>>BALDWIN HIGH SCHOOL
The Baldwin Braves lost a hard-fought battle in Perry Oct. 13, falling 33-18 to the Panthers, one of Georgia’s top 4A teams.
Baldwin headed into the matchup looking to improve its region record and earn a good shot at making the playoffs; however, now 1-2 in region play, the loss made that mountain a little harder to climb.
Baldwin took an early 8-0 lead with a deep shot from quarterback Lamar Pounds to Armontae Palmer for a 43-yard gain. Pounds was then able to scramble to the endzone for a touchdown, followed by an aggressive jet sweep by Sadur Salahuddin to gain the edge around the corner and score the extra two points.
Perry responded late in the first quarter with a field-goal drive, followed by an early second-quarter touchdown to take a 9-8 lead.
But Baldwin was able to answer as Pounds went with the deep ball again, this time with Jacobe Jackson making the catch to set the Braves up inside the Panthers’ 40-yard line. Micah Welch then put Baldwin back on top with a 35-yard run to the endzone, while Salahuddin added another two-point score giving the Braves a 16-9 lead.
Just before halftime, Baldwin’s Micah Welch had his best run of the night going 80-plus yards to the Perry goal line but coming up short of a score.
In the second half, Baldwin forced a fumble and a recovery, but did not do much on offense and with no more scoring the Braves came up short of a victory.
Perry put together a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter, including a field goal and a touchdown that gave the Panthers a 19-16 lead. Then Perry scored two more touchdowns, plus extra points, in the fourth quarter to reach the 33-16 final score while improving to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in region play.
The Braves will look to bounce back at home this Friday when they host West Laurens (2-5, 0-3 Region) at Braves Field.