Howard offense finds footing in second half but fails to complete comeback in 49-36 loss to Baldwin

The good news for Howard was that the Huskies scored 36 points and battled till the end.

The bad news was that they still came up short.

Howard needed a half to get going on offense, but by that point Baldwin was up by three scores, too much to overcome in the Braves’ 49-36 win Thursday night over the Huskies at Thompson Stadium in Macon.

“Our offense showed up in the second half,” Howard head coach Trey Porter said. “When you’re in a shootout, you’ve got to make sure you’re capitalizing every quarter, every series, every possession.” 

Baldwin stayed alive in the race for a Region 4-3A top seed, improving to 5-1 in region play and 5-3 overall. Howard fell to 4-4 and 3-3.

The region is heavy with Augusta-area teams that were hammered by hurricane damage, forcing major changes to the schedule. While most of the state gets done on Friday night, Region 4-3A teams have two games left, one Tuesday and another next Saturday.

The loss put Howard in must-win mode for its next two games against Aquinas and Westside-Augusta to squeeze into the playoffs. With West Laurens’ 28-7 loss to Westside-Augusta on Thursday, Baldwin and Harlem are the lone one-loss teams in the region, followed by West Laurens and Westside-Augusta, both at 5-2.

Howard hosts Aquinas Tuesday and visits Westside-Augusta next Saturday.

Baldwin head coach Kevin Patterson spent his postgame chat laying into the Braves.

“We didn’t finish the game,” the first-year Baldwin boss said. “We’re a second-half team. We’re a fourth-quarter team. I feel we relaxed at the end of the game.

‘We didn’t make the plays to finish, so (we’re) big on finishing games the right way.”

The second half for Howard was a positive, the Huskies outscoring the Braves 29-20, including a nice 22-yard run in the final minute from quarterback Deon Wellons.

The second half sure had its big plays.

One came on Howard’s first scoring drive of the half, its second possession, an 86-yard drive in 12 plays. The last one was a perfect 42-yard pass from Wellons to Terrance Brown, pulling Howard within 29-14 at the 3:41 mark of the third quarter.

The momentum didn’t last, as Baldwin answered with a 10-play, 65-yard drive in which the Braves got 17 on third and 7 and six on third and 2 before quarterback Lamar Pounds went in from the 3.

“We got to get off on third down,” Porter said. “I don’t think they punted one time the whole night. You’ve got to win third down.”

A nice kickoff return set up Howard at its 43. A hold and a sack soon set up Howard with a fourth and 22 on its 31.

No problem. Wellons went deep again, connecting with Ta’Shawn Poole, who made a great catch in coverage, for a 47-yard gain. Five plays later, Jacolbie Allen went in from the 3 to get the Huskies back within 36-20.

And again, Baldwin answered, coming up big on fourth and 15 with a 16-yard gain on Pounds’ pass to Charlie Warren, Johnathan Butts going in from the 2-yardline a play later, upping the lead back up to three touchdowns.

Allen and Baldwin’s Labraydon Burden fought for possession on a long Wellons pass, but it was Allen who was awarded the catch for a 50-yard gain. Kameron Clark went in from the 15 two plays later, and it was again a 14-point game.

Baldwin didn’t do well at killing the clock, though. On second down, Pounds took off for a 62-yard touchdown run, just getting the snap off before the play clock ran out. Howard then scored again on Wellons’ late run.

Wellons ran for 43 yards, battling some sacks and losses, and completed 12 of 17 for 227 yards. Pounds completed 11 of 15 for 121 yards and ran 13 times for 144 yards.

Sharpness was not part of the early stages for either team. Howard couldn’t convert a Baldwin fumble at the Braves’ 35, as Baldwin picked off a pass inside the 5 and drove 76 yards, converting on two fourth downs before Pounds kept it from 22 yards out.

Howard then had a punt that looked blocked, but was only shanked, setting up Baldwin on the Huskies’ 19-yardline.

The Braves got to the 2 and went backwards for two plays before Pounds rolled right and hit Jaylen King for the 3-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead at the 9:46 mark of the second quarter.

Johnathan Butts went 27 yards on a second and 15 to set up a power run on fourth and goal from Jonquavious Russell for a score and 21-0 lead with 5:18 left in the half.

The Huskies got some late second-quarter momentum with a nine-play, 65-yard drive that improbably ended with points.

A pitchout to Allen went awry, and he reversed field only to lose 12 yards for third and 18 that became fourth and 11.

A first down somehow followed when Wellons connected with Xavier Simmons for 27 yards on fourth and 11, Wellons then hitting Allen with an 18-yard score with 54 seconds left in the half.

So much for the thought of halftime momentum, though. Baldwin’s Brandon Whisby returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a score to give Baldwin a 29-7 halftime lead.

Porter hopes the Huskies take the positives and negatives properly and come out amped next week.

“The second half, the fact that we finished,” he said of the main positive. “We could have been getting blown out and just tucked our tail. We kept playing to the end of the game. That’s all you can ask for.”