The Baker Wildcats defense recorded its second straight shut out at Homecoming against Culver-Stockton College Saturday at Liston Stadium.
The Wildcats beat Culver-Stockton, also nicknames the Wildcats, 45-0 to improve to 2-2 on the season. The Baker defense has not allowed a point in two games as the Wildcats have outscored opponents 86-0 in that time.
“I felt like today … we put everything together. It wasn’t flashy but I don’t know if we’re a flashy team,” head coach Mike Grossner said. “I think we need to go out and establish things and not make mistakes, and I think we did a good job of that.”
Baker found the end zone on its third drive of the game as quarterback Mack Brown found senior Verlain Betofe for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 2:20 left in the first quarter.
Running back Richie Bryant took over on the second scoring drive, where Baker started on the Culver-Stockton 46-yard line after a short Culver-Stockton punt. After a pass from Brown to freshman Jake Green for 16 yards, Bryant broke a 15-yard run down to the 14-yard line. Bryant had two more rushes for nine yards and two yards before picking up a touchdown on a three-yard run with 6:29 remaining in the second quarter. The score stayed at 14-0 at halftime.
“We’re going to throw it a little bit, but we’ve got to establish the run, and that was our purpose today,” Grossner said.
Baker had a minor scare with 10 minutes left in the third quarter as Brown tripped going back for a pass and fell awkwardly, then geot up slowly while limping, but remained in the game.
Kicker Derek Doerfler put up the lone points of the third quarter with a 52-yard field goal to extend the Baker lead to 17.
Bryant scored his second rushing touchdown of the game just under two minutes into the fourth quarter. After a three-and-out and punt by Culver-Stockton, which was returned by freshman Reggie Harris to the six-yard line, Bryant rushed for another touchdown from three-yard out on the second play of the drive. Bryant rushed for a fourth and final touchdown on the next drive to give the Wildcats a 38-0 lead with 7:25 left in the game.
Quarterback Alan Davis replaced Brown on the next possession, which ended with a seven-yard touchdown run by running back, and newly-named Homecoming King, John Babb with 1:48 remaining.
Culver-Stockton was not able to get anything going offensively the entire day, only accumulating 72 yard of total offense, 50 rushing and 22 passing, on 53 plays. Culver-Stockton was also only able to pick up eight first downs in the entire game. Quarterback Dan Wernick was pressured all afternoon, being sacked seven times, the most by defensive end Andrew Patch, who recorded three sacks.
“We absolutely shut them down. It was a great effort by our defense,” Grossner said.
The Baker offense tallied 324 total yards, with Bryant rushing for 120 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns. Brown was very efficient, completing 14 of 18 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcats will travel to St. Charles, Mo. next Saturday to take on Lindenwood University. The Lions are ranked No. 3 in the country and have started the season undefeated, at 5-0, after defeating Avila 59-7 Saturday.
“We know we’ve got to be playing well going into this week because we’re going to get a heck of a challenge in St. Charles,” Grossner said.
