5-3, 3-1) team next Friday at 7:30 p.m., while Knoxville Catholic travels to Brentwood High School (7-1, 4-0) at 7 p.m.
Scoring Summary:
Baylor 6 14 0 14--34
Knox Catholic 7 6 7 0—20
1st 11:23 BAYLOR: Elijah Howard 30-yard rush (Anthony Weekley kick blocked)
7:43 KNOX: Keondre Jarmon 5-yard rush (Paxton Robertson kick)
2nd 11:56 BAYLOR: Noah Martin 1-yard run (Weekley kick)
7:30 KNOX: Paxton Roberston 26-yard field goal
7:07 BAYLOR: Elijah Howard 3-yard rush (Weekley kick)
0:00 KNOX: Paxton Robertson 42-yard field goal
3rd 4:02 KNOX: Keondre Jarmon 6-yard rush (Robertson kick)
4th 7:42 BAYLOR: Neyland Jean 1-yard rush (Weekley kick)
2:22 BAYLOR: Elijah Howard 44-yard run (Weekley kick)
Team Stats:
KNOX BAYLOR
1st downs 24 15
Rushing Yards 189 226
Passing Yards 210 35
Total Offense 399 261
Penalties-Yards 9-100 4-33
Possession 25:05 22:16
Individual Stats:
RUSHING: KNOX- Keondre Jarmon 16-111; Kaden Martin 9-41; Tom Whitting 1-5; Luke Davenport 1-2; BAYLOR- Elijah Howard 30-187 3 TDs; Neyland Jean 6-16 1 TD ; Caleb Hampton 2-12; Noah Martin 3-6 1 TD, Gabriel Stulce 1-5
PASSING: KNOX- Kaden Martin 12-26-2-210. BAYLOR- Neyland Jean 5-6-0-35; Mekos Baker 0-1-0-0
RECEIVING: KNOX- Tommy Winton 4-99; Taylor Shannon 3-26; Luke Davenport 2-21; Jack Jancek 1-47; Spencer Margoli 1-10; Keondre Jarmon 1-7. BAYLOR- Jermiah Skipwor 4-29; Mekos Baker 1-6
INTERCEPTIONS: KNOX- None. BAYLOR- Noah Martin 2