Baldwin — Baldwin High head football coach Mike Berg isn't one to question a win.
So, even after a penalty-plagued blowout victory over Anderson County by a score of 47-28 in his team's homecoming game Friday night at Liston Stadium, the Bulldogs' coach was more than happy to count his blessings.
"It's a win, and that's all there is to it," said Berg, whose team upped its record to 2-2 on the season and gave Berg his third career victory at Baldwin. The Bulldogs won back-to-back games for the first time since 1995.
"It's also a homecoming win, which is something that is really special to our players, our students and parents," Berg said.
However, Baldwin's domination was nothing like last year's 55-0 pasting of Anderson County. After being outscored 124-28 in the first three games of the season, Anderson County doubled its point production for the year with 28 tallies against Baldwin.
"You have to give Anderson County a lot of credit," Berg said. "Their head coach (Don Hilliard) did a wonderful job of having those kids play intensely throughout the ball game. They played hard right until the very end."
And once again, penalties -- which cost Baldwin dearly in its two losses earlier this season -- continued to plague the team.
"We just have to stop making mistakes," Berg said. "I know that if we continue to have the kind of penalties and turnovers we've been having, it will cost us. In fact, I'd say that it really already has. We have to understand that we're going to be playing some very good football teams on down the line, and we have to recognize that we have to eliminate the kind of miscues we had tonight."
Baldwin jumped out to an early lead by using less than three minutes of clock time to score twice in the opening quarter. Senior running back Zach Good broke loose on the third play from scrimmage and streaked the length of the field for a 73-yard touchdown run on third-and-three.
After the extra point, Baldwin converted an Anderson County fumble in its own territory into another touchdown when Ben Cosman caught a 26-yard pass from quarterback Heath Knight.
With 9:09 left in the first, Baldwin found itself with the ball again when Anderson County surrendered another fumble following the kickoff. Starting at the Anderson County 31, Baldwin worked its way to the two-yard line where running back Nathan Floersch ran for the score to put Baldwin up 21-0 with 4:09 left in the first.
"Our offense is playing very well together right now," Berg said of the quick start. "We have a lot of talented receivers and running backs that are very dangerous and our offensive line has really come together."
Anderson County cracked the scoreboard with 11 minutes left in the second period when quarterback Brandon Olson found Aaron Hardman in the end zone. Olson then ran in the conversion on a quarterback draw play.
Baldwin responded with two TDs to close the quarter. Knight hit Cosman from 19 yards out with 9:39 left to make the score 27-8. It was the second of three touchdown connections for the two. Knight completed seven-of-16 passes for 190 yards. Cosman had six catches for 162 yards. Good closed the night with 12 carries for 140 yards.
Adam Turk then scored Baldwin's final touchdown of the first half with a 28-yard run with 8:30 remaining.
Baldwin (2-2) will travel to play Prarie View next week. Anderson County drops to 0-4 on the season.
Baldwin 47, Anderson County 28
Anderson County 0 8 6 14 -- 28
Baldwin 21 12 6 8 -- 47
B -- Zach Good 73 run (Nathan Floersch kick).
B -- Ben Cosman 26 pass from Heath Knight (Floersch kick).
B -- Floersch 2 run (Floersch kick).
A -- Aaron Hardman 8 pass from Brandon Olson (Olson run)
B -- Cosman 19 pass from Knight (run failed).
B -- Adam Turk 28 run (run failed).
B -- Tyler Inzer 28 pass from Knight (run failed).
A -- Greg Doering 23 run (pass failed).
B -- Cosman 49 pass from Knight (Turk pass from Knight).
A -- Olson 5 run (run failed).
A -- Doering 11 run (Mark Bures run).
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