If you hadn’t cared who won, Friday night’s McCallie-Baylor high school football game at Spears Stadium was an instant classic. In a contest that had six lead changes in front of an overflow Reunion Weekend crowd of 10,000 or more, each team had 21 first downs and more than 470 yards of offense. McCallie once led by 14 points. Baylor later led by 10. The Red Raiders didn’t take the lead for good until the final 62 seconds of the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Blue Tornado, Baylor had junior running back David Gabriel-Georges and McCallie didn’t. The best player in the Volunteer State, if not the entire country, ran for 280 yards, scoring three touchdowns on runs of 51, 53 and 60 yards to propel the visitors to a 38-35 win, Baylor's first victory on the McCallie campus since 1996.
“The best in the country,” said Red Raiders quarterback Briggs Cherry, who showed why the University of Louisville is expected to sign him by tossing two touchdowns, including the game-winner to Kaiden Downey from 15 yards out with 1:02 to play. “You know (Gabriel-Georges) is going to get a first down on every run, and sometimes a lot more than that.”
Said McCallie coach Joel Bradford of the 6-0, 205-pounder, “He’s an impact player, he’s special.”
He needed to be against a Blue Tornado bunch who tried mightily to send the 5,000 or so boisterous blue-clad alums, students and fans in the stands home happy.
McCallie led 14-0 early, rebounded from a 24-14 deficit in the third quarter to post later leads of 28-24 and 35-31, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome Baylor’s 513 yards of offense.
Still, starting quarterback Elliott Drapeau ran for 117 yards and two TDs, including a 42-yard scamper around right end that gave the Blues their last lead of the night (35-31) with 5:51 to go. Reserve quarterback Louis Fortier threw a 90-yard touchdown to Keeyshawn Tabuteau. Senior Kris Lloyd ran for one score, and junior Xavier Fillion ran for another and gained 124 yards on the night.
“We made a lot of great plays,” said McCallie’s Bradford. “Our kids fought back. I was hoping they were going to experience what it’s like to beat Baylor. But we’ll get better from this, the season is not over.”
The season is not, but the Blue Tornado’s hopes of challenging the Red Raiders in Division II Class AAA’s East Region are all but over. Baylor -- which was ranked 23rd nationally to McCallie’s No. 25 in the latest MaxPreps poll, now stands 6-0 on the season and 3-0 in region play to the Blue Tornado’s 5-2 and 0-2.
Should they meet a second time this season -- as they have the previous two years -- it would likely be a state semifinal game at Baylor.
When McCallie won a similar regular-season game over Baylor two years ago at Spears, Red Raiders coach Erik Kimrey correctly predicted the two rivals would meet again in that year’s playoffs. McCallie then beat Baylor 34-28 to win the 2023 state title.
On Friday night, asked if he envisioned a second game this season, Kimrey said, “I would imagine so.”
Given that the Blue Tornado is 2-0 against Baylor in the last two state title games, the Blue Tornado Nation surely hopes he’s right.