Baldwin Braves1
enter new region
By GIL POUND
BHS head coach Jesse Hicks
The 2020 Baldwin High School football schedule looks almost completely
different from recent seasons, mostly due to realignment.
The Braves’ entire region the last four years has moved down in classification
to 3A while Baldwin remains a 4A school. There is some give
and take with the new region. A positive is that BHS’ region foes are
almost all an hour or less away with Spalding High School in Griffin
being the only exception. A negative is that the new region is larger at
seven total teams, so there are more opponents to beat out for state
playoff positioning. The new Region 4-4A in place starting with the
2020-21 academic year is made up of member schools Baldwin, Howard,
Perry, Rutland, Spalding, West Laurens and Westside of Macon.
Here’s a look at both the region and non-region opponents for the
upcoming season. Baldwin gets six home games and only has to travel
for four.
The Braves will try for some retribution when they host the Washington
County Golden Hawks to open 2020 on Sept. 4. The slate stays
familiar in Week 2 when BHS travels to now-former region foe Burke
County, a team Baldwin is 2-1 against since Hicks’ return to Milledgeville.
The Bears, last year’s Region 3-4A champion due to tiebreaker,
have moved down to 3A along with the rest of the Braves’ region.
Week 3 of the regular season is where all familiarity is left behind as
Baldwin is set to host 5A opponent Ware County. The Gators of Waycross
won their region championship last year before getting knocked
out in the second round of the state playoffs by eventual champion Buford
High School. Ware is a program with a winning tradition as the
team has finished every year with a .500 or better record since 2000
with only two exceptions (2001 and 2017). Baldwin’s non-region slate
continues Friday, Sept. 25 at home against Southwest High School of
Macon. The Braves and Patriots have squared off in summer workouts
a few times in recent years, but have not met on Friday night since
1999.
This season Baldwin has something many coaches would like,
which is a bye week before region play begins. That starts Oct. 9 at
home against Westside of Macon, a newcomer to 4A after having been
14 Football Preview 2020