McCallie rally stuns Baylor as Blue Tornado win another crown

by David Paschall

The head coaches may change, but the result is still the same.

McCallie earned its fifth TSSAA Division II-AAA football state championship in six years and its first with Joel Bradford at the helm, as the Blue Tornado stunned rival Baylor by scoring the final 27 points of a 27-21 BlueCross Bowl triumph on a frigid Thursday night at Finley Stadium.

Keylan Syam's 2-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds remaining capped a 15-play, 98-yard drive and put McCallie up 25-21, and quarterback Elliott Drapeau ran it in for the 2-point conversion to cap the staggering rally.

Before their 27-point surge, the Blue Tornado had been outscored 65-12 this season by the Red Raiders.

"I just have full confidence in the players that we have," said Bradford, who was faced with monstrous decisions throughout the game. "The coaching staff is the best coaching staff I could ask for. The players are the best people that I could ask for, because they work so hard every day.

(READ MORE: Hargis: McCallie refuses to relinquish its crown as dynasty grows)

"The fact that their work ethic resulted in a resilient second half in the state championship justifies everything they've been working for, and I am so proud of them that they get to experience this."

BlueCross Bowl MVP Syam rushed 34 times for 175 yards and three touchdowns as McCallie avenged its 44-12 loss to the Red Raiders at Baylor's Heywood Stadium on Oct. 4. In finishing 11-2, the Blue Tornado also produced a memorable sequel to last season's 34-28 topping of Baylor in the first all-Chattanooga final in state history.

McCallie drove to Baylor's 10-yard line with 7:46 remaining in the game, and Bradford opted for a 27-yard Elliott Arnold field-goal attempt on fourth-and-1 and the three points that would have put the Blue Tornado up 22-21. Arnold missed wide left, however, and Baylor then pinned McCallie at its 2-yard line with 5:40 to play.

Three plays netted 8 yards, and Bradford opted to go for it on a fourth-and-2 from his own 10-yard line with all three timeouts remaining. Syam delivered with a 9-yard carry to the 19.

"When we missed the field goal on that fourth-and-1, I could see with Keylan and the offensive linemen when they came off the field that we should have gone for it," Bradford said. "In that moment, I said, 'We're going for it the next time we get that shot.'"

McCallie defensive coordinator Ralph Potter, who served as head coach for the Blue Tornado's first five state titles (including the 2001 championship), was asked afterward if he would have gone for it on fourth-and-2 from his 10.

"Yeah, probably. Well, I don't know," Potter said. "This is so unbelievable. I am so proud of him."

A smiling Syam was asked about Bradford's risky decision and said: "I honestly can't remember too much about it. I just knew I had to get it, and that's what we did. I love Coach Bradford. He really trusts me."

Baylor, meanwhile, was denied in its quest for a first undefeated season since 1973. The Red Raiders were seeking their second state title in three years — they beat Nashville's Montgomery Bell Academy in the 2022 final — but instead finished 12-1.

"This is tough, and it's going to hurt for a while," Baylor third-year coach Erik Kimrey said. "We knew it was going to be a tough game against a tough team. They've won a lot of championships these last few years for a reason.

"They know how to win, and we're not there yet, but I think we will be able to look back at all this and be really proud of the season we had."

The emotion of another tough championship loss to McCallie was evident, as Red Raiders senior receivers Joakim Dodson and Cameron Sparks headed straight for the locker room after a fumbled lateral on what became Baylor's final snap. Baylor junior defensive back Jamyan Theodore stayed on the ground following McCallie's kneel-down that ended the game and was consoled by both teammates and Blue Tornado players.

Red Raiders sophomore running back David Gabriel-Georges, who had 17 carries for 232 yards and three touchdowns in the October rout, had 10 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown before leaving the title game in the first minute of the fourth quarter due to injury. Gabriel-Georges had been nursing a groin injury coming into the matchup.

"He gave a great effort, and I'm really proud of him," Kimrey said.

Gabriel-Georges put Baylor up 7-0 with a 31-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, and a 43-yard touchdown pass from Briggs Cherry to Dodson late in the opening quarter made it 14-0. McCallie's defense forced a third-and-10 early in the second quarter, but Cherry lofted a pass to an open Theodore, who raced 69 yards down the visitors' sideline as Baylor extended its advantage to 21-0.

The Blue Tornado got down to Baylor's 7-yard line with one second left in the first half and got on the scoreboard when Drapeau connected with Keeyshawn Tabuteau. Bradford didn't hesitate on that decision, figuring field goals weren't going to beat the Red Raiders at that point.

"Props to Elliott for making that play with a field-side blitz," Bradford said. "He's supposed to be on a rollout, but he popped his feet and made an unbelievable throw. Keeyshawn made an unbelievable catch. There was one second left on the clock. That was huge."

Said Potter: "The coaching job Joel did at the end of the first half was the critical moment in the whole game because it kept us in the game."

McCallie fumbled away its opening possession of the second half after picking up two first downs, but the Blue Tornado forced a three-and-out series and used a 44-yard completion from Drapeau to Carson Lawrence to set up Syam's 1-yard touchdown run on the ensuing play to pull within 21-13 with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Syam's second touchdown from a yard out with 10:59 remaining capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive that pulled McCallie within 21-19.

After Baylor racked up 289 yards and averaged 10.7 yards per play in the first half, McCallie wound up outgaining the Red Raiders 267-65 in the second half for a 429-354 advantage for the contest

"We were down by 21 in this game, and we talked at halftime about leaving everything out on the field," Syam said. "We didn't want to have any regrets. We came from so far down.

"This feels so great."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.
 

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