Baylor’s football team survived a fourth-quarter scare Thursday night, answering two late touchdowns by Knoxville Catholic with a gutsy drive to earn a 20-17 Division II-AAA East Region win on the road.
After Knox Catholic tied the game on Nicklaus Ivero’s 56-yard interception return with 3:31 remaining, Baylor (4-2, 2-2) countered by driving 79 yards to the Fighting Irish 1-yard line, then settling for Josh Weekley’s 18-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining.
Baylor had surrendered a fourth-quarter lead last week in a disappointing home loss to Father Ryan.
“The resiliency of our kids was huge,” Red Raiders coach Phil Massey said. “It was almost an identical situation as last week, and we could have folded but we didn’t, and I’m really proud of the way they fought back and played with a lot of heart. That’s the sign of a good team with a lot of character.”
Red Raiders running back Elijah Howard, a Knoxville native, ran a career-high 37 times for 237 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown, and quarterback Neyland Jean accounted for 150 total yards and a score. Those two backfield mates accounted for all of Baylor’s 387 offensive yards.