Baldwin - After opening its season with a couple of close losses, the Baldwin High football team found a heck of way to break a few ugly streaks Friday night.
Bolstered by three touchdown passes from quarterback Heath Knight to wide receiver Ben Cosman, Baldwin defeated Wellsville, 27-6, to pick up its first victory of the season.
The outcome put an end to several nasty losing streaks and sent Baldwin's players, coaches and fans into a frenzied celebration at the end.
"It's just a great feeling," said Baldwin coach Mike Berg, who picked up his second career victory at BHS. "It's a great thing for all of our kids, but especially for our seniors. They had never beaten Wellsville and I'm sure this just feels great for them."
In addition to ending a two-game losing streak to start the season, Baldwin picked up its first win over its chief rival since 1993 and recorded its first regular-season victory since defeating Anderson County last Sept. 25.
The Bulldogs jumped on Wellsville early, scoring at the 8:33 mark of the first quarter. On Baldwin's third play, BHS running back Taylor Reed broke away for 60-yard touchdown run.
Wellsville then went three-downs-and-out for the second consecutive series.
Baldwin began its second possession on the Wellsville 48-yard line. Stuffed for short gains on two runs, Baldwin's Knight hit Cosman with a 43-yard TD pass to make it 13-0.
Baldwin struck again early in the second quarter. Starting at the Wellsville 49, three consecutive runs pushed the Bulldogs to the 10. There, Knight found Cosman again for the second of three TD passes.
After being stifled for much of the first half, Wellsville finally found some offensive success late in the second quarter.
Starting at its own 36, Wellsville put together a five-plus minute drive capped by quarterback Josh Platt's 19-yard pass to Justin Montgomery with 47 seconds remaining before halftime. Following a missed extra-point attempt, Baldwin went into the half leading 21-6.
"I thought our first quarter of football was almost flawless," Berg said. "But I think we relaxed a little bit in the second quarter when we got up by three touchdowns. We told our kids in the locker room at halftime to make that second quarter their only bad one of the night."
Coming out of the break, the Eagles made a charge to close the gap. After forcing Baldwin to turn the ball over on downs after a short drive, Wellsville put together a 14-play, six-minute drive that took it to the Baldwin 13. However, a stop on fourth-and-three by Baldwin with 1:44 left in the third quarter put an end to the threat.
The second half remained scoreless until Cosman snagged a 12-yard touchdown from Knight for the final score.
"It nice to finally put a whole game together," Berg said. "We had played well for most of the season, but we always seemed to have that one bad quarter. Tonight we finally finished one, and it feels great."
Wellsville fell to 0-3 on the season. Baldwin (1-2) will play host to Anderson County next Friday for homecoming. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Liston Stadium.
Baldwin 27, Wellsville 6
Wellsville 0 6 0 0 - 6
Baldwin 13 8 0 6 - 27
B -- Taylor Reed 60 run (Heath Knight kick).
B -- Ben Cosman 43 pass from Knight (kick fail)
B -- Cosman 10 pass from Knight (Reed run).
W -- Justin Montgomery 19 pass from Josh Plett (kick fail)
B -- Cosman 12 pass from Knight (kick fail)
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.