Kurt Simon and the Carmi-White County Bulldogs kicked off the 2022 IHSA Football season with a dominant 46-6 victory over the Hamilton County Foxes in McLeansboro on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs started the night off with a 71-yard opening drive that was capped off by a 9-yard touchdown run by Isaac King. Quarterback Warren Legg would sneak in the two-point conversion and the Bulldogs led 8-0 with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldog defense would force a 3-and-out on Hamilton County’s first possession, and CWC would march right back down the field, this time with the aid of the passing game also. Legg found senior tight end Tyler Goemaat wide open deep into Hamilton County territory to set up a first and goal at the Foxes 10 yard line. Two plays later King would punch it in for his 2nd touchdown of the first quarter and it was a 16-0 CWC lead with 3:40 left in the first.
Another Hamilton County punt led to another Carmi-White County touchdown, this time it was Legg sneaking it in from a yard out to push the Bulldog lead to 24-0 with 9:02 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Foxes would turn the ball over on downs on their ensuing possession which Carmi would turn into points. The Bulldogs put together a nice two-minute drill that capped off by Legg finding his other tight end, Nate Brown, in the endzone for a 29-yard touchdown pass right before the end of the half. Bulldogs led 30-0 at intermission.
The Bulldogs picked up where they left off from the first half on their first possession of the 2nd half. King would rush for his third touchdown of the game, this time from 5 yards out. Caleb Seibers converted the two-point play and Carmi led 38-0 after 3 quarters of play.
Early in the 4th, the Bulldogs capped off yet another long drive with a 17-yard touchdown run by Andrew Dodgson to extend the CWC lead to 46-0.
The Foxes would score once on the Bulldogs Junior Varsity defense to make the score 46-6, and Carmi-White County would win by that score.
“We knew our offensive line was a strength for us, and they showed it tonight,” said CWC head coach Kurt Simon. “Warren Legg did a really nice job managing things tonight, I was really proud of him,” mentioned Simon. “Our defense did a great job at swarming to the ball and stuffing their run game. Overall, we were really pleased with what we saw tonight.”
The Bulldogs begin the year 1-0 for the 2nd straight year, they will host the Vienna-Goreville Eagles at home next Friday, September 2nd. Vienna-Goreville did not have a team in 2021 due to a lack of players, but with a new head coach, numbers are up and the Eagles are back. They will take on Sesser-Valier, Carmi’s week 3 opponent, later on Saturday (8/27).
Bulldog Football Stats from Week 1 (courtesy of Toby Brown, Bryan Weaver and Jeremy Nelson):
