Just 2 years ago, in his first year of organized
football, Stanley Baylis was an offensive lineman
for the
Nicetown Titans' youth squad.
Friday night, he justified his childhood nickname.
Baylis, a 5-10, 160-pound
senior wideout, broke the Public League record for
receiving yards in a game
- 224, on just four catches - as Gratz dumped
visiting Communications Tech, 42-6.
He caught an 85-yarder from
Montrell Stewart (tackled at 5) and a 95-yarder (for
a score) from Khalil
Brown (the QBs rotated) in addition to tosses worth
23 and 21.
"I played o-line for
Nicetown because they needed help there," he said.
"When I signed up for Gratz
last year, I told the coach [Erik Zipay] I played
wideout and he said, 'OK, we'll give you a shot.'
From
there I just did my best. I always caught lots of
passes in [street/playground] football. They called
me
'Little TO.'"
Rich Drayton, now his alma
mater's first-year coach, totaled 213 yards on seven
catches as Central
bombarded Northeast, 60-3, on Thanksgiving morning
1986, and quarterback Mike Roche set the
still-standing city mark for passing yardage (409).
"I knew I was doing a lot
of running and piling up yards, but I didn't think I
was breaking any records,"
Baylis said. "The offensive line was great. Really
stepped up.
"I was a little mad about
not getting [the 90-yarder], but I kind of expected
to be caught. I was doing
a lot of running at free safety, too."
Baylis attends Engineering
and Science and plays for Gratz as part of a
cooperative sponsorship (as
does star lineman Tamaric Richardson). It works out
great because he lives on Sydenham Street, within
footsteps of Gratz' stadium.
"We always played around
over there," he said. "I caught lots of passes...Montrel,
Khalil and I were
on Nicetown together, too, so we all get along."
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