Strong non-region slate ends at Washington County

Sep. 6—Funny when people talk about big rivalries and say, 'You can throw the records out the window.'

That usually means one team in the game is pretty strong while the other, not so much.

Both Jesse Hicks and Robert Edwards would like to throw their records out the window, and that's not just because their respective Baldwin High Braves and Washington County Golden Hawks are facing each other in the famed "House of Pain" in Sandersville this Friday.

Baldwin has been on a 'murder's row' of a non-region schedule for the past three weeks. All three opponents showed the potential to be in the state championship game of their respective classifications, and that included last Friday's Class 5A foe Ware County. The Gators handled the Braves 41-3 to send Hicks' club to 0-3.

Washington County is 0-2, the setbacks coming to Swainsboro 42-0 and Dodge County 43-21.

These are two teams looking for a win. These are two teams looking for signs of being competitive in a big-game situation.

"I know coach Edwards is going to have his guys ready to go," said Hicks during an early Labor Day Monday practice. "Two teams who have not found a 'W' in 2022. It always goes back to execution."

It's a game with two highly-touted running backs on each roster. Baldwin will feature Micah Welch in a new variety of roles while the Golden Hawks have senior Dontavius Braswell. Braswell has committed to South Carolina just like Putnam County's Jalon Kilgore, and Braswell also had interest from Boston College, Louisville and Nebraska.

On the field for Washington County Braswell has — by MaxPreps stats — been limited to 13 carries and 72 net yards plus three receptions. Hicks said he has heard about injury issues with Braswell but was uncertain of how serious that is.

"The quarterback's a pretty good kid. He can run and throw it," said Hicks about senior Morgan Jones, who has two touchdown passes to three interceptions and leads the team in rushes with 22 (46 yards). "Washington County's never been slow for athletes. We're only about 25-30 minutes away. So you throw that other stuff out the window."

There was a time a couple of decades ago when you scanned a Washington County roster looking for the name Edwards. Two in that family made their names with both the Golden Hawks and the University of Georgia. Robert Edwards is now back in Sandersville as head coach, but he's not a rookie at that position simply brought in to inject life into his alma mater.

Edwards is in fact a former Greene County High head football coach from 2012-017 winning 29 games and reaching the state quarterfinals in 2016. From 2018-2021 he was at Riverwood charter school in Sandy Springs and won 32 games.

When Edwards was at Greene County, Hicks would put Baldwin in summer passing leagues that had Greene.

"He has a pretty good throwing scheme," said Hicks. "They are throwing it around pretty good now. One thing we have not been good at doing is playing the pass. People have been throwing the ball over the top on us. We have to get that stopped, stay back a little bit and play the ball.

"I know Robert played running back and linebacker. If (Braswell) is injured, I'm pretty sure he's going to throw it around a bit more.'

As for all the points Washington County is surrendering, Hicks said they are young on the back end with some freshmen, and some may have transferred out after Joel Ingram left after 16 seasons. He said it's a three-man front like their other opponents have shown, a 34 look sometimes, and that these young players must be good if they are starting.

"We've got to score some points," said Hicks, who's club right now has not scored as much as any one of Washington's prior opponents, 37 in three games. "The reason we play those games is because of competition. I thought we played very well in the first half vs. Ware. We just have to stop giving up big plays (like touchdowns of 79 and 58 yards by the Gators). Then when it's time to make plays, you got to make them. We completed a lot of passes we hadn't been doing. But up front, they stifled us in the run game. That has to be one of the things we do well when you have good skill guys like we do. You see the small things getting better, but there are no moral victories in football. You either win or lose.

"We're treating this like a region game. We get an off week after this and go into our region."