Young's Baggett leads late comeback

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:10PM

Terry Baggett and Whitney Young had every reason in the world to hang their heads on the sideline. Trailing 34-14 to conference rival Dunbar with 11:52 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins faced the seemingly impossible task of coming back and winning.

But Baggett wouldn't let Young lose. The senior running back could be seen on the sidelines talking to teammates and trying to get their head back in the game before he took over with a miraculous fourth quarter.

"I was telling them not to give up because we were not going to lose this game," Baggett said.

Baggett backed up the motivational words to his teammates with his play on the field, accounting for three fourth-quarter touchdowns and all five of Young's scores as the Dolphins came from behind to defeat Dunbar 35-34 on Friday at Rockne in an Illini Red Bird conference game.

Although Baggett had a huge game on the ground, carrying the ball 27 times for 273 yards and four touchdowns (75, 21, 80, 2), it was his play through the air that gave the Dolphins the game-winning touchdown.

Taking a snap out of a running formation, Baggett found wide receiver Malcolm Tucker (two catches, 45 yards) on a slant route for a 27-yard touchdown pass with 1:21 remaining. The catch and subsequent extra point gave Young its first and last lead of the game.

"We'd been running the ball well out of that formation and watching their secondary, we knew how to play it," Young coach Tim Franken said. "So we called the slant because the middle of the field was opened up."

"I'm thinking that he's going to be wide-open and that I just have to take the snap and make the throw," Baggett said.

Baggett (2-for-3, 45 yards) had thrown two passes earlier in the game on similar slant plays but was only successful one time for an 18-yard gain, also caught by Tucker.

While the offense was led by Baggett, the defense for Young (3-2, 1-1) also stepped up with big plays to slow down the speedy Dunbar offense.

The trio of Omar Collins (12 carries, 98 yards, two touchdown), Jamaal Stevens (eight carries, 90 yards, touchdown) and Darvell Harris (six carries, 98 yards, touchdown, 4-for-10, 69 yards) gave the Dolphins fits through the first three quarters, but some changes to the defense helped slow them down.

"We changed personnel," Franken said. "We knew they were going to run the jet sweep and a dive to the inside and it was frustrating because we were filling the ‘A' and ‘B' gaps but we weren't making the plays. But we rotated some people and finally figured out the way to get the right people in there."

Dunbar (2-3, 1-1) also hurt itself tremendously, committing 16 penalties, losing a fourth-quarter fumble on its own 21-yard line and going 2-for-5 on two-point conversion attempts.

The Mightymen still had a chance to win the game after Harris broke a 62-yard run to get Dunbar to the Young 18-yard line with 1:09 remaining. Two plays later, Harris hit Stevens with a pass inside the 10-yard line, but Stevens slipped on the 5-yard line and was brought down by Young defensive back Dan Finger.

Dunbar never had another play from scrimmage after two false start penalties pushed them back to the Young 15-yard line and the disorganized Mightymen never got off another play as the clock ran out on them. They also never attempted to kick what would have been the go-ahead field goal despite Harris showing off his leg with three touchbacks on kickoffs.

"We didn't play a good game," Franken said. "But they proved some things to me and I hope they proved some things to themselves with the way they came back today."

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