No. 1 Baylor Makes Historic Statement

The tailgates began early Friday morning as class reunions poured in from across the country to the Baylor School campus for the 91st renewal of the annual Baylor-McCallie Homecoming weekend.

Top-ranked Baylor versus No. 2 McCallie in a regular-season tune up for perhaps something even bigger on down the line. One side clad in bright red and the other packed in blue for this battle between teams most everyone agreed might well be the two most talented teams in the volunteer state.

Only 13 points separated the two teams in the last three battles, including a six-point decision in last fall's state championship. It was all set to be another historic chapter between the two prep schools.

Except this one will get a chapter all to itself when all is said and done as the Red Raiders treated the overflow crowd to perhaps the most dominant triumph ever over their hated Blue Tornado rival, scoring the most points ever by a Baylor team versus a McCallie defense en route to a 44-12 victory. It was the largest margin of defeat by Baylor over McCallie since a 39-0 shutout in 1928.

"Just really pleased with our performance on both sides of the football. The defense got the job done, and I'm really proud of the offensive line. We knew it would be a physical game, but we were able to get the ball to #1 and #0 out there and get out of their way. We were ready for sure," said third-year Baylor coach Erik Kimery, who has now won 28 of his first 33 games at the Red Raider helm.

Of course two of those losses came at the hands of McCallie last season and that tends to leave a bad taste in the mouth in such an intense rivalry, but the Red Raiders wanted a statement last night, and they delivered.

"We had a little something we wanted to prove for sure. It doesn't make up for losing in a state championship, but it felt pretty good tonight. It definitely sets the tone moving forward for what this team can do," said Baylor quarterback Briggs Cherry, who was 10-of-14 for 110 yards.

Even more importantly, Cherry and Co. never came close to turning it over, had zero penalties on the night and was about as unselfish and perfect at the same time as they have played thus far in rolling out seven straight wins.

And it didn't take long to set the tone with Cherry handing the ball off twice on Baylor's first possession to sophomore  David Gabriel-Georges (#0) and with (#1) Shekai Mills-Knight lined up as a tight end blocking for him, Gabriel-Georges ripped off a 14-yard run and then went untouched on a 51-yard burst for score 43 seconds into the game.

"We had an injury at tight end this week and Shekai came to me and said, hey, I'm 220-pounds and I'll play the position. Here's one of the best backs in the country being that unselfish for his teammates. And he did a heck of a job," Kimery praised.

With Mills-Knight, the Ole Miss commit, leading the way, Gabriel-Georges finished the night with 232 rushing yards on 17 carries and scored three times in the rout.

"I'm good with whatever we need. Who wouldn't want to block for David, that kid is a stud. It was all about getting the win tonight," added Mills-Knight.

And while Gabriel-Georges was busy putting a highlight mix together, the Red Raider defense made things difficult on the blue offense. Defensive back Jamyan Theodore intercepted passes on three straight McCallie drives in the first half, returning the third one for a 32-yard pick six which put Baylor up 20-0 in the second quarter.

"Coaches did a great job with our defensive game plan, and we recognized a lot of the plays, so I had a good idea where the ball was going, and just got some good breaks on the ball. It was all coaching," said Theodore, who also broke up three other passes on the night.

Baylor (7-0, 3-0) limited McCallie to just 88 first half yards and when Cherry found Cam Sparks on a 23-yard pass with just over two minutes left before the break, Big Red had a commanding 27-0 dressing room lead.

The McCallie offense showed some resilience in the second half as Elliott Drapeau connected on three straight passes for 71 yards on the opening drive, hitting Carson Lawrence on a three-yard score to show signs of a pulse for McCallie. But Baylor, and Gabriel-Georges quickly got it back with the speedster taking it 69 yards for the score on Baylor's second play.

"It was pretty much the same play, something Coack Kimery drew up this week, and he told me I would score on it, and we did. The offensive line was awesome, but we were prepared for this game," said Gabriel-Georges.

McCallie scored with its second drive, again Drapeau doing most of it with his left arm, hitting Keyshawn Tabuteau with a 59 yard pass before Keylan Syam finished it off with a three-yard burst. Baylor added a 27-yard field goal by Philippe LaForge and Mills-Knight scored on a 20-yard burst in the final period to hand Baylor the historic point.

Mills-Knight, who ran it just five times in the first half, finished with 97 yards on 11 totes. Sparks caught five balls for 66 yards and Joakim Dodson grabbed four for 45. Syam was McCallie's workhorse, running it 19 times for 79 yards and Tabuteau caught four passes for 112 yards. Drapeau finished with 215 passing yards and would have had more, but McCallie receivers had five drops on the night.

SCORING SUMMARY

MCCALLIE	0	0	12	0	--12
BAYLOR	6	21	10	7	-- 44

1st Quarter
BAY 11:14 1Q: David Gabriel-Georges 51 yd Rush; kick missed 0-6
2nd Quarter
BAY 9:54 2Q: David Gabriel-Georges 2 yd Rush; Philippe LaForge (PAT) 0-13
BAY 6:11 2Q: Interception Jamyan Theodore 32 yd Return; Philippe LaForge (PAT) 0-20
BAY 2:24 2Q: Cam Sparks 23 yd Pass from Briggs Cherry; Philippe LaForge (PAT) 0-27
3rd Quarter
McC 8:34 3Q: Carson Lawrence 3 yd Pass from Elliott Drapeau; kick missed 6-27
BAY 7:48 3Q: David Gabriel-Georges 69 yd Rush; Philippe LaForge (PAT) 6-34
McC 6:32 3Q: Keylan Syam 3 yd Rush; two-point try fails  12-34
BAY 1:17 3Q: Philippe LaForge 27 yd (FG) 12-37
4th Quarter
BAY 5:48 4Q: Shekai Mills-Knight 20 yd Rush; Philippe LaForge (PAT) 12-44

STATS	McCallie	Baylor
First Downs	13	20
Rushes-Yards	21-81	32-322
Passing Yards	235	110
Total yards	296	432
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)	17-33-3	10-14-0
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Penalties-Yards	4-28	0-0
3rd Down Conversions	2-12	3-8
Punts-Average	4-37.8	2-38.0
Time of Possession	26:53	45:37

Individual  Stats

RUSHING:  Keylan Syam 19-79, Elliott Drapeau 1-2, Kris Lloyd 1-0 (M); Shekai Mills-Knight 11-97, David Gabriel-Georges 17-232 (B).

PASSING: Elliott Drapeau 17-33-3 215 (M); Briggs Cherry 10-14-0 110 (B).

RECEIVING: Keeyshawn Tabuteau 4-112, Ryan Larrabee 4-51, Carson Lawrence 4-25, Hunter Glasgow 1-14, Keylan Syam 1-5 (M); Cam SParks 5-66, Joakim Dodson 4-45

RECORDS: McCallie (5-2, 2-1) vs. Baylor (7-0, 3-0)

(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)