Baldwin faces same gauntlet as 2022

Jul. 26—The convenience of the two-year classification cycle by the Georgia High School Association means two-year contracts that take care of football schedules for ... two years.

If any Baldwin High Braves football supporter still has the 2022 schedule, it's just a matter of two simple adjustments, and, boom, you have the 2023 schedule. Every home game is now a road game, and vice versa. Then subtract one from the number after the month on the date of the game, and you have your Friday night plan completed.

Wait, one more little change is needed.

When the 2023 regular season kicks off on Aug. 18, the Baldwin Braves and head coach Jesse Hicks will go to Peach County High, which has a new stadium and campus off Hwy. 49 just outside of Ft. Valley. Peach County likes to start home varsity football games at 8 p.m.

The nine games following Peach should begin at 7:30.

Coming off an offseason Hicks called one of the best he can recall for Baldwin in the last five years, the Braves will look to carry that momentum into its non-region slate, which is going to be top-notch one more time. All four made the state playoffs.

It includes one undefeated defending state champion, two eliminated in the second round and one, like Baldwin, finished 4-7 and lost in the first round. Their combined record is 35-14.

Peach County went 8-4 in 2022, and from the very beginning of last year's meeting at Braves Stadium the Trojans showed how strong their season was going to be ... and maybe how hard things were about to become for Baldwin. The final score was 50-20, Peach leading 37-13 at halftime.

The Trojans have a new head coach in Marquis Westbrook, who took a storied Warner Robins High Demons program and won back-to-back state championships in 2020 and 2021. He took the mantle from a three-time state winner at Peach, Chad Campbell. In his last season at Ft. Valley, the Trojans bowed out of the state playoffs in the second round, finishing 8-4.

Baldwin, in Week 2, went to a work in progress — the renovations at Putnam County High's home stadium — and hung tight with the War Eagles before falling 23-14. This year, the Braves face another program with a first-year coach, this time it's in the home opener at Braves Stadium.

Joel Harvin, a stellar high school quarterback and head coach at Early County High in southwest Georgia, decided to get away from home and take over the growing program in Eatonton. Putnam had two great seasons under former coach Shaun Pope, but for two years in a row they couldn't get past Fitzgerald in the postseason.

Ware County High blew out Westbrook's Warner Robins Demons to win its first football championship ever last December. Baldwin found out how good the Gators were in last year's 41-3 pasting in Milledgeville.

Now, on Sept. 8 the Braves must go to the renovated baseball stadium in Waycross, hoping the celebration has died down and they can pull off an upset.

Washington County High is another school that knows how to celebrate a state title, three in the 1990s, though the last one was in 1997. Robert Edwards, a big part of the Washington success as a running back, skills he took to the University of Georgia, is trying to bring that magic back to Sandersville as head coach.

Baldwin, in Sandersville, snapped the three-game losing streak that marred 2022's early weeks. The Braves had to fight off a valiant comeback to ride home 35-28 winners. Perhaps Braves Stadium will make the night a bit calmer, though Hicks would certainly not hope history has to repeat itself in searching the first win of 2023 against the Golden Eagles.

Whether the Braves shock the state with a 4-0 start, come out of the gauntlet with a split, or see the numbers 3 and 1 in some order, things get serious in Week 5, which is actually Week 6 by the calendar as Baldwin does not play the weekend of Sept. 15.

Baldwin is still in Region 2-AAAA with two schools from Macon, two from Griffin and one each from Laurens and Houston counties. Last year, Baldwin was involved in a three-way tie for third place at the end of the season, and its victory in the final week over Griffin High made the difference between making and not making the state playoffs.

The other six teams in the region combined for a 34-31 record.

Spalding High was No. 2 in the final region standings going 7-5 overall. The Jaguars came to Milledgeville and became the third team to put 40 on the board against the Braves. They built a 22-7 halftime lead on the way to victory, 40-13.

When Baldwin looks to improve those numbers, they will have to do it in Griffin on Sept. 22.

Things got tricky weather-wise in middle Georgia as September 2022 came to an end, so Baldwin moved its game with Howard High in Bibb County to a Thursday. The Huskies found themselves on the wrong end of a 40-point performance, 45 in fact as Baldwin won via shutout.

Every date and time is tropical weather-permitting for most of the season, but for now Baldwin's second region game will also be the first at Braves Stadium on Sept. 29. Howard held its own in 2022 with four straight wins and actually rebounded from its pasting at Baldwin's hands by nipping Spalding in a 14-13 final on its way to a 6-4 record.

The kingpin of 2-AAAA, however, was Perry High, who showed it Oct. 7 by shutting out the Braves 35-0. The Panthers had one of the best seasons in school history going 10-2. Where will Perry be among the preseason favorites of 2023 in AAAA? Well, all we can say is they will be at home to fend off Baldwin's challenge to the throne on Friday, October 13th.

Baldwin football only had one "streak" in 2022, losing the first three in a row. Then it was an Atlanta Braves trick of 2021 by winning one, losing one. So following the Perry blowout, Baldwin found a road win 42-21 at West Laurens, which was the region bottom-feeder at 1-9 overall. What will the Baldwin mindset be after the Perry game? Whatever it is, it will be felt at home on Oct. 20.

If there was a 'trap' set for Baldwin last year, it was at Westside in Macon, where the Seminoles rolled to victory 41-20. Westside would wind up 7-4 and in that three-way tie to claim the No. 3 playoff seed from 2-AAAA.

So make that four opponents eclipsing 40 points on the Braves in 2022. To do it again, Westside will have to see how the Braves Stadium turf fits their needs on Oct. 27.

Baldwin was able to surpass 40 points three times, including the 47-14 home win over Griffin High to close out the regular season. Nearly as many of those points came from defensive plays as offensive, including the game's bizarre final play. With that win, Baldwin was in the playoffs and Griffin out, though both were 3-3 in region.

Will the Bears be more focused under a new head coach, Clifford Fedd, who had five winning seasons at Dutchtown High? They might be at home on Nov. 3, especially if one more time a playoff spot is on the line.