MBA Comeback Stuns Baylor, 12-7

Big Red Defense Stands Tall At End As MBA Erases Last Loss At Baylor On Oct. 25

  • Friday, November 15, 2019
  • John Hunt

The Montgomery Bell Academy Big Red may be the most underrated high school football in the state of Tennessee.

Coming into Friday night’s D-II-AAA quarterfinal clash with Baylor at Heywood Stadium, the Big Red had a somewhat unimpressive 6-4 record, including a 14-6 loss at Baylor three weeks ago.  Those other three losses were by a total of a dozen points.

Regular-season records mean virtually nothing when the playoffs begin, so you can that that MBA is now 1-0 following Friday night’s 12-7 victory over a Baylor team that finished 9-2 for the season.

It was a defensive struggle from start to finish and the Big Red prevailed by big stops at the most important time of the game.

“What about the Big Red,” MBA coach Marty Euverard shouted to his team following the game.

“We’re one and oh now and we’ll be back on the road again next week, but this is one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen.  We probably should have had more points, but our special teams were incredible,” he continued.

Quarterback Marcel Reed, a talented freshman, took over as the starter midway through the season and he personally helped turn things around for his team.

“Beating MUS on the road turned things around for us and that was his first game to start, but he’s an incredible football player who gives us a chance every time the ball is snapped,” the coach praised his slender six-footer.

Reed completed seven of 12 passes for 85 yards, but two of them went to senior wide receiver Noah Mendoza for touchdowns and that was basically the difference in the game.

The first was a crossing pattern on fourth-and-7 midway through the second quarter that covered 30 yards while the second was a 10-yarder on third-and-7 on the second play of the fourth quarter.

The Big Red defense made them count as they did an outstanding job of containing a Baylor offense that had been quite explosive during the season.

Baylor only had the ball four times in the second half with the first two ending with punts and a third stopped on an interception by Nasir Cook.

The fourth was the turning point of the game.

Baylor got the ball at its own 38 following an MBA punt with 3:27 to play.

Junior Elijah Howard had been Baylor’s go-to guy all season and his number was called five straight plays as the Red Raiders marched down to the MBA 8.

Howard was stopped for no gain on third-and-4 from the 8 inside the final minute while Jordan Turks stopped the Tennessee commitment after a gain of one to end Baylor’s chances of a comeback.

Baylor coach Phil Massey just hated to see an outstanding season come to an unexpected sudden end.

“It’s always tough when a season ends like this, but in this league, you have to bring your “A” game every time you play.  I thought our defense played well enough to win, but he had a tough time getting any rhythm going on offense.

“MBA played hard and they were on a mission after we beat them three weeks ago.  They wanted to erase that bad memory.  We gave it everything we had.  We had three running plays to choose from there at the end, but we were going to put the ball in Elijah’s hands as he’s been carrying us all year.

“Our execution wasn’t what it should have been, but I never question our effort.  Our seniors have made an incredible turnaround in the last couple of years and we have a good group coming back, but we just have to go back to the drawing board and try to get better for next year,” Massey concluded.

MBA scored first when Reed connected with Mendoza on that first TD pass with 8:45 left in the second quarter.

Baylor answered immediately when Noah Martin raced untouched 72 yards up the middle on the first play.  Anthony Weekley’s extra-point kick put the lead back on Baylor’s side and 7-6 was the score at intermission.

Baylor’s offense had generated 162 yards in the first half, but was limited to just 41 in the second as the Red Raiders never threatened again until the final minute.

MBA refused to be denied and Turks made his presence felt with his biggest tackle of the game after partially blocking two Baylor punts earlier in the evening.

Patrick Wilk gained 78 yards on 20 carries while Reed added 52 yards on 17 trips as MBA finished with 215 total yards, including 130 on the ground.

Mendoza was the leading receiver with four catches for 52 yards.

Baylor finished the game with 203 total yards, including 171 on the ground and just 32 through the air.

Howard was the leader with 82 yards on 22 carries while Martin had 72 on his only carry.  Gabriel Stulce was Baylor’s leading receiver with two catches for 13 yards.

MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY  0  6  0  6 – 12

BAYLOR  0  7  0  0  --  7

MBA – Noah Mendoza 30 pass from Marcel Reed (kick failed), 8:45 left in second;

BAY – Noah Martin 72 run (Anthony Weekley kick), 8:30 left in second;

MBA – Mendoza 10 pass from Reed (pass failed), 11:12 left in fourth.

YARDSTICK MBA BAYLOR

First Downs           13                                         8

Rushes-Yards                                                37-130                                   29-171

Passing Yards                                                   85                                          32

Total Yards                                                       215                                       203

Passes (Comp-Att-Int)                                  7-12-1                                    5-13-1

Penalties-Yards                                         6-50                                       2-25

Punts-Avg.                                                     4-37.9                                     6-28.3

Fumbles-Lost                                                    0-0                                         2-0

INDIVIDUAL STATS:

MBA RUSHING: Patrick Wilk 20 for 78 yards; Marcel Reed 17 for 52 yards.

MBA RECEIVING: Noah Mendoza 4 for 52 yards; Jack McKennon 1 for 19 yards; Patrick Wilk 1 for 9 yards; Lucien Brunetti 1 for 5 yards.

MBA PASSING: Marcel Reed 7 of 12 with 1 interception for 85 yards.

BAYLOR RUSHING: Elijah Howard 22 for 82 yards; Noah Martin 1 for 72 yards; Neyland Jean 5 for 23 yards; Gabriel Stulce 1 for negative 6 yards.

BAYLOR RECEIVING: Gabriel Stulce 2 for 13 yards; Jermiah Skipworth 1 for 10 yards; Elijah Howard 1 for 9 yards.

BAYLOR PASSING: Neyland Jean 5 of 13 with 1 interception for 32 yards.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

             

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