Baldwin hopes winning momentum tops Harlem’s rest on the road

Published 10:38 am Wednesday, September 11, 2024

In a nine-team high school football region, where everyone got a bye weekend before starting region play – and then everyone gets a second bye weekend while four region games take place – somebody is going to get two weeks off in a row.

That was Harlem High School which, like everyone else in Region 4-AAA, did not play a football game on Labor Day weekend. Region games commenced on the first weekend of September, and the Harlem Bulldogs again did not play.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Baldwin High is certainly hoping for the latter, for the Braves, fresh off the first win in the coaching tenure of new boss Kevin Patterson, will take on Harlem traveling to the small Columbia County town this coming Friday.

The Bulldogs swept their two non-region games in August, which included a comeback decided in overtime to start things off. That was against Greenbrier High, and in that game Harlem went from trailing 17-6 at halftime to out-pointing Greenbrier by 11, 25-14, in the second half. The difference was in the conversion game, the Bulldogs getting an extra point after its touchdown to win 38-37.

Harlem proceeded to handle a tough Washington-Wilkes squad 22-3, and that’s been it so far in 2024. Paving the way to victory was running back Malik Tyler with 140 yards and two touchdowns.

Tyler also scored on a 40-yard run in the Greenbrier game.

The Bulldog passing game was more prevalent in the season-opener. Harlem gives you two looks when it comes to the quarterback position, and both are seniors (Giovanni Arroyo and Brent Coleman). They have combined for 220 yards (only 30 of which came in the Washington-Wilkes game), and Jayden Futrell has three of their four touchdown catches.

Baldwin will make the trip with a 1-2 overall record, but it has a 1-0 record in Region 4-AAA. The Braves blitzed Cross Creek 51-22 after taking a 25-0 lead in the first half.

Futrell may not be the threat on the perimeter Cross Creek had in Cam Nixon, who scored two touchdowns at Braves Stadium last Friday with a career-high 179 receiving yards. The Braves held the Razorbacks to 29 rushing yards on the rainy night.

Baldwin and Harlem will certainly be looking for a big region win on Friday. The Braves, Westside-Augusta, West Laurens and Aquinas all won their first region games, but Aquinas will not be playing to make the Class AAA state playoffs (they will be placed in a separate playoff bracket for private schools in Class AAA to Class A). Both Westside and West Laurens opened the season 3-0 overall.

Harlem is a program that can win big or not in any given season. The Bulldogs were 7-4 last season and have in fact finished 7-4 four times since 2017. 2022 was a big year under coach Mark Boiter with a 10-2 record, a region championship and second-round playoff loss to Carver-Columbus.

This will be the first meeting ever between Baldwin and Harlem.