Baylor quarterback Neyland Jean hands off to Gabriel Stulce Saturday night in their season opener at Brainerd.
photo by Greg Davick
Baylor and Brainerd were hoping to play a full football game on Brainerd’s Eddie Lambert Field Saturday night, but Mother Nature had other ideas.
Lightning was spotted with 9:55 showing in the second quarter with Baylor leading 27-0.
The Red Raiders made it 34-0 three snaps after play resumed about an hour later and that was the score at halftime.
Baylor kicked off to start the second half, but more lightning was spotted and rain began to fall while the ball was in the air, so the game was called at that point with the Red Raiders getting the win in a half, 34-0.
Baylor coach Phil Massey was hoping to play a full 48 minutes in hopes of getting some of his younger players into the game. He was still able to substitute some, but not like he was hoping.
Despite the shortened contest, he was happy for the most part with what he saw.
“Obviously, we were hoping for a full game, but it got cut short,” he said while the Baylor players were headed toward the bus.
“I thought we did some good things on both sides of the ball, but we’re still trying to find our rhythm on offense. We’ve got to be happy with scoring on every possession and the positive is that we’re 1-0 after the first week.
“We were hoping to play a bunch of kids because they’ve all worked hard up to this point and playing on game day is their reward. Now we’ll just have to get ready for Chattanooga Christian,” Massey said of next week’s opponent at Baylor.
The Red Raiders were opportunistic on offense as they piled up 118 yards rushing on 15 attempts and they had 108 yards through the air on seven of 10 completions from junior quarterback Neyland Jean.
Five different players scored a touchdown for the visitors.
Defensively, Baylor was equally as impressive as Brainerd was limited to one pass completion for eight yards while losing 33 yards on 14 rushing attempts.
Nothing seemed to work right for the Panthers.
As you might expect, Brainerd coach Tyrus Ward wasn’t real happy with the results.
“There wasn’t a whole lot I liked from what I saw tonight. Not the way we played or the weather,” he expressed later.
“The reason we schedule games like this with teams like Baylor is we want our kids to know what it takes to play at that level. We just have to work harder. The good news is we have three freshmen on the offensive line who faced some good opposition, but we don’t start well and that was the case again tonight.
“We can’t control what the weather does, but we’ll just move forward, regroup and get ready for Howard,” Ward nodded.
Jean scored Baylor’s first touchdown on a keeper from the 3 with 9:39 left in the opening stanza. Anthony Weekley booted the first of two extra points for a 7-0 lead.
Brainerd tried to run from punt formation at the 10 and lost six yards. Baylor responded with a TD from the 4 by Caleb Hampton and it was 14-0 two and a half minutes later.
Jean than completed three straight passes to Jay Mosier on Baylor’s next possession, the last one covering 26 yards for another TD at the 4:36 mark. It was 20-0 after a missed extra point kick.
Gabriel Stulce made it 27-0 with a 17-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. Porter Kaufman booted the extra point with 11:51 to go before halftime.
The weather delay came shortly afterward, but Baylor needed just two plays to score again after play was resumed.
Elijah Howard, a highly-touted junior running back who has already committed to Tennessee, was stopped for no gain on the first play before Noah Martin dashed seven yards for the TD with 8:44 showing.
Howard was the leading rusher for Baylor with 47 yards on four carries while Jean added 17 yards on three trips. Mosier was the leading receiver with three grabs for 41 yards. Stulce had one for 32 yards while Kaufman added 22 yards on another.
Only five of Brainerd’s 14 running plays gained positive yards with Allen Ware’s gain of three yards the longest one. Laderron Freeman caught the only pass completed by the Panthers from quarterback Xiyeer Lattimore for eight yards.
That play, following a three-yard gain by Ware midway through the second quarter, netted Brainerd’s only first down of the game.
While Brainerd will be home to host arch-rival Howard next week, Baylor will be home to face Chattanooga Christian.
BAYLOR 20 14 -- 34
BRAINERD 0 0 -- 0
BAY – Neyland Jean 3 run (Anthony Weekley kick), 9:39 left in first;
BAY – Caleb Hampton 4 run (Weekley kick), 7:09 left in first;
BAY – Jay Mosier 26 pass from Jean (kick failed), 4:36 left in first;
BAY – Gabriel Stulce 17 run (Porter Kaufman kick), 11:51 left in second;
BAY – Noah Martin 7 run (Kaufman kick), 8:44 left in second.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)