Recent Tennessee Commit Scores Three TDs To Lead State Finals Rematch

There's nothing quite like opening your football season with a rematch from last year's state championship game, but that was exactly the case at Baylor's Heywood Stadium/E.B. "Red" Etter Field Thursday night.

Unlike last year when Baylor had to score late in the game to pull out a big victory in a steady rain, the Red Raiders prevailed again, but they didn't have to wait until the end to do so.  They led from their first possession before adding three TDs in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 38-20 victory.

The game was nationally televised on ESPN2 and it turned out to be a pretty good game, despite too many penalities and too many television timeouts that made the first half last almost two hours.

Thunderstorms were predicted for late in the evening with lightning coming into play late when a weather delay was called with less than two minutes to play.  Rather than wait for who knows how long, the game was called at that point with Baylor comfortably ahead.

Baylor coach Erik Kimrey liked what he saw for the most part, despite too many holding calls and other times when silly mistakes hindered their progress.

"I'm really proud of how our offensive line has improved as we have three new starters there.  It took us a while to get in rhythm, but I thought we were able to wear them down at the end with our running game.  I thought our defense played well too as we gave up a long return on an interception but held them to a field goal," he said afterward.

"I thought that Keegan Croucher made some incredible plays and it was nice to see how much David Gabriel Georges has matured since last year.  We still have a lot of work to do, but we played a lot of freshmen and I'm pleased for the most part," he nodded.

Brentwood Academy coach Paul Wade felt like his team made some critical mistakes that proved to be costly, but they are all fixable and he's fully confident that his team will bounce back with hopes of getting a rematch with the Red Raiders later in the fall.

"We have a lot of things to fix, but the team that makes the fewest mistakes normally wins and that was the case tonight," he said after a brief chat with team near midfield.

"David Gabriel Georges is a lot better than he was last year and I think he played with a chip on his shoulder as he wanted to prove a point.  I thought we caved in physically as we didn't last long enough defensively, but we'll keep getting better," Wade concluded.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and had to punt, giving Baylor good field position at the 40.  It didn't take the Red Raiders long to find the end zone as Croucher hooked up with Antwaun Adams on his first pass attempt that found the end zone from 39 yards out.  Sam Shutters then booted the extra point and the lead was 7-0 with 9:04 left in the opening quarter.

Shutters then kicked a 42-yard field goal on the last play of the quarter for a 10-0 lead.

The Eagles then got on the board when Owen Davies nailed a 39-yard field goal with 7:40 left in the second period.  Each team then scored one more TD before halftime as the difference was 17-10 at intermission.

Davies then booted a 26-yard field goal with 5:31 left in the third period and things got interesting as the Baylor lead was only 17-13, but things changed in the fourth as DGG scored his three touchdowns in the final 12 minutes as Baylor slowly pulled away and didn't need any late-game heroics.

Baylor finished the game with 385 total yards, including 214 on the ground and 171 through the air.  Gabriel-Georges finished with 179 yards on 26 carries while also catching five passes for another 65 yards.

The Eagles finished with 315 total yards, including 220 through the air and 95 on the ground.

Larry Sanders II was the leading rusher with 83 yards on 15 carries while Kesean Bowman and Lexton Baskin led the receivers with 112 and 102 yards, respectively.

BRENTWOOD ACADEMY  0  10  3  7  --  20

BAYLOR  10  7  0  21  --  38

BAY – Antwaun Adams 39 pass from Keegan Croucher (Sam Shutters kick), 9:04 left in first;

BAY – Shutters 42 field goal, 0:00 left in first;

BA – Owen Davies 39 field goal, 7:40 left in second;

BAY – Khori Faulkner 1 run (Shutters kick), 1:17 left in second;

BA – Lexton Baskin 67 pass from Crews Jenkins (Davies kick), :49 left in second;

BA – Davies 26 field goal, 5:31 left in third;

BAY – David Gabriel Georges 8 run (Shutters kick), 11:31 left in fourth;

BA – Kesean Bowman 80 pass from Jenkins (Davies kick), 11:21 left in fourth;

BAY – Gabriel Georges 3 run (Shutters kick), 10:17 left in fourth;

BAY – Gabriel Georges 6 run (Shutters kick), 2:08 left in fourth.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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