Baldwin shines, East loses in annual All-Star football game

With the West bench, and a huge partisan crowd, in the background Daniel Baldwin looks over the offense during last week's All Star football game at Bentonville's Tiger Stadium. (Times photo/Tim Blair) [Click to enlarge]

Former Piggott Mohawk Daniel Baldwin made an excellent showing in Friday night's Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star football game at Bentonville. Baldwin, who will walk on with the Arkansas Razorbacks this fall, played defensive back and on special teams as the east squad fell to the west by a final of 26-9. Also suiting up for the east was Corning's Jake McDonald, who played the majority of the game at left offensive tackle.

"It was a good experience, I was really lucky to be able to meet all these guys," Baldwin said of the experience, "it was a lot of fun." Of course, Baldwin would have been much happier to bring a win back to Clay County, but conceded that the opponents were loaded with talent, "it sure seemed like they had the picks of the litter, they had a lot of good guys and a lot of good players," he surmised.

For the record book, all six state football championships went to the western half of the state this past fall...and players from all six of those schools; Bentonville, Lake Hamilton, Pulaski Academy, Shiloh Christian, Charleston and Junction City were chosen for the west.

Also for the record books, with the win Friday night the west teams completed a 10-0 sweep as they took both baseball games, both softball games, both soccer games, both basketball games and the volleyball match in addition to the football contest.

The east team did feature the top kickers in the state as Paulo Henriques of West Memphis handled place kicking duties (with Baldwin holding for PAT and field goal tries) and Little Rock Catholic's Tyler Campbell doing the punting. Following the contest Baldwin commented that Henriques, who will attend the University of Memphis, is "the real deal." During warm-ups he was kicking record-length attempts, and during the game never had a kick-off brought out of the end zone. He also kicked a 39 yard field goal in the second quarter, but was never given the chance to show his distance. Meanwhile, Campbell punted six times for an average of nearly 54 yards. He had long punts of 71, 69 and 62 yards but saw his average fall after shanking one for a total of 26 yards.

The west squad won the ballgame by virtue of 229 yards passing on the night, and a couple of big interceptions. They trailed the east by a score of 9-6 at the halftime break, and then went on a 20-0 run in the second half to notch the win. Among those scores was a 51-yard touchdown on an interception by West Fork's Taylor Genz, who was chosen as the MVP. The west also scored on a trick play that was conceived by Bentonville head coach Barry Lunney that he dubbed the All-Star Special. The play had quarterback Pierre Vaughn pass to Pine Bluff's Cordara Frazier, who then hit Vaughn in the flat and he ran 35 yards for the score. On the night the west had over 225 yards passing and 113 on the ground.

Meanwhile, east quarterbacks Carter Callahan and Rollins Elam completed just 11 passes for 114 yards and the west squad held the east to just 23 yards rushing. Another disparity was in penalties, as the east was whistled for a total of 81 yards while the west gave up 35 yards to yellow flags.

Baldwin played over half the game at safety, and covered the far sideline on the kickoff team. As mentioned earlier, he also held on field goals and PAT's, and after the team's first touchdown was forced to scramble with the ball after a low snap but was dropped for no gain.

Following the contest Baldwin returned to Piggott, but is scheduled to return to Northwest Arkansas following the Fourth of July holiday for summer session. He'll be a preferred walk-on this fall with the Hogs, and will continue to work hard to try to earn a spot on the football roster.

Baldwin also enjoyed good local support, as a large crowd of family, coaches and friends made the long trip to Bentonville.