By Steve Siniski
After taking a 3-0 lead in the second quarter on Zach Rodgers 28-yard field goal, any control Baldwin had on the scoreboard Baldwin slipped away in a hurry. The Knights scored on a 3-yard run in the final minute of the half and added a safety and two more touchdowns in the third quarter to open a 20-point lead.
An injury to quarterback Donald Clemens brought Paul Murphy into the game for the second half, and along with him came a change in offensive approach. Because Uniondale had been able to penetrate the Baldwin offensive line, Clemens had little or no time to look downfield for receivers.
"[Donald] Clemens did as well as he could for the amount of time he had," coach Steve Carroll said.
The overpowering Knights also wreaked havoc on the Bruins ground attack, further complicating matters for the offense.
"We made a lot of mistakes in the blitz pickups," Carroll said. "Unfortunately in the Power I we couldn't get the runs to work,"
In an effort to turn around an offensive attack that had been limited to negative yards in the first 24 minutes when sacks were brought into the equation, Carroll altered the formation at the line of scrimmage. "We decided to go to the shotgun and that helped," he said. "It gave the quarterback time to get out of the pocket."
Trailing 23-3, the strong-armed Murphy completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Brendan Bellew after the defense recovered a fumble. Tailback Anthony Williams converted another fumble into a Bruins' touchdown with a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
"We came back a little and showed progress," Carroll said. "After getting beat up physically, we hung in there. The fact that we stayed in [the game] that was a real good thing."
The jump from training camp to the first regular season game is a big one for any team and the adjustment is substantially bigger for a program ushering in so many new faces at the same time.
"We did well in the scrimmages but the scrimmages are not games," Carroll said.
"When you get to games everything's 100 miles an hour. Even though it was frustrating, [the team] saw that we can move the ball if they do their assignments."
Special teams continued to be a strong point for Baldwin, as Rodgers converted both extra-point attempts to go along with his field goal, while the Uniondale return team was kept under wraps. Linebacker Ricky Gibbs and nose-guard Andrew Gregory were among the Bruins who stepped up in the second half. Gibbs notched several tackles for loss and proved effective on blitzes.
Baldwin opens its home season at the Middle School this Thursday when Hempstead is in town at 4 p.m. The Tigers dropped a 35-13 decision to top-seeded East Meadow. Those same Jets are on tap for Baldwin at home on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.
"It's a long grind and we have to get focused," Carroll said.
