UPDATE Baldwin-Richmond Academy game cancelled

Published 8:43 am Wednesday, October 2, 2024

(EDITOR’S NOTE: On Wednesday morning, Baldwin High School officials announced that Friday’s scheduled Region 4-AAA football game against Richmond Academy in Augusta has been cancelled.)

The cliché leading into any football season is how the players are ready to hit somebody else besides each other.

That’s what coaches are saying in August. Here it is early October, and the coaches and players at Baldwin High are again waiting for the chance to hit somebody else.

Four games and two bye weeks since playing at Ft. Valley State University’s gridiron classic, the Baldwin High Braves and first-year head coach Kevin Patterson were on a holding pattern to start the month of October. Their last game action was Sept. 13 at Harlem High, a 17-14 Region 4-AAA loss. They had a bye week to gear up for the next region foe Sept. 27 at home.

What should be the next cliché is how, when it is the fall, any football games are tropical weather permitting. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night and caused devastation in several states including eastern Georgia. Trees falling. Power outages. Flooding. Baldwin County was spared serious consequences, but not the communities that house most of the other schools in the Braves’ region.

Chances of Baldwin and West Laurens playing Monday instead of Friday were dispelled Monday morning as conditions in Laurens County were still bad. The next game on the Baldwin schedule was to be this Friday at Richmond Academy in Augusta, another city to seriously take Helene’s impact.

The Braves practiced football on Monday without any emphasis on anyone but themselves.

“Just trying to be flexible,” said Patterson. “Trying to be ready for whatever. Anticipated playing on Friday, then not playing on Friday. Not knowing what’s happening on the weekend. Pushing the game to Monday. Gave the kids Saturday off. Got them back here Sunday. Now, not being able to play (Monday).

“The kids are frustrated. I’m frustrated as well. We worked very hard to prepare for something. But it’s one of those things we can’t control. My thoughts and prayers are with Laurens and the surrounding communities. We can only control the controllable.”

So Patterson and his staff tried to make the best use of Monday’s practice time, going good against good and competing.

“Even got our younger kids out here. Had a JV bowl,” he said. “Put them through different situations. We just wanted to work on ourselves and get better. We did not waste a day.”

It’s also a time for life lessons and priorities, for not everyone in the state could turn lights on or having a functioning refrigerator. Patterson said the main things are safety and health plus being willing to adapt and adjust when the situation calls for it.

The other reality is that Baldwin has six remaining games, not just against Richmond Academy but other Augusta schools like Westside, Aquinas and Hephzibah. The exception is Howard High School, and that’s Oct. 31 in Macon. Richmond Academy was to play at Harlem last Friday as was Hephzibah at Cross Creek and Aquinas at Howard, none of which happened.

Other games slated for this weekend are Howard at Westside, Harlem at Hephzibah and Cross Creek at Aquinas.

The Georgia High School Association made the move Tuesday to allow make-up games for the weekend of Nov. 8. There was a bye week during the state playoffs for Thanksgiving, but now that is gone as the quarterfinals are Nov. 29. This keeps the finals Dec. 16-18 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

An additional part of the GHSA statement is that schools affected by Hurricane Helene for two or more weeks may still have to double up and play a Thursday, Tuesday, and Saturday sequence. Regions will determine these scenarios with approval from the GHSA.

“We are going to be ready for whatever comes next,” said Patterson. “I think the Milledgeville community is fortunate. There are communities worse off than us. A couple of coaches lost power. A couple of players lost power. But nothing severe.

“The kids are disappointed. They are ready to go. But just had to reel them back in. We had fun, had a good practice. Definitely got after it.”