BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Blue versus red, rival versus rival, McCallie versus Baylor. In what is regarded as the best rivalry in high school football in Chattanooga (and arguably in the state of Tennessee), the Red Raiders showed they remembered the Blue Tornado winning both matchups on the field in 2023. Baylor used an unstoppable rushing attack and a suffocating defense while scoring the most points ever in series history in a 44-12 victory Friday night at Heywood Stadium.

Hunter Glasgow shows off his hops during warmups for McCallie before the Blue Tornado takes on Baylor

Two David Gabriel-Georges runs would open the game for Baylor after getting the ball at their own 35-yard line to start due to the opening kickoff going out of bounds. Georges’ first run went for 14 yards, the second rush went for 51 yards and the opening score as the Red Raiders would strike first less than a minute in, leading 6-0 with 11:14 left in the quarter. After McCallie punted on their first offensive possession, Baylor would have to start inside their 10-yard line. Shekai Mills-Knight’s runs of 5 and 13 yards would get Baylor away from their goal line. Briggs Cherry would connect with Cameron Sparks for 15 yards on 3^rd and 16, setting up a 4^th and 1 from the McCallie 33-yard line. The Blue Tornado defense would hold on the 4^th and 1, not allowing the yard to keep the drive going. Jamyan Theodore would then return the favor and give Cherry and the offense the ball back on an interception . Baylor would be unable to take advantage of the turnover, eventually punting the ball back to the Big Blue.

Theodore would get his second interception of the half, ripping the ball away from Blue Tornado wideout Keeyshawn Tabuteau, and giving Baylor excellent field position at the McCallie 29-yard line early in the second quarter. Gabriel-Georges would get his second rushing touchdown of the first half on a 2-yard run and Baylor led by double digits, 13-0, with 9:54 left in the first half.

David Gabriel-Georges rushes in for 1 of his 3 touchdowns for Baylor

Number 5 in red would get 6 for the Red Raiders on the next possession when Theodore stepped in front of Elliott Drapeau’s pass and racing in from 32 yards out to extend the Baylor lead to 20-0 with 6:11 left. Theodore would get a pass breakup on the next Blue Tornado possession, which saw McCallie punt once again. Baylor would have half of the field to drive, taking over at midfield. Georges had a 15-yard run down to 35-yard line. A few plays later, Cherry would find Sparks in the corner of the endzone, extending Baylor’s lead to 27-0 with 2:24 remaining in the quarter.

“You always say big time players make big time plays in big time games, and those 2 are big time players”, Baylor head coach Erik Kimrey said when describing Gabriel-Georges and Theodore.

Each team would score twice in the third quarter, beginning with McCallie getting their first points of the game on the first possession of the second half. Drapeau would find Carson Lawrence from 3 yards out, but the missed extra point made it 27-6 Baylor with 8:34 left in the quarter. Baylor would answer when Georges would get 72 of his game high 232 rushing yards on a touchdown run that would push the Red Raiders’ advantage to 34-6. Drapeau and the Blue Tornado offense would immediately go back to work when he found Tabuteau on a 59-yard pass down to the Baylor 21-yard line. Keylan Syam would score on a 3-yard run to get McCallie in double digits, cutting the Baylor lead to 34-12 with 6:32 left in the quarter.

Keylan Syam scores for McCallie

Philippe LaForge’s 27-yard field goal with about a minute left in the third quarter gave Baylor a 37-12 advantage going into the final 12 minutes. The only scoring in the 4^th quarter came from Mills-Knight on a 20-yard run when he got through a hole opened up by Jimmy Bryson and Gabriel Osenda, giving Baylor their 44^th point in the game and a 44-12 lead. The 44 points on the night would be the most ever by any Baylor team against McCallie. The Red Raiders would dominate the line of scrimmage, gaining 322 yards on the ground on 32 touches and 4 touchdowns.

“We felt like establishing the lines of scrimmage was very important, as it is in every Baylor-McCallie game”, Kimrey said. “Our defense played extraordinary tonight. I have to give Chris Brown (Baylor defensive coordinator) credit. His staff had a great game plan and those guys played physical and were able to stifle their running game.”

Cherry would go 10 of 14 with 110 yards passing and 1 touchdown. Drapeau would go 17 of 33 for 215 yards passing and 1 touchdown, finding Tabuteau 4 times for 112 yards.

Baylor moves to 7-0 overall (3-0 in region play) and has next week off before taking on St. Pius X out of Missouri at home on October 18^th. McCallie falls to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the region. The Blue Tornado will also have a bye next week before hitting the road to take on Father Ryan on October 18^th.

Follow Jeff on “X” at @TheJeffCate