It was all déjà vu for the Alcovy Tigers (0-2) on Friday night as they took on the Baldwin Braves from Milledgeville, Georgia. In back-to-back weeks, they gave up 30 points on defense, but this time they weren’t able to get on the scoreboard, as the Braves torched Alcovy 30-0.

It was the same story for Tigers’ coach Kirk Hoffman as he watched his football team get physically outplayed in all aspects of the game. As a young team, Alcovy did make some mistakes that can be corrected with some good coaching.
But, its Achilles heel throughout the game was tackling. It was hard for the Tigers to get the ball carrier on the ground, no matter who it was. Also, Alcovy’s offensive line did not do a great job to help get the running game started.

“We got beat physically on both sides of the ball,” Hoffman said. “We’re young football team, no excuses, we just got to keep working, and keep getting better.”

Baldwin’s rushing attack was dynamic as they put up 209 yards on the ground in the first half alone. Mississippi State commitment Kentavious Thomas was the “real MVP” for the Braves Friday night, as he scored three touchdowns and totaled 138 yards on the ground.

From the start, Baldwin controlled this game and executed their game plan in easy fashion. It took only five plays to score on its first drive. Thomas carried the ball on the first four plays of the drive gaining 39 yards. Quarterback Felix Jones finished off the drive on a 23-yard keeper for a touchdown. Baldwin came right back on its second drive and marched down the field for another touchdown. The Braves scored on their first two drives without throwing a single pass.

Alcovy went three and out for its first three possessions of the game. Its offense just couldn’t get any type of rhythm early.

Alcovy’s defense did have a chance to get some type of momentum back from the Braves. Baldwin was driving the field on their third possession of the game, but the Tigers defense stood tall and forced a fourth down with 10 yards to go for Baldwin. But once again, Baldwin responded with a 37-yard bomb from Jones to Shelton Graves for a touchdown.
From that point on, it all went downhill for Alcovy.

On the next possession, Quarterback Bubba Hickson threw an errant pass and got intercepted by Baldwin. Kentavious Thomas cashed in the ensuing drive on a 20-yard TD run. Alcovy takes to the road against Pebblebrook next Friday.