Anybody up for a seventh Baylor-McCallie football game in the last four seasons?
Chattanooga's storied cross-town rivals set up their latest showdown Friday night with convincing wins in the TSSAA Division II-AAA quarterfinals, with top-ranked Baylor routing Knoxville Catholic 35-7 at Heywood Stadium and third-ranked McCallie traveling to Memphis to administer a 41-14 whipping of fifth-ranked Briarcrest Christian.
The Red Raiders (10-0) and the Blue Tornado (10-2), who have met in the past two BlueCross Bowl state championship contests at Finley Stadium, will collide next Friday night in a Baylor-hosted semifinal.
"When you have two programs of the caliber that we have, I think you're bound to run into each other," Baylor fourth-year coach Erik Kimrey said. "It will be a tough game. It's really hard to beat a good team twice."
When Red Raiders quarterback Briggs Cherry was told this would be the seventh encounter between these powers in Kimrey's four seasons, he said, "That's crazy."
They have split the previous six meetings, with McCallie winning both of the state title matchups. Baylor is 3-1 against the Blue Tornado in regular-season meetings under Kimrey, which includes its 38-35 triumph at Spears Stadium on Oct. 3.
"It's all very different," Kimrey said. "The last two were for championships, so that's a different dynamic, and we have two different teams this year. At the end of the day, they have a really, really good football team and one of the best offenses in our league. It's going to be an enormous challenge.
"I think this team is focused in on that challenge."
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday's Chattanooga-area prep football playoffs)
Baylor was certainly focused Friday night, erupting for 35 second-quarter points to turn a scoreless tie into a running clock via the mercy rule. Cherry had touchdown tosses of 49, 24 and 19 yards to Jamyan Theodore and a 51-yard scoring strike down the middle of the field to tight end Braxton Rein.
Cherry was 9-of-11 passing in the first half for 193 yards and the four scores, while running back David Gabriel Georges continued to dazzle with 11 first-half carries for 140 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown. Gabriel Georges did not play in the second half.
"There is no predicting what he's about to do in a game," Cherry said. "He can hurdle you or go side to side. He's a monster. There is no stopping him."
Baylor was playing Knox Catholic for the second time in a two-week span, having concluded its regular season with a 49-28 victory to wrap up the outright DII-AAA East Region title.
"It was a little different for sure, but our guys approached the bye week with a really good mindset that we needed to work on some things to get better," Kimrey said. "This week, we just locked in on this game knowing that it's do or die. We didn't score the first two drives, but nobody was panicking and we stayed patient.
"Our defense played great tonight and did a great job of stopping a very dynamic player."
That dynamic player was Fighting Irish receiver Tyreeq King, who like Theodore and Baylor tackle Gabe Osenda is committed to Tennessee. King had a 66-yard touchdown reception two weeks ago during the second quarter but was held to five catches for 29 yards before beating Theodore for a 33-yard scoring catch at the 8:57 mark of the third quarter to avoid the shutout.
"Tyreeq and I connected last year when I first got here, and I've gotten to know him over this past year," Theodore said. "When I committed, our friendship continued to grow. It's all respect and love, but I have to put my team first. We had a lot of mistakes in our pass game the last time we played, and we fixed those up."
Said Kimrey: "Those are two great players. Tyreeq got a couple of plays on us last time. He's a great player. He's going to make plays, but I thought Jamyan did a great job on him."
Baylor, McCallie win to set up third straight postseason pairing | Chattanooga Times Free Press
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