Baldwin faces Benedictine Saturday
Nov. 8—The Baldwin High Braves are heading for Memorial Stadium in Savannah this weekend, not Friday but Saturday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff. What's facing them is a team on a juggernaut-type of run that's showed no signs of slowing down.
In terms of coaching stability, there may be no better program in Georgia high school football than the Benedictine Military School in Savannah. Going all the way back to 1950, four head coaches led the Cadets for more than a decade. That includes the 25 years for Jim Walsh Sr. and 19 years before that for Vic Mell.
None of them has done what Danny Britt has at Benedictine since the 2011 season. Only four times since then have the Cadets failed to win 10 or more games in a season. Four times is also the number of state championships claimed under Britt, which never happened one time before his tenure.
Benedictine is on a drive for No. 5 and third in a row during the 2023 season, which ended 10-0 for only the second time under Britt (the 2016 Cadets went 15-0 in Class AA). Standing as the first hurdle are the Baldwin High Braves, who ended the regular season on a positive note downing Griffin High on the road 22-7 last Friday. The Braves needed some help in Westside's comeback win against Howard in Macon, a result that left no ties in the 2-AAAA standings, Westside finishing third and Baldwin fourth.
Something that's only happened to Benedictine once in the last three years is losing to a Georgia school. That was Ware County in the 2022 season 14-10 (both would win state championships). Otherwise, the Cadets have taken on schools from Florida and South Carolina that got the better of Benedictine. In 2023, got the better of Ware's Gators at home 31-24.
Benedictine averages 37 points per game and wins games by an average of 23 points. The general of all that is 6-4 quarterback Luke Kromenhoek, who has accounted for more than 20 touchdowns passing and rushing and 2,000 yards. He had 31 touchdowns in the 2022 season with more than 3,000 yards total offense. Prior to the 2022 season Kromenhoek verbally committed to Florida State University, but has since been offered by Georgia Tech, Virginia, Florida, TCU and Liberty to go with seven other previous Division I offers.
