photo by: Baldwin High School

Baldwin High senior Jack Harvey is eager to change the narrative surrounding the Bulldogs football program in his final year.

Senior Spotlight is a summer series highlighting incoming area high school senior athletes.

Jack Harvey is another piece of the puzzle for a Baldwin High football team desperate to compete this fall. The Bulldogs, who won seven combined games over the past four years, are a work in progress under third-year head coach Bob Lisher.

Baldwin hasn’t posted a winning season since 2013 under Mike Berg (11-1).

Lisher, who compiled a 148-85 coaching record during his 22-year career at Free State High, welcomed just 20 players to the team upon his arrival in Baldwin City two years ago. Since his arrival, Lisher’s roster size has nearly doubled.

Harvey, a quarterback, is one of five total seniors — along with wide receiver Tristen Kapelle, running back Cody Buck, wide receiver Joey Ziembicki and linebacker Guy Morgan — on Baldwin’s returning roster.

“We have the right tools and the right people to turn this program around, but just enough of the right people,” Harvey said. “There’s usually about 30 guys that come in during (weights), but you can’t turn the program around by just doing that kind of stuff.”

Last season, Baldwin (3-6) took a step in the right direction, winning three consecutive games — Santa Fe Trail, Anderson County and Osawatomie — before ending the year with a 63-8 loss to Hayden Catholic in the Class 3A playoffs.

Those three wins generated a palpable buzz around Baldwin football.

“As we won, our crowd got a lot bigger and a lot more support,” Lisher said. “You could see the pride in our kids. The fact that they were able to start building it back up. I mean, Baldwin used to be a great football town and home to a great football program. There’s a real opportunity there this year with the guys we have and Jack leading the offense.”

Harvey, a Texas native, stood out to Lisher last fall, prompting the longtime area coach to name him his starter. That call proved itself justified, as Harvey, a 2022 Journal-World All-Area selection, racked up 1,651 yards of total offense with 12 rushing touchdowns and seven more TDs through the air.

Doing a little bit of everything last year, Harvey also ended last season registering 36 tackles and an interception at free safety.

While Harvey’s athleticism can stick him in multiple positions, Lisher’s desire to establish a dependable run game is seemingly a priority this summer. The returning senior running back Buck, along with sophomore Brenden O’Connor, can expect plenty of touches this fall.

Returning depth is a refreshing change of pace for a Baldwin program that’s seen very little of it over the last handful of seasons.

“We have three returning linemen that’ve been starting since their freshman year, so there’s a lot of experience carrying the backfield,” Harvey said. “The wide receivers squad, I’ll admit is pretty young, so it’s going to be interesting to see how that’s going to work out.”

As the Baldwin offense takes shape, Lisher knows his five seniors are laying the groundwork for something that’ll benefit his program long after the 2023 season kicks off.

“We have five seniors, again, that want to leave the program better than when they found it,” Lisher said. “They want to keep it growing and that’s kind of what we put into our motto this year.”