Wildcats Dominate Pride, Cruise to 45-0 Victory at Home

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker quarterback Truman Juelsgaard accounted for all six touchdowns of the Wildcats' landslide victory over Clarke as BU moved to 2-0 on the year with a 45-0 win here Saturday afternoon at Liston Stadium.

Juelsgaard was able to pick apart the Pride defense in the first half, throwing for over 275 yards and tallying five touchdowns to give Baker a 35-0 lead at halftime before tacking on his sixth score of the day via his legs with a 21-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter.

The Baker defense dominated on its end to pitch its first shutout of the season, holding the Pride to 53 rushing yards in the first half. The BU secondary had its second straight game with at least two interceptions with Jaleel Laffitte and Matt Lierz each picking off a pass in the contest.

"We challenged our guys this week to start fast on offense and I thought we did just that today," said head coach Miguel Regalado. "Truman Juelsgaard was able to come out with confidence today and that really helped our offense get off to a fast start. We also challenged our defense to come out and shut this team down and they were able to do that by swarming the football."

Coming off an impressive performance in last week's season-opener, Rashaan Graves picked up right where he left off to produce Baker's first score of the game. Graves hauled in a pass from Juelsgaard and outran the Clarke defense to take it all the way to the house for a 65-yard opening touchdown.

Juelsgaard was able to lead a methodical drive for the Wildcats' next score, this time finding Will Roberts in the end zone to put Baker on top, 14-0 before connecting with Kwan Brooks on the first play of BU's next possession to add a 66-yard bomb to the sophomore quarterback's stellar first quarter.

In the second quarter, Gavin Greenwood was responsible for both of BU's scores in the period, catching back-to-back touchdown passes to cap a red-hot start by a Baker offense that scored on all five of its first five possessions to begin the game.

Greenwood's first touchdown grab finished off a nine-play scoring drive before registering his second one on a 19-yard strike from Juelsgaard to give BU a 35-point cushion heading into the break. Greenwood, a sophomore from Lincoln, Neb., caught five passes and had a touchdown in the season-opener against Peru State to give him a team-high nine receptions on the year.

Baker looked to control the clock in the second half, turning its attention to the ground game which broke open midway through the third quarter with a big 48-yard dash by Graves followed by Juelsgaard's 21-yard score on the next play to make it 42-0.

In the fourth quarter, Seth Simpson chipped in the final tally on the scoreboard with a 21-yard field goal as the Wildcats claimed their 45-0 victory to start the year 2-0 for the fourth straight season.

"Part of restoring the order – which is what we're trying to do here at Baker – is learning how to put a team away in the second half," added Regalado. "I thought we did that by controlling the clock, putting in a couple scores and finishing things off. We feel really good as a team coming off the win today."

Making just his second start under center, Juelsgaard finished his breakout performance with nearly 300 passing yards (297) and added 72 yards on the ground to boast over 70-percent of Baker's total offense (521) in the game. After rushing for 128 yards last week, Graves went for 81 yards against the Pride on just 11 carries and totaled a game-high 86 receiving yards to give him his second straight outing with over 100 total yards.

The Wildcats head out for their first road game of the season with a matchup against defending Heart North champions Grand View, beginning at 12 p.m. on Sept. 16 in Des Moines, Iowa.

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