With a little over a minute left in the Baylor’s 30-28 win over Ensworth, Elijah Howard lined up
in the slot on 3rd and 13, with the Red Raiders desperately needing a first down. He exploded
out of his stance and caught the ball a few yards downfield, needing around seven more yards
for the first down.
The three-star Tennessee commit will probably be making plays at Neyland next year, but on
this day, Howard lined up beside his signal-caller of the same name and iced the game when he
sauntered back across field, broke a few tackles and egos, and scorched Ensworth for a 22 yard
reception. A few seconds later, he put the game away with another broken field, right to left
run for 16 glorious yards. While a slightly-gimpy Howard has had bigger statistical days (75 total
yards and no touchdowns), he came through when his team needed him the most.
“Elijah’s had some injuries and he got some treatment this week, so we were going to ease him
in tonight,” Baylor coach Phil Massey said. “He made a great play at the end and made a couple
of good runs, but it was a total team effort. ”
When the game began, Ohio State commit Andre Turrentine appeared destined to be the
brighter of the star recruits. After Baylor quarterback Neyland Jean opened the game with a
eight yard touchdown run behind his right guard, Turrentine briefly silenced the crowd with a
series of screen passes out of the slot. The most notable being a 78 yard scoring jaunt where
the wispy wideout spun away and out of multiple tackles, jittered downfield, and then for good
measure stiff-armed the last defender out of the way before reaching the endzone.
Baylor took but a minute to answer, with Jean lining up in the familiar Red Raider spread. He
acted as if he would run, lunging forward and fooling the defense. When the Ensworth
secondary committed, he drew back and arced a long pass to slot receiver Evan Haynie, who
was a good 10 yards away from the nearest defender and effortlessly crossed the plane a few
seconds later for a 74 yard touchdown.
In what could be considered a surprise after the aerial fireworks, the battle quickly transitioned
from warfare in the skies to a fight for supremacy on land. Baylor began to key in on
Turrentine’s screen game, and held the superb athlete mostly in-check for the rest of the game.
“At the beginning of the game we had planned a different type of coverage to stop some of
that,” coach Massey said. “After the long touchdown, as coaches do, we threw that out of the
window and said we should do what we do. So we played more zone coverage after that.”
The second quarter was a wild one, which started when Ensworth was forced to settle for a
field goal after an epic goal line stand by the Red Raiders. With three chances to ram home a
short-range touchdown inside the three yard line, the home team stiffened, thwarting the
Ensworth Tigers not once, not twice, but three times. On the third plunge goalward, Ensworth quarterback Levi Moore was met by a small army of Raiders, who pillaged the offensive line and
spilled into the backfield. Ensworth defensive end Charles Gooch showed the home crowd the visitors could also play defense on the ensuing possession. Keying in on a Jean roll out, he crashed around the edge and straight into the quarterback, causing a fumble and recovery by Ensworth. Halfback Charles ingram then made his way through the Baylor line from 11 yards out and put the Nashville side up 15-14.
That lead, unfortunately for Ensworth, lasted all of 15 seconds. On the following kickoff, Riley
Jenne took the kick 96 yards down the right sideline for a score. So great was his speed that the
returner actually stumbled mid-play, regained his balance, and still blazed an unimpeded path
to the endzone. But as they did all night, Ingram and the Ensworth offensive line responded
with a dominant touchdown march of their own.
With only four seconds left in the half and needing five yards for the touchdown, Ensworth’s
coach Roc Batten decided to go for six rather than take a field goal. Ingram, who ended with
122 yards, proved this decision a fruitful one when he took the ball behind his rightside guard
and tackle and powered in for a 22-20 halftime lead.
The third quarter was defined by defense and Riley Jenne’s wheels. Moore’s offense was
driving downfield at a rapid pace when the quarterback decided to take shot downfield. As if
he were fired from a rifle, Jenne shot into play and intercepted the throw to the post. Jenne
then made down the field like a bullet and took himself all the way to the opposing 11 yard line.
But Ensworth stiffened afterward and held Baylor’s run-heavy attack to only a field goal.
But like most teams, Ensworth could not stop Baylor forever. Baylor’s constant runs took their
toll. With 7:15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Neyland Jean made the Tigers pay, rumbling in
from the right side for a 30-22 lead. As any great team would, Ensworth hardly shied away from
the pressure after this gut punch. Even though they lost Ingram to an apparent injury after a 50
yard run in the third quarter, that did not slow down the Ensworth rushing machine. 27 yards
away from Baylor’s crimson endzones, Moore convinced the entire defense and crowd he had
handed the ball to Mark Smith.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as the magician made the ball reappear 27 yards away
from the line of scrimmage following a run that took him from the left hashmark, back to the
right, and then into the place every offense wants to be. But trailing by two, Ensworth needed
one more trick to equalize.
“I felt like the second half defined the character these kids have,” coach Massey said. “They
kept fighting and battling back, and we found a way to win at the end.”
In a game defined by long touchdowns, Boo Vaughn made perhaps the play of the game on that
short two point attempt. Moore dropped back and drilled a slant to his inbreaking receiver.
Rather than concede the deuce, Vaughn made a bee-line to the ball and prevented a tie from
materializing.
“That was a great stop on the two point conversion. The pass breakup by Boo Vaughn was a
huge play,” coach Massey said. “That and the Jenne interception were two huge plays that
stopped them from scoring and stopped the drives.”
Baylor, via Howard’s timely yard-gainers in crunch time, ended any hope Ensworth had at
overtime. As Jean took a couple of kneels to run the clock out, Baylor’s attention began to shift
to their next game. The Red Raiders will have a chance to get a win against their formidable
rivals in the McCallie Blue Tornado. Fortunately for the Red Raiders, they have a bye week
before their grudge match at Finley Stadium.
“We just have to get better overall, and on defense, we have to tackle,” coach Massey said.
“We’ll work on over the next two weeks. We have a big task ahead of us, but I think our kids
will be ready to play.”
You can contact the author at joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com .
ENSWORTH 6 6 0 6 - 28
BAYLOR 14 6 3 7 - 30
ENS STATS BAY
18 1st Downs 14
34-274 Rush 34-139
123 Pass 129
397 Total 268
17-10-1 Passes 9-5-0
6-67 Penalties 3-19
Individual Stats
1st:
BAYLOR 5:48 Jean 8yd run
ENSWORTH 4:31 Turrentine 78yd from Moore
BAYLOR 3:32 Haynie 74yd from Jean
2nd:
ENSWORTH 4:43 Horn 18yd FG
ENSWORTH 3:10 Ingram 11yd run
BAYLOR 2:57 Jenne 96yd KO Return
ENSWORTH 00:00 Ingram 5yd run
3rd:
BAYLOR 5:28 Weekley 32 yd FG
4th:
BAYLOR 7:15 Jean 5yd run
ENSWORTH 4:37 Moore 27 yd run
Rushing:
BAYLOR - Caleb Hampton 9-50, Neyland Jean 14-49, Colin Watson, Elijah Howard 11-40
ENSWORTH – Charles Ingram, 12-122, Levi Moore 12-70, Mark Smith 6-57, Andre Turrentine 4-
25
Passing:
BAYLOR - Neyland Jean 5-8-0 129 yards, Elijah Howard 0-1-0 0 yards
ENSWORTH – Levi Moore 10-17-1 123 yards
Receiving:
BAYLOR – Evan Haynie 2-80, Elijah Howard 2-35, Jermiah Skipwor 1-14
ENSWORTH – Andrew Turrentine 7-102, Jacob Page 2-20, Roland McGhee 1-1