The Putnam County War Eagles started the season off on the wrong foot last Friday with a 33-13 loss to Baldwin County.
The Braves took advantage of early Putnam mistakes and never trailed in the game. However, despite getting down by as many as four scores late in the third quarter, the War Eagles never gave up and fought until the end.
Putnam County head coach Joel Harvin, in his first season with the program, said a number of things were the cause of the War Eagles’ problems in their season opener.
“You could tell we hadn’t played a regular game yet,” Harvin said. “The week off trying to prepare and having to battle the heat with not getting to practice outside, you could tell we were rusty. But as the game went on, I felt like our kids got a little bit more comfortable. We calmed down.”
Harvin also pointed to Putnam County being untested at the moment.
“We’re inexperienced and young. We had a lot of things you’d expect from a team like that with fumbles, penalties, bad snaps and stuff like that,” he said. “Hopefully we got that stuff out of our system and we can tighten up on the things we need to fix. Just take the positives and move on.”
Baldwin got the scoring started in the first quarter as quarterback Lamar Pounds scored on a 1-yard sneak. His short keeper was set up by a series of long rushes by running back Micah Welch.
The Braves added another touchdown on a 31-yard scoop-and-score by Jalen King, who recovered the ball after a botched snap went over the head of Putnam backup quarterback Allan Hill.
Baldwin led 13-0 at the intermission. The War Eagles had two chances to score late in the second quarter but couldn’t hit a pair of field goals.
Putnam junior quarterback Jamarion Robertson rotated in and completed a long strike to sophomore wideout Jayson Smith, but the distance was too far for kicker Alex Jiminez’s leg.
A few minutes later, senior defensive back Kaleb Crawford picked off Pounds and returned it inside Baldwin territory. However, Jimenez was again unable to hit a 47-yard field goal to end the half.
Harvin said Baldwin’s defensive front created a lot of problems for his guys in the trenches.
“They were very athletic up front,” he said. “Those first three series they were handling us up front, but we made some adjustments … and we settled down. We were able to make the blocks we needed and running backs were hitting holes they needed to hit.”
Putnam took that motivation into the second half, driving down deep inside the Braves’ red zone, but a fumble stopped their drive as Baldwin’s Labrayden Burden came up with the ball. A few minutes later, Welch took a toss sweep to the right that was good for 35 yards, getting Baldwin to the Putnam 30-yard line. A few plays later, Pounds walked his way into the end zone on a 10-yard keeper.
The Braves led 20-0 heading into the fourth, but on the first play from scrimmage, Welch scored his first touchdown. He broke through a hole and raced 45 yards to the end zone, extending the lead.
Putnam didn’t give up, though.
Sophomore Bryson Brown found the end zone for the War Eagles’ first score of the contest. On the War Eagles’ next drive, quarterback Branan Griffin scored on a rush to make it 27-13 with four minutes left.
Harvin acknowledged Brown’s effort and how he came in to help the offense when it needed a spark.
“Bryson is a young running back. He’s a tough sophomore … [and] helped move the ball there with Rashod [Daniel] playing both ways,” Harvin said. “Bryson stepped in and was able to ease the load on Rashod. Up front, Mark Watkins also helped out as well. He plays both ways and never came off the field. Very proud of those two guys and their efforts.”
Still, even as Putnam picked up some momentum, Welch stomped it out with another scoring run. The senior Baldwin running back ran past tacklers on 2nd-and-4, going for a 54-yard touchdown rush.
A highlight for Putnam was its rushing attack. The War Eagles totaled 219 yards on 43 rushes, an average of 5.3 yards per carry. Daniel led the team in yards with 81 on 13 attempts, followed by Foster with 50 yards and a touchdown. Little ended the night with 37 yards on four carries in the loss.
Defensively, Watkins and Tyson Waller finished the game tied for the lead in tackles with four each. Daniel, Mark Little, Cory Foster, Omarion Butts and Blake Tiller had three tackles apiece. Crawford had the War Eagles’ lone defensive turnover with his interception before the end of the first half.
“Obviously, we’ve got stuff to fix and that we need to work on, but we felt like we did a good job in the second half,” Harvin said. “Things started clicking there in the second quarter, and obviously we scored in the third. It just took a little while for us to get settled in. To give up a touchdown on a snap set us back a little bit. We’re going to try to fix that and make ourselves better.”
Putnam County is on the road again next Friday at Oconee County for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff in Watkinsville.