Braves seeking first road win at Irish home

Published 12:05 pm Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Playing for the first time in almost a month, things could not have gone better for Baldwin High Braves football. Kevin Patterson’s club crushed Hephzibah High in any and all phases 57-0 for a 2-3 record overall and 2-1 mark in Region 4-AAA.

It needs to be said one final time why it took a month to see Baldwin’s first football game since Sept. 13. Schools like Hephzibah, West Laurens and Richmond Academy – all in the Braves’ region – suffered significant damage in their communities from the tropical system Helene the last weekend of September. Two weekends were lost until finally, on Oct. 11, Hephzibah was able to make the trip to Milledgeville.

All factors considered, Patterson said Baldwin handled everything well, and it showed in their play.

It won’t be quite as easy, however, from here on out, especially with this weekend’s trip to Augusta to play Aquinas. First, the Braves are looking for their first road win of 2024, and second, the Fighting Irish has a formidable football program that is 3-2 and coming off a 12-7 win at Harlem last Friday, that being the first game for both since Sept. 20.

“We did what we were supposed to do,” said Patterson about the Hephzibah win. “We wanted to be the more physical team, the more dominant team. We wanted to eliminate penalties and mistakes we had been making in previous games. We did that. We wanted to play with emotion, excitement. I thought the guys were fired up, enthused about playing again, and played the right way.

“It’s definitely unorthodox. My challenge was be the team that handles adversity better. We’re all dealing with adversity, talking about storms. We focused on ourselves, and I thought it paid off. My message (Monday) was be humble. We got what we got last week because we practiced hard. We can’t get comfortable.”

This will be Baldwin’s first time ever playing Aquinas in football. It is a Region 4-AAA game that will count for the Braves in the standings, but the Fighting Irish are playing for a different Georgia High School Association playoff bracket for private schools in Classes A through AAA.

Head coach James Leonard was a state-championship winner at Aquinas in his debut season there (2013) with a 14-0 record. They have had only one sub-.500 season since, 5-6 in 2021.

“The stakes get higher,” said Patterson. “It’s going to get tougher. Aquinas is a well-coached team, similar to Harlem in that they have a good scheme on both sides of the ball. It’s a game where we can’t beat ourselves. We can’t give them turnovers. They do the little things well. If we make the minor mistakes, they can capitalize on them.”

Against the Harlem Bulldogs, Aquinas led 12-0 at halftime. The only scoring in the second half was a 50-yard touchdown pass play with about three minutes left for Harlem. The Irish already lost to region-leading Westside 21-16.

If that low score with Harlem had anything to do with rust, Patterson said that may have shown in some fumbles and dropped passes. But he added they are tough teams to score on anyway. The Irish, for one, had 13 tackles for a loss.

“They are good up front,” said Patterson. “Everything starts with the big guys on both sides of the ball. If we are the most physical team up front … we want to run the ball. The running backs are going to do a good job. We have a couple of guys we like getting the ball to. The offensive line has to make their jobs easy – find the holes – so we need to come off the ball low.”

The Aquinas offense is led by a senior, Jim Franklin, with a lot of games in his career.

“He’s athletic enough to run the ball,” said Patterson. “He knows where to go with the ball. You can tell they are all in sync on the line, all stepping the right way, combo blocking. Then the running backs do a good job getting through the holes. They see a crease, they are going to get downhill. Our linebackers have to do a good job playing their gaps, and as always you have to tackle.”

Baldwin also had a solid special teams game last weekend in kicking off, returning kicks and converting after touchdowns.

“We were flying down, pinning them deep (on kickoffs),” the coach said. “We’re threatening guys (with blocks). Our return game can be deadly too. It’s our goal to outplay them on special teams.”