Baylor’s Connor Davidson (31) breaks free of Soddy-Daisy’s Austin Goins and scores in first half action at Baylor. The first half was dominated by Baylor.No Jacob Huesman, no problem for Baylor.
Baylor senior Matthew Oellerich was almost perfect in his first start at quarterback since 2008 and paced the Red Raiders to an overwhelming 48-0 win over Soddy-Daisy in the season opener for each team.
Oellerich was a jack-of-all-trades player as Huesman won the Division II Mr. Football award last year in Baylor’s run to the state championship game. Friday night at Heywood Stadium, Oellerich looked the part of quarterback star.
He threw for three touchdowns — and had a fourth nullified by a penalty — on 11-of-14 passing and ran for another score. Afterward, Oellerich’s 200-watt smile was equal parts excitement and relief.
“I got a text from Jacob last night, just wishing me good luck and support,” Oellerich said after passing for 143 yards and running for 25. “Everyone expects us to do well, and I have to play my own game. It’s nice to get that weight off my shoulders.
“I know what can do, so I didn’t think I had anything to prove. I wanted to prove it to my teammates if anything.”
Mission accomplished.
Oellerich’s near-perfect performance — two of his incompletions were dropped — and overwhelming play by the highly regarded Baylor line jump-started an offense that was impressively efficient. Baylor scored on each of its six possessions, did not punt and was 10-for-11 on third-down conversions.
“The O-line did what we expected and the combo of running backs looked good,” Baylor coach Phil Massey said. “And Matthew … he was almost perfect tonight. This game can really boost his confidence and his teammates’ confidence in him.”
One of those teammates — junior running back Houston Clements — also had a confidence-lifting perfomance. Clements, who transferred to Baylor from McCallie last year, rolled to 93 yards on eight carries and sprinted 45 yards for a touchdown on his first carry as a Red Raider.
“I stayed up till 3 a.m. thinking about this game and praying about this,” Clements said. “When I got the ball, the line opened up such a hole that it wasn’t anything I did. It was a really big hole.”
For Soddy-Daisy, the big early hole was too much to overcome. Baylor’s relentless offense magnified every possession for the Trojans, who played without head coach Kevin Orr. He was serving a one-game suspension for an incident during a preseason passing scrimmage at Signal Mountain.
“I thought the kids fought hard. We just have to do a better job getting them prepared, and that’s on me,” Soddy-Daisy acting head coach Josh Roberts said. “We knew they were good. They did what they were supposed to do, and you have to give them a lot of credit for that.
“[Kevin] is a great man. It was a tough situation, but these kids rallied. And he’ll be back next week, and we’ll get this fixed.”
Soddy-Daisy standout running back Cedric Edwards finished with 94 yards in 17 carries.
For Baylor, receiver Reggie Upshaw caught six passes for 68 yards and two scores, Bryce Reynolds returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown and Bryson Crimmins threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Heath Belcher for the final score of the game.
