Braves Hungry for Redemption in an Opening Round Region Rematch
The Baldwin Braves (6-4, 6-2) look to redeem their 28-14 loss to the West Laurens Raiders (8-2, 6-2) in the opening round of the GHSA AAA Playoffs
MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – The Baldwin Braves and first year head coach Kevin Patterson are hungry to get a win at home in their first opening round home playoff game since they were last region champions six years ago in 2018.
After joining the AAA this season in the region realignment, the Braves went 6-2 in Region Four as they came in second place to Harlem to finish the season. Now, Baldwin will look to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2020 with a victory Friday night.
With the talent to get the job done, this Braves squad has gone ‘all-in’ with Coach Patterson, and it has showed on the field. Starting in the weight room in the spring, Baldwin has progressively built themselves into a team that can compete in the playoffs. Especially since their offense, led by three-star recruit Senior Quarterback Lamar Pounds, is averaging 29 points a game. While the defense and Senior Captain Defensive Tackle ‘Q’ Russell, have only allowed 19 points a match.
Not to mention this team has battled adversity this season. Because of Hurricane Helene damage to region schools out in Augusta back in September, the Braves went 29 days without playing a single game of football. After practically having three bye weeks, Baldwin had to make up region games by playing three of them in just 10 days, where the Braves came out a winner in two of those three matchups. The one loss in those ten days happened to be to the team they will be hosting in the first round Friday, the 8-2 West Laurens Raiders.
With an all-time record of 11-4, Baldwin has history on their side, as Coach Patterson hopes to rally his team to compete in complimentary football Friday night in a win-or-go home redemption region rematch for the Week 14 Game of the Week.
On Tuesday, I spoke with Coach Patterson about how far this team has come. “We’re really just trying to get better one percent day-in, day-out, and we kept that mindset. About game three of four, you could see the improvement. We stayed consistent. Then, the leadership I believe got better. First day I came here, I wanted to change the culture and the character. I believe the bad teams have no leadership, the good teams, the coaches lead, and the great teams, the players lead. So, what we are trying to do is get this program to be a player led, player driven team, and I think we are trending in the right direction, but we still got some work to do.”
Coach went on to say, “It was probably our worst offensive game in a while when we played against {West Laurens}. So, we got to get trending in the right direction. Our quarterback has got to make the right decision. Take what the defense gives you, and again, we got to win in the trenches up front on offense as well.”
Coach Patterson is hungry for a win after the loss at home to the Raiders a week ago. “We lost in front of our home crowd. We’re a bit embarrassed. Thought they kind of out-played us, out-coached us, fans were louder than us, and we just want to make sure that doesn’t happen again this time. We’re prepared to have a physical football game.”
“I ain’t get no more of this, so it means a lot to me” said Braves Senior Captain JonQuavious Russell. “That’s what I be trying to tell the bros. Win or go home now, we are 0-0. So, we know what got to be done and we want to win out. The coaches, us, everybody, we all ready. We hungry. Just play football and have fun. It’s first round playoffs.”
Pounds is locked in and focused in making a deep run at the state title for his last season with the Braves. “We can step up our effort. Being that we were on a four-game winning streak, before {the west Laurens} game, I feel like we got too relaxed, and too comfortable, and we took West Laurens lightly. This week we know not to take them lightly for sure, and we will be full throttle. We all hungry. We all have the same goal to go to the {championship}, but like coach said the other day, we want to worry about what round we in. So hey, lets beat West Laurens.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Braves Field.
Catch live pregame coverage during 41NBC News at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. Don’t miss highlights from our Game of the Week, and others, on this Friday’s edition of The End Zone during 41NBC News at 11.
