McCallie's B.J. Harris fights for extra yards as Baylor's Gabriel Stulce, left, and Cooper Lewis, middle, try to bring him down Friday night at Baylor's Heywood Stadium.McCallie's first touchdown in Friday's Division II-AAA East/Middle football game at Baylor came via a blocked punt. But the next three came from an offense that methodically marched down the field.
Yet it was the fifth that may have been the clincher in the Blue Tornado's 40-14 victory over the Red Raiders, breaking a string of four games in which the home team had won in the longtime series.
Of greater importance to McCallie coach Ralph Potter was that it left his team 6-3 and 3-2 in the region.
"It was huge," Potter said. "We've got an off week coming up, which is another thing that's huge. We've got to finish with Father Ryan. Hopefully we can finish 4-2 in the league. That'll be somewhere around second or third."
Baylor (3-5, 1-3) was unable to get more than one first down in the game's first possession, which started at its own 2 when the opening kickoff was muffed and went out of bounds there. The Red Raiders ended up punting on fourth-and-13 at the 10, but Zack Macateer shot through and blocked the kick with Dane Beard catching it out of the air in the end zone.
Baylor responded before the quarter was out with an 85-yard scoring drive, sparked primarily by lining Michael Benning up in a wildcat formation and letting him operate.
But McCallie's next three possessions were drives of 80, 85 and 80 yards - the first two being 13 plays each and the other 11 - and the Blue Tornado went up 27-7 at 7:26 of the third quarter.
"The way our line came off the ball, and the way our backs were running hard," Potter said, "it's not too hard to call plays."
Aided by some personal-foul calls on the Blue Tornado, the Red Raiders were able to get back within two touchdowns when Lorenzo White threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Dee Appleberry at the 5:03 mark. And their defense responded with a three-and-out.
But Stone Roebuck's punt was muffed, McCallie's Chris Godfrey recovered it and that set up a 42-yard scoring drive that put the Blue Tornado back in command.
"At 27-14 we thought we were still in it," Baylor coach Phil Massey said. "Then we got a stop, but then we muffed the punt. We felt like if we could've got it back within 27-21, McCallie's play-calling may have been different being up one score. They may have gotten a little more conservative."
McCallie quarterback Deangelo Hardy was responsible for most of the damage, picking up 227 yards on his 24 carries and passing for another 58. And freshman running back B.J. Harris scored four touchdowns in gaining 125 yards on 26 carries.
"We've got so many kids that go both ways, the numbers game eventually got us," Massey said. "By the third quarter we were gassed. I'm not making any excuses. McCallie has got a good football team. It just seemed like every time we were within one score or two scores, we couldn't get them off the field."
Jaylon Baker was the Red Raiders' big playmaker with five receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. Benning ended up Baylor's leading rusher with 55 yards on 13 carries.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.