MBA football finishes with another silver ball and lots of heartbreak | Kreager

CHATTANOOGA – Marcel Reed walked up after MBA football's latest BlueCross Bowl heartbreaker — this one a 38-34 loss to Baylor. He bumped fists and took the blame.

It has become expectant of Reed, a four-year starter and two-year captain for the Big Red (12-1). He's the quarterback, the field general on the field. This was on him.

He pointed to the fumble he lost deep in Baylor territory in the third quarter with MBA leading 28-24. He shouldn't have fumbled it. It's the only lost fumble the team has had in 13 games. Heck, they only fumbled the ball four times all year.

But things went downhill for the Big Red after that.

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"It's just frustration honestly," Reed said. "We had it in our hands. I put myself as the blame. I fumbled that ball in the third quarter. It just changed the game for us.

"The defense played a great game in the second half. And we just came up short."

It's the third time in four years MBA and Reed have fallen short in the Division II-AAA state championship. In 2019 and 2021, it was McCallie that beat the Big Red. This time it was Baylor (11-2).

But Reed showed why he is a two-year captain for the Big Red. It's why he'll be playing at Ole Miss in the SEC in the future. It's why even in a loss, he's a winner.

He gets it. After the only loss of the 2022 season, Reed walked up to a reporter for the last time of his high school football career and started answering questions, looking inward at himself and his one fumble. He didn't shy away from any questions. He took them head on.

After the fumble, Whit Muschamp, the son of Georgia assistant coach Will Muschamp, threw a 46-yard TD pass to Amari Jefferson on the ensuing drive to give Baylor a 31-28 lead. The Red Raiders added a Caleb Hampton 45-yard TD run to extend it to 38-28 with 6:45 left before Reed ended the scoring with a 13-yard TD pass to Blake Ragsdale with 3:19 left.

But MBA never got the ball back. And Baylor won its first TSSAA football state championship since 1973, back when public and private schools played in the same division and there were only three classifications in the state.

"It's been amazing career for those (seniors)," MBA coach Marty Euverard said. "I love them. It's a close-knit group. The leadership was incredible this year. I'm just proud to coach them.

"I've been coaching Marcel for four years. It's the relationship and the hurt you see they have that makes it tough. You just want them to win with all the hard work and stuff they put up with. You just wanted to win this last one."

Reed, a Mr. Football finalist, finished 16-of-24 passing for 263 yard and five TDs. He added 67 rushing yards on eight carries. Teammate Claiborne Richards had six catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Reed is the only four-year starting quarterback in the history of MBA. He led the Big Red to three state championship games in four years, but finished with a silver ball trophy each game.

"I knew from my freshman year that we'd be special," MBA senior Gabe Fisher said. "We never have the biggest guys. That's a known fact. But we have the biggest heart of anybody in the state.

"We take a bunch of skinny white boys and we make them into a good team. I'm really proud of that. I can't wait to see what these guys do in the future."

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or at tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.