Kendrick Singleton catches a pass from Thomas Sirk.

The visiting Wildcat football fans outnumbered the Baldwin faithful the evening of August 25 at the Kickoff Classic. For their efforts, the BCHS fans were treated to an impressive 28-0 shutout of the Indians in one half of varsity play.

The Wildcats did not have to punt the ball as they moved up and down the field at ease against the Indians. Baldwin also collected some yardage, but when it counted the Wildcat defense stiffened and held their hosts scoreless.

It was a hot, muggy night, but with Hurricane Irene in the vicinity the only storm that broke in Baldwin was the Wildcat offense. Thomas Sirk gave the Indians a hint of what was to come on the first play when he lofted a 30-yard sideline pass to Kendrick Singleton. Only an excellent defensive play stopped BCHS from strolling into the end zone.

Baldwin was plagued by penalties all night and a face mask infraction moved to the ball to the BCHS 30-yard line. From there, Sirk found Singleton streaking down the left sideline and he carried three Baldwin defenders down to the 12-yard line. Three plays later, Falon Lee scored and Jeremy Wannamaker converted the extra point.

Mullis found running back Zabrieon Gunter and BCHS transfer Kelsey Kirksey drove all the way to the Wildcat 8-yard line. But defensive back Malone Hadley leaped high in the end zone to pick off Mullis’ pass and save the shutout.

Falon Lee, who finished the night with 110 yards, cracked a 10-yard run on the first play off the next series but was disappointed to find it nullified by a holding penalty. Sirk got the yardage right back with a strike to Hadley.

Lee, who showed patience against the Indians, picked his way to midfield, dodging and weaving past defenders. But on the next play it was sheer speed that left the Indians in his wake as Lee broke through the defensive line and sprinted to the end zone. The PAT was good to give the Wildcats a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Cats struck right back with a nice 30-yard run from Trey Mosley. He knocked off another 10-yard run to the Baldwin 30 and then Sirk showed his mobility as he pushed through defenders into the end zone.

Mullis continued to move the Indians well with short passes, but they were hampered by penalties. They drove the ball to within 20 yards of the end zone, but after three straight penalties found themselves back in their own territory with the drive shut down.

The Cats got the ball back on the 25-yard line and Sirk engineered a 75-yard drive to finish the scoring. He hit Singleton with a pass over the middle. Singleton froze the defender with an impressive spin move and ran to the 36. Wannamaker picked his way to midfield but a penalty brought it back to the original line of scrimmage.

Sirk then found Hadley over the middle to break into Baldwin territory at the 48 yard line. Lee ran the ball to the 15 and Singleton pushed it across for the score.

Thomas Sirk finished the half with 106 yards through the air and another 52 yards rushing. Singleton had a pair of catches for 64 yards and Hadley posted 32 yards receiving. Lee had 110 yards rushing and Wannamaker had 47 yards.

Jared Lee led the way defensively with 5.5 tackles while Rickie Tharpe and Roland Gaskins had four tackles each. Jon Kinney had a pair of sacks.

The junior varsity squad also shut out the Indians, winning their half of play 20-0.

The win is a good tune-up for Saturday afternoon’s match-up with the Westminster Wildcats in Carrollton, Georgia.