Baylor rallies, beats Rabun Gap in Red Raiders’ opener

BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A packed house at Heywood Stadium and a national television audience on ESPN saw two teams do their best Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed imitations in the first matchup for Baylor and second for Rabun Gap (GA) of the 2024 season. With Baylor trailing by 14 points in the second half, they didn’t hear no bell. The Red Raiders scored 21 unanswered points to knock off the Eagles 21-14 on a 90 plus degree afternoon at Baylor.

Rabun Gap got on the board first on the legs of Anthony Quinn, Jr. His 27-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 2:35 left in the first quarter, that would be the score after the first 12 minutes. Neither team would make a dent in the scoreboard in the second quarter, but Rabun Gap had chances. The Eagles had multiple trips inside the red zone in the first half but those netted zero points, highlighted by Jamyan Theodore’s blocked field goal with 9:44 remaining in the second quarter to keep Baylor within a touchdown.

Baylor’s defense kept them in the game until the offense, led by new starting quarterback Briggs Cherry, got in the groove. Rabun Gap would add another touchdown when Walker Bryson raced 48 yards to go up 14-0 with 9:47 left in the third quarter. The Red Raiders would answer less than 2 minutes later when David Gabriel-Georges would pop off a 16-yard touchdown with 8:10 remaining in the quarter. Baylor got into the red zone on this drive when Ole Miss commit Shekai Mills-Knight broke 6 tackles and threw a mean stiff arm on a 57-yard run down to the Eagles’ 19-yard line. Mills-Knight would add a touchdown to his stat line on a 62-yard run, aided by a huge block by Cameron Sparks at the Rabun Gap 40-yard line, tying the game 14-14 with 2:53 left in the third quarter.

Mills-Knight would gain 159 yards on the ground for the game. Heywood Stadium came to life after seeing their beloved Red Raiders overcome a 14-point deficit to a 14-14 tie in less than 8 minutes, with 12 more minutes to go.

Cherry connected with Tennessee commit Joakim Dodson with 7:10 left in the game on a 53-yard swing pass that Dodson took into the end zone, giving Baylor their first lead of the game, 21-14.

Baylor’s defense that kept them within striking distance in the first half, threw the final punches in the fourth quarter to end this battle between heavyweights. The Red Raiders kept Rabun Gap off the scoreboard on the Eagles’ last 6 total possessions of the game, highlighted by Theodore’s interception with about 5 minutes remaining and Joel Lowenburg’s game sealing takeaway with 25 seconds left.

“The defense came to play the whole game”, Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey said. “This is the best defensive performance we’ve had since I’ve been at Baylor”.

Baylor begins the 2024 season 1-0 and will host Gray Academy on 8/30. Rabun Gap drops to 1-1 on the season with the loss

Follow Jeff Cate on “X” at @TheJeffCate