Baylor wins at McCallie for first time since 1996
Call it a little musical motivation and a lot of David Gabriel-Georges.
Two days after McCallie released a viral hype video that took shots at Baylor's inability to hold a three-touchdown lead in last December's state championship game, the Red Raiders invaded Spears Stadium on a gorgeous Friday night and outlasted the rival Blue Tornado in a 38-35 thriller.
Gabriel-Georges, the junior running back of the Red Raiders, had a career performance with 25 carries for a staggering 280 yards and three touchdowns as Baylor won on McCallie's campus for the first time since 1996.
The 6-foot, 205-pound Gabriel-Georges had touchdown runs covering 51, 53 and 60 yards, with his first two scores rallying the Red Raiders from a 14-0 deficit and his third scamper to the end zone putting Baylor up 31-28 with 8:39 remaining.
"David is David, and there is no explaining him," jubilant Baylor senior quarterback Briggs Cherry said afterward. "He's the best in the country. There is nothing like him."
McCallie held Gabriel-Georges in check early, with his first seven carries netting just 16 yards.
"We started executing up front," Baylor coach Erik Kimrey said. "We were missing a guy here or there those first few times, and we definitely did some different things that we haven't done all year. I think they paid off.
"I'm really proud of our offensive line. They cleared some paths for him, and when you get him in space, he does great things."
And did McCallie's midweek video serve as motivation?
"We didn't really talk about that much at all," Kimrey said. "I mean, the guys saw it. The thing I would say is that the one thing they had in common was that they were both about Baylor."
Less than two years after Baylor and McCallie became the first schools to provide a TSSAA state championship contest with two Chattanooga-area teams, the Red Raiders and Blue Tornado produced this region's first matchup of programs nationally ranked among the top 25. Baylor entered Friday listed No. 23 by MaxPreps, while McCallie was No. 25.
"This is a fantastic memory, right?" Kimrey said. "This was a great win that we will always cherish, but it's not our ultimate goal. We know we're going to have to get a lot better if we're going to go win a gold ball."
Cherry complemented the rushing of Gabriel-Georges by completing 16 of 25 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns, with his 15-yard strike to Kaiden Dewey with 1:02 left accounting for the winning score.
Baylor and McCallie each posted 21 first downs, with the Red Raiders racking up 513 yards to McCallie's 472. The Blue Tornado were efficient on the ground as well, with Xavier Fillion rushing 14 times for 124 yards and a touchdown, quarterback Elliott Drapeau running 13 times for 117 yards and two scores, and Kris Lloyd carrying 14 times for 70 yards.
The Red Raiders, ranked No. 1 in Division II-AAA, improved to 6-0 overall and to 3-0 in East Region play, while McCallie fell to 5-2 and 0-2. Baylor has won three of the four regular-season meetings between the two since Kimrey became coach, but the series is 3-3 since his arrival due to the Blue Tornado prevailing in each of the past two BlueCross Bowl state championship games at Finley Stadium.
McCallie has won five of the past six state titles, and Friday's outcome did not alter the quest for another.
"We fought our tails off," Blue Tornado second-year coach Joel Bradford said. "We'll get better from this. The season is not over. This is only week seven."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.
Baylor wins at McCallie for first time since 1996 | Chattanooga Times Free Press
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