One of the best high school football rivalries in Tennessee was renewed Friday night when Chattanooga powers Baylor knocked off McCallie 38-35 in a thrilling regular-season matchup.
There was no shortage of fans in attendance including Tennessee royalty Peyton Manning and Tony Vitello who were sitting together in the Baylor family section according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press’ Stephen Hargis.
Camouflaged in the Baylor parents’ section you’ll find Peyton and Tony V hangin’ out pic.twitter.com/V292KMC8eF
— Stephen Hargis 🇺🇸 (@StephenHargis) October 3, 2025
There are reasons for both to be at the game. Manning’s son, Marshall, is an eighth grader at Baylor— transferring to the school this offseason. While Marshall plays no significant role on the varsity team, Peyton also went to the Baylor game at Brentwood Academy— which ended up raining out— earlier this season.
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Vitello is in Chattanooga ahead of Tennessee baseball’s intrasquad scrimmage at AT&T Field Saturday afternoon. Speaking with John Wilkerson on SportsTalk earlier this week, Vitello said they specifically chose this weekend for the scrimmage because of the McCallie-Baylor game.
“It will be chaos,” Vitello said. “It’s going to be football weekend of Baylor vs. McCallie and I know Friday that will be the main event in Chattanooga. A lot of those people will be lingering, hanging out and enjoying the city for the rest of the weekend. That was the intent. To combine our efforts with that game and I think it’s going to mean, hopefully no fights in the stands but there will still be some competing going on between Baylor and McCallie in a few different ways and I think one way may be even getting creative and having some things tied into our game.”
Vitello and Manning have long been friendly together with the former Tennessee quarterback being an early supporter of Tennessee’s resurgent baseball program. He threw out the first pitch at a game in 2021 and has frequented games since including the 2022 super regional against Notre Dame and a multitude of College World Series games including game three of the CWS Finals in 2024.
After Tennessee won the 2024 national championship, Manning was on the field to congratulate and celebrate with Vitello.
