Ben Crockett leads defending state champion McLean football past Baird

BAIRD — Baird got a look at a top-caliber six-man squad Saturday, and the defending state champions lived up to the hype.

Led by Ben Crockett's seven TDs, No. 3 McLean took care of the Bears 59-12.

Baird scored on the first play of the game — a 50-yard run by Rylan Rogers — to go up 6-0. But the Tigers (6-1) countered with 31 unanswered points.

"We thought we had a good game plan. I told the kids, 'Everybody's got a game plan until you get punched in the mouth,'" Bears coach Joel Baker said. "I think we may have caught them offguard a little bit, and then they came out swinging."

Crockett had a hand in all four TDs, rushing for scores of 12, 28, and 5 and throwing a 9-yard pass to Kade Reichman.

Max Dayton raced past the McLean defense on a 52-yard scoring run late in the first quarter to bring the Bears within 31-12.

Seven seconds later, Crockett broke three tackles on a 45-yard TD run to give the Tigers a 37-12 lead. The only score of the second quarter was a 48-yard TD pass from Crockett to Jacob Watson with 28 seconds before halftime to extend McLean's lead to 45-12.

"Overall, I'm proud of our kids," Baker said. "We kind of said, 'Hey, we got to halftime without getting 45'd, now let's get to the fourth quarter.' We couldn't get them stopped. We couldn't get (Crockett) stopped. And not just him, they've got three or four really good players."

Crockett finished with four rushing and three passing TDs, including a 9-yarder to Dalton Abshire on the first drive of the third quarter. Following a defensive stop, McLean clinched the win with a 9-yard TD pass from Watson to Abshire.

"They were a little more physical than us," Baker said. "Obviously they play with more confidence, and that's something that we've got to build on. But this is going to be good video for us to watch to make improvements and try to get better."

Crockett, the 2018 Class 1A Division I player of the year, had his way when Baird tried to tackle him up high.

"When we tackled him low, he went down like a normal human being," Baker said. "When we tried to tackle him above his waist, he's Superman and we couldn't get him down."

The loss dropped Baird to 4-2 in its inaugural six-man season. The Bears face West Texas Homeschool on Friday before a date with fellow first-year six-man program Irion County (6-1).

"It's a measuring stick for us to figure out where we're at," Baker said of Saturday's loss. "We've got Irion County in a couple weeks who's been playing some really good football. We should end up being (Nos.) 1 and 2 with them in our (independent) division. So, we're going to have to play."