Statistically, it was the greatest quarterback performance in Baldwin High’s program history, one that dates all the way back to 1957.
Kamden Patterson passed for 333 yards and five touchdowns, while running for another 145 yards and one score, as the Braves mollywhopped Washington County 47-20 last Friday night at Braves Stadium.
Incredibly, each of Patterson’s five touchdown passes went to a different pass catcher.
Indeed, It was a sweet start to the season for the Braves, despite a false start by Mother Nature to begin the game. Just after lining up for the opening kickoff, the refs enforced a 30-minute lightning delay that turned into a one-hour delay after more lightning was detected within the area of Braves Stadium, forcing the Braves and Hawks to wait until 8:45 p.m. to kickoff.
The wait did not phase the Braves, who took the lead in the first quarter 7-0 on the first of Patterson’s six total touchdowns. His father and Baldwin’s head coach, Kevin Patterson, praised his son’s performance.
“We expect it,” the elder Patterson said. “He’s a good football player. He can play offense, he can play defense. People saw that tonight that he can play defense, as well. But again, any time he’s on the field he’s going to be one of the better athletes on the field. I thought he picked up where he left off last year. That’s kind of what we expect from our starting quarterback, his coaches and his teammates know what he can do. We gotta continue to rally around him and put our best foot forward.”
With the victory, Baldwin evened up the all-time series with Waco at 22-22-2. The two teams first played in 1959.
The Braves now turn their focus to the Hephzibah Rebels, who will make the trip to Baldwin this Friday. The Rebels made a statement in week one, defeating Oglethorpe County 47-0 last Friday. But, the Rebels struggled last season, winning only three games and losing seven, including a 27-25 loss to Baldwin. The Braves rushed for 241 yards against the Rebels’ defense in last year’s win, despite the fact quarterback Kamden Patterson was out due to injury.
The elder Patterson was relatively pleased with last Friday night’s performance.
“I thought we played good team football, offense, defense, and special teams,” he said. “I told my kids I wanted us to dominate in all phases of the game.
“They (Washington County) got a new coach, a new program and they’re trying to establish themselves and create an identity, and I told our kids we have our identity, we know who we are,” he added. “I was glad we handled the adversity, the rain shower, the delay. I told our kids we’ve gotta handle the delay better than their kids and I thought they (Baldwin) locked in and kept focused. They got a little frustrated, but we locked in and we handled it well. So I’m happy with this win.”