Black Hills surprise undefeated team heading into showdown with W.F. West
The youngest of four siblings, Garrett Baldwin always wanted a little brother. In a way, he’s now got 54 of them.
No, they aren’t biological brothers or even stepbrothers. But for a head football coach still in his early 30s, Baldwin relates to his Black Hills Wolves in a different way.
“I get to be the big brother, more than a father figure,” Baldwin said.
In just his second season as the head man at Black Hills, Baldwin’s approach seems to be working. The Wolves are enjoying success on the field at a rate not seen for several years.
As they prepare for a Friday showdown against 2A Evergreen Conference contender W.F. West, the Wolves are unbeaten so far this season at 3-0. The crosstown showdown with perennial state power Tumwater is down the road several weeks, but Friday will provide a solid test for just what this Black Hills team really has.
“I pride myself on brutal honesty,” Baldwin said. “And this is a big game, against a team we feel is Top 10. Yes, it’s a road bump to being a state champion. But it’s an opportunity. If we win this game, I believe it’s league title all the way. And it’s a privilege to have this pressure come down on us.”
Already, the Wolves have nearly as many victories as the program amassed over the last three seasons combined – a stretch during which Black Hills won a total of five games. That dismal run from 2019-2021 followed immediately upon the heels of a 2018 group that made the playoffs.
That success proved unsustainable. So, two years ago Black Hills went looking for a new direction. At the same time, Baldwin found himself looking for a new challenge.
“I was looking into college opportunities,” Baldwin said. “When the college stuff didn’t work out, I thought I’d come back to my old stomping grounds and be an assistant coach. I’d always wanted to coach here.”
Baldwin played for Black Hills from 2006-2010 and played on two playoff teams as a junior and senior. He went on to Whitworth College in Spokane, then started coaching. When he looked into his alma mater two years ago, he found not just an assistant position but the head coaching job open and applied.
That first year yielded just a single win. But Baldwin already could see the change that has taken place in 2022 coming last season.
“This is exactly what I thought would happen,” Baldwin said. “I quickly saw the talent that was here. They were willing to do all the things necessary – studying, running, lifting.”
And Baldwin had some leadership in the upper classes that were ready to bring a new mentality to the football program at Black Hills.
“Coach Baldwin always talks about leaving a seven-year impact,” senior captain Tanner Parkinson said. “What we do to help the freshmen and young guys coming in, those guys will then do for the next group of freshmen.”
That message is spread by Parkinson and fellow senior captains Keagan Rongen, Hank Spray and Johnny Stallings to a hungry group of Wolves.
“It’s just so nice to be around,” sophomore quarterback Jaxsen Beck said. “We have a lot of older, supportive guys. But we’re never satisfied.”
Beck stepped right into the quarterback role for Black Hills as a freshmen and has continued to improve as a sophomore. He threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in a season-opening win over Montesano, navigated the team to a 15-0 win over Class 3A North Thurston in Week 2 and the Wolves opened Evergreen play with a convincing 34-7 win over Rochester a week ago.
“The goal is to beat everybody every week,” Beck said. “It’s really cool for us. We really wanted to change the culture here. And every day, we come in with a good attitude.”
It’s an attitude of expectation, that success can be attained. And it starts at the top.
“It’s a team effort,” Parkinson said. “And coach has just kept pushing us. The switch feels amazing to have. But it’s definitely been hard work to get here.”
Parkinson points to the weight room as an example, where he says there often are 40 people working out next to each other at any given time. It’s a manifestation of what Baldwin saw when he first arrived back at Black Hills, and of the attitude he’s been honing as a coach for almost as long as he can remember.
Even during his days playing at Black Hills, Baldwin had started his coaching career.
“I used to get done with practice, take off my pads and go over to coach our MJB guys,” Baldwin said.
The Major Junior Varsity players are fifth graders learning the game. They were Baldwin’s first set of “little brother” players. Nearly 15 years later, his current group is building the foundation for sustainable success on the other side of Tumwater.