Baker tickled to get ground game going

Most of Ramon Barber’s excitement Saturday stemmed from the fact that Barber, a Baker University running back, rushed for more than 200 yards in just his second game back from knee surgery, which had kept him out of football for two years.

But Barber couldn’t help but think about what had happened the week before.

In a 35-28 loss to fifth-ranked Evangel, BU junior quarterback Martin Updike threw for nearly 300 yards.

“It’s dangerous, to tell you the truth,” Barber boasted about the Wildcats’ offensive options. “We threw on them (Evangel) pretty good, and (Saturday) we also proved we can run the ball.

“The next teams that we will be playing will have to watch out, because we can do both.”

Baker will get a chance to showcase both today, when it travels to Canton, Mo., to play Culver-Stockton College. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m.

Culver-Stockton has crushed its two opponents on the road by a combined score of 89-8.

Culver-Stockton, behind the effort of a player who has received an NAIA national honor for the second straight week, entered the NAIA top 25 poll at No. 24.

Last week defensive end Percy Thomas set a school-record with five sacks. Thomas, who needs just three more sacks to set the all-time school sack record, also recorded 10 tackles as the C-S defense limited Lindenwood to just 81 total yards and a minus-36-yard effort on the ground.

Offensively, Stockton seems to be even more explosive than Baker.

Running back D.J. Johnson, who has 259 yards on 40 carries and four touchdowns, has led an offense that has scored 12 touchdowns.

Quarterback Clint Grothaus is the second-leading ground gainer with 114 yards on 19 carries, but his aerial marks are even more menacing.

The senior from Marshall, Mo., has thrown for 633 yards and five touchdowns with a quarterback efficiency rating of 199.42.

Baker coach John Frangoulis says he’s wary of the big numbers.

In order for his Wildcats to win, they’ll have to play even better than they did in their 22-3 win against Avila last week.

“We got a big win,” Frangoulis said. “But the thing we need to work on obviously is the mental mistakes.”

Frangoulis said he was pleased and optimistic about the early development of what he hopes will turn into a dominating run-pass threat this season.

“We really wanted to establish a running game,” he said. “But it will be invaluable to do both really well.”