BALDWIN CITY, Kansas – The number 6 ranked Baker University football team ended its 2017 season on Saturday in a 36-33 loss against number 12 Georgetown (Ky.) snapping Baker’s 14-game home winning streak.
The Wildcats end the year, 10-2, while Georgetown improves to 9-1 overall and will play in the NAIA Football Championship Series Quarterfinals next Saturday, November 25.
This marked Baker’s fifth appearance in the NAIA-FCS in the past six years and 16th overall appearance.
The Georgetown offense held Baker to 282 yards of offense, its lowest of the season, while the Tigers accumulated 354 yards.
2017 Heart South Offensive Player of the Year JD Woods began the game with a bang, as he took a Logan Brettell pass 83-yards on the first play from scrimmage to give Baker the 7-0 lead.
Then Clarence Clark nailed a 38-yard field goal to give BU the early 10-0 lead. NAIA-FCS Offensive Player of the Game Daric Pugh then scored on a 20-yard TD with 7:39 to go to give the ‘Cats a 10-7 lead.
Quarterback Riley Hall then ran a 1-yard TD in for a score with 6:09 to play in the first half to give GC its first lead at 14-10.
Clark knocked in another field goal from 36-yards out and Abram Garcia followed that up with a 43-yard field goal to give BU the lead back with 11:32 to go in the second quarter.
On Baker’s next possession 2017 Heart First Team All-Southern Division QB Brettell threw a pick-six to Gernell Jenkins and he took it 15-yards for the score to give the Tigers a 20-16 lead, as Nate McLaurin blocked the PAT.
Woods then ran a TD 20-yards to give the ‘Cats a 23-20 lead and Garcia nailed his second field goal of the day from 35-yards out to give Baker the 26-20 lead at halftime.
In the first possession of the second half, Georgetown pieced together a strong drive and Bart Bell received a pass from Hall from 17-yards out and skirted into the end zone to give the Tigers a 27-26 lead.
With 6:23 to go in the third quarter, McLaurin blocked his second kick of the game, this time a field goal and Grant Elston took it the distance for a 79-yard TD to give the ‘Cats a 33-27 lead.
But the Tigers would score the final nine points of the game on a Kyle Longworth 8-yard TD run and a safety to capture the 36-33 victory.
This marked the first time these two teams had ever met in the history of their storied programs.
Brettell started for the ‘Cats at QB for the first time since October 21 and went 8-of-19 for 142 yards and a TD. He will go down as arguably the greatest quarterback in the history of the program. As he holds school records in nearly every major offensive category.
Clarence Clark ends his illustrious career as the NAIA’s all-time leading scorer and the Wildcats’ top wide receiver in the history of the Wildcat football program.
Clark had four catches for 50 yards on Saturday and earned First Team All-Conference in all four years as a Wildcat.
Pugh finished the game with 30 carries and 172 yards to lead the way for the Tigers and Hall threw for just 69 yards on 8-of-25 passing.
Indie Allen led all players on the field with ten tackles and Hayden Jenkins picked off the third pass of his BU career.
Three-time defending Heart South Co-Defensive Player of the Year Josh Kock ends his career with 27 career sacks.
| NAIA Football Box Score | |
| Football National Championship |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgetown (Ky.) | 14 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 36 |
| Baker (Kan.) | 13 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 33 |
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