Special teams still a Baldwin staple

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Farmingdale followed up a late touchdown in the first half with three quick scores in the third quarter, turning a hard-fought defensive battle into a 28-0 victory over Baldwin (1-2 overall) last Friday night. The scoring blitz included touchdown runs of 11, 52 and 30 yards from Dalers running back Jordan McLune.

“We played a phenomenal first half,” Bruins head coach Steve Carroll said of the quick turnaround on the scoreboard. “We played one of the best halves I’ve seen in a long time.”

Growing pains were a given for a Baldwin program filling plenty of positions after graduating 29 players from last year’s team that advanced to the Nassau County Conference I championship game. But regardless of who’s lining up on offense or defense, there’s one area of the football field that Carroll always expects his players to make an impact—special teams. And it’s the special teams unit that not only put an exclamation point on the team’s first victory of the season, 13-6 over Uniondale on Sept. 19, but somewhat fittingly the 150th of Carroll’s career.

The Knights tied the game late in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run, setting the stage for sophomore David Garcia’s special teams’ heroics. On the ensuing kickoff, Carroll called for a wall left block by his return unit, and the ball was directed right to Garcia standing on the left side, who followed his blockers 65 yards for the game-winning touchdown with just 1:12 left to play. “Things couldn’t have fallen into place any better,” Carroll said. “The guys all made their blocks and Garcia just took off.”

Senior Jerome Martin, a lineman who also handles kickoff duties for Baldwin, sent his next kickoff into the end zone for a touchback eliminating any chance of the Knights pulling off a big play of their own. The Bruins also had a punt block earlier in the fourth quarter that set up a 45-yard touchdown run by senior Matt Henry on the next play.

“The special teams, we talked exactly about it in our Friday night meetings,” Carroll said. “I am a huge believer [in pushing success in that area] because they can make such a [big difference].”

Henry finished the game with 112 yards rushing on 11 carries, following the blocks of his lineman that include seniors Jacorie Norworthy and Miguel McKenzie. “They’re playing the way we expected them to,” Carroll said of his two linemen. “They are leaders of the team.”

Henry has become the go-to runner for Baldwin and while he can hit the holes inside or out, it’s the ability to make cuts that really gives defenders fits. “He’s very impressive because his legs don’t stop moving,” Carroll said. “He has an uncanny way of making cuts. [On one touchdown run], he looked like he was ready to get blown up by two defenders, cut in a different way, they ran into each other and he went in for a touchdown. We can’t teach kids out to cut like that.”

Baldwin looks to get back on the winning track this Saturday when Herricks comes to town for a 3 p.m. kickoff.