Roland Gaskins stretches for a one-handed catch near the goal line.

Last Friday’s football game was an important one for the Baker High Wildcats. Not only were they on the road facing district foe Terry Parker, but down the road Bishop Kenny faced off against Clay County in a game that could go a long way to deciding the playoff picture.

It couldn’t have worked out better for the Cats. They turned in a complete offensive and defensive game and shut out the Braves 61-0 in another record-breaking night. They also got a hand from the Crusaders, who pummeled the Clay Blue Devils 56-35.

It was an almost perfect night for the Cats and Coach Ryan Sulkowski was prepared to pull out all the stops to get the district win.

That was evident on the first play of the game, when, instead of kicking deep to the Braves, the Cats tried what Bobby Bowden would have fondly called “trickeration.” They shocked the Braves by opening with an on-side kick. The Cats got the ball and marched down the short field on a drive that ended in a 2-yard Thomas Sirk plunge. Roland Gaskins kicked the PAT and the Cats were up 7-0 before a lot of fans could take their seats.

Defensively, the Cats completely shut down the Braves. Nothing worked for Terry Parker as the defensive line clogged the middle, the linebackers harassed the quarterback and the defensive backs wore the receivers like a glove. It was three and out for Parker and the Cats got the ball back ready to go again.

Signal caller Sirk quickly found Malone Hadley on a 40-yard completion down to the 9-yard line. On the next play he connected with Kendrick Singleton on the first of his four touchdown passes that broke a long-standing school record three. Just like that it was 14-0.

Then, just like that, it was 21-0. BCHS got the ball off another three and out and Sirk dumped a short out pass to Singleton. The fleet receiver did the rest, turning on the jets to beat the defenders for a 75-yard touchdown run.

BCHS got the ball back quickly after Parker tried a little trickeration of its own, faking a punt and trying to pass for a first down. But the ball fell short and the Wildcats set up shop on the Parker 42.

Sirk, who was on target all night on the way to a record breaking six touchdown passes, found Roland Gaskins, who bobbled the ball, tipping it up to himself and making a circus catch over the shoulder  before running in for a 30-yard score to put BCHS up 27-0.

With the game quickly slipping out of reach, Parker began to make some questionable defensive plays. While Sirk did the kickoff, a Parker defender went headhunting. He went 15 yards out of his way to take a shot at the quarterback and got a pair of 15 yard penalties for his efforts.

Parker was pinned deep in its end of the field and when the defense again turned in a stellar effort, the Braves gave the Wildcats good field position and they capitalized yet again.

Sirk hit Brandon Miller at the 42 and Falon Lee, who ran the ball well all night, drove to the Parker 9-yard line on three plays. Sirk tossed the ball off to Singleton for the score and BCHS had put the game out of reach at 34-0.

Singleton wasn’t through. He intercepted a Terry Parker pass to give the Wildcats the ball in Braves territory at the 30-yard line. The drive appeared the stall but Sulkowski again channeled Bobby Bowden and Sirk hit Jared Lee for the first down on a fake punt.

Two passes to Singleton put BCHS in the red zone at the 16 and a play later Sirk hit Malone Hadley in the corner of the end zone, breaking the single game touchdown pass record with his fifth strike to give BCHS a 41-0 lead.

Elijah Lee put a towering sack on the Parker quarterback to snuff another drive in the third period and it didn’t take Sirk and Singleton long to pad their records a little more with another touchdown.

At that point, Sulkowski benched his quarterback and put Cory Lawler behind center. But it was much of the same, with Lawler finding Hadley for yet another score.

The final Wildcat touchdown came after a Kyle Alexander interception deep in Parker territory. The Cats drove into the red zone and Lawler ran it in for the score.

Sirk finished 16 for 19 with 300 yards passing, six passing and one rushing touchdown. Singleton had eight catches for 191 yards and four touchdowns. Falon Lee had 18 carries for 120 yards rushing.

Defensively, Jared Lee led the way with nine tackles. Elijah Lee had another outstanding game at defensive end with 3.5 sacks.

The offensive line of Terry Givens, Jordan Parker, Braden Gray, Blake Mills and Jon Kinney did another stellar job of protecting Sirk and opening holes for Lee.

“I challenged them pretty hard over the summer,” said Sulkowski. “They stepped up to the challenge. Thomas has thrown the ball 150-plus times and they’ve only allowed six sacks.”

The win and subsequent Clay loss means that if BCHS can beat 4-4 Forrest on October 28 at Homecoming and Bishop Kenny at Memorial Stadium the next week, the district title is theirs.