Baylor Gets Revenge On MBA In DII-AAA BlueCross Bowl
By Carter Mansfield
When Baylor and MBA met in the regular season, MBA came out on top in a thriller filled with tons of offense. Thursday night’s DII-AAA BlueCross Bowl rematch between the teams played out in a similar way, only it was Baylor winning this time, giving the program their first state championship since 1973 and second in school history in their first year under Head Coach Erik Kimrey.
“Our guys have been awesome all year, they’ve bought into a change.” Kimrey said. “They go all in on the things we ask them and they got better every week and believed something great was going to happen.”
MBA was the favorite in this game, and played like it for most of the first half. The Big Red jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, but Baylor responded with a touchdown pass from Whit Muschamp to Louis Vincent that looked like it was punched out from behind through the back of the endzone, which would have been a touchback and MBA would have gotten the ball back. MBA scored on the ensuing drive to extend their lead to 21-7 and had Baylor’s backs against the wall.
“Just to be down against a team like that and not panic was huge.” Kimrey said. “It just shows the character of our guys and what we’ve tried to instill in them.”
MBA took a 28-24 lead into halftime, but the momentum really started to shift towards Baylor in the second half, as both defenses really started to settle in.
A 46-yard touchdown pass from Muschamp to Amari Jefferson gave Baylor their first lead of the game and all of the momentum.
With the game being in Chattanooga, the home crowd for Baylor really started to get into the game, giving the Red Raiders even more momentum and energy as the game went along.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this community and this school.” Kimrey said. “This school is committed to excellence across the board and it reflects on our football program.”
Senior running back Caleb Hampton was a workhorse for Baylor, leading him to earn MVP honors for the game. He had 24 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns on the game, but none was bigger than the 45-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 38-28 for the Red Raiders. This touchdown proved to be the dagger for Baylor.
“A senior couldn’t ask for anything better than winning a state championship in their last game.” Hampton said. “I just trusted my linemen on that last touchdown run, we just kept telling each other to have trust and something great would happen.”
Baylor wins their first state championship in 49 years in the first year under Kimrey. This team will be dangerous next year as well in their title defense, as they will return a number of their key players.
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