By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor

Gore running back T.J. Baker’s year is off to the kind of year his sophomore season produced.

It’s preferable to an injury-plagued junior year.

But he wants more than that 1,500-yard year two seasons ago and he got himself off to a good start in that direction with 207 yards on 11 carries in barely three quarters of action Friday as the Pirates beat Heavener 61-32. They led 41-6 at the half and for the night, the 5-foot-7,165-pound senior had three touchdowns.

The run that stands out is not even close to his 18.8 yards-per-carry clip, he said.

“It was a fourth-and-1 conversion,” he said. “It was early in the first quarter and we had scored once, but we got backed up by penalties on our next series and worked our way downfield. It’s one of those pressure situations you want to convert on.”

Combined, he, the offense and quarterback Logan Andrews ran up 507 yards, 299 through the air. Andrews was 9-of-14 for 190 yards.

“Together, they’re a lethal combination,” Gore coach Brandon Ellis said. “You can’t zone in on one because the other is going to hurt you.”

Sixty-one points proved that Friday.

“We looked good last night but I don’t want to get my hopes up,” Ellis said. “I know what we’re capable of but it’s early and we’ve got a lot of football ahead of us.”

After his 1,500-yard sophomore season, Baker ended up with less than 500 yards a year ago. He hyperextended an ankle the second week of the season, causing ligament damage, and sat for three weeks. He eventually returned but was never fully healthy and bounced in and out of the lineup the rest of the way.

He’s healthy now and looking to fulfill Ellis’ hopes. Gore has been to the postseason in back-to-back years but both ended in round 1.

“I want to get over that hump,” Baker said.