The Carmi-White County Bulldog football team returns to the friendly confines of Harrington-Jeffries Sports Complex for Week 7 of the IHSA football season. The Bulldogs are coming off of a 52-14 win over CZR, meanwhile Edwards County fell to Sesser-Valier 56-7.
Edwards County comes into Friday’s game with a record of 1-5, although that one win came on a forfeit from Vienna-Goreville.
To say that the last few seasons for Edwards County have been a struggle would be an understatement. The Lions have not won an actual game since the 2021 spring COVID season, a year in which they actually beat the Bulldogs. Over the last 3 seasons, the Lions have dealt with low numbers and inexperience which has led to the unsuccessful campaigns. One positive takeaway for the Lions this season has been their willingness to compete. Of their 5 losses, 3 of which have been by less than 10 points. They fell to Eldorado 12-7 in Week 1, 20-19 to Flora in Week 3, and 10-0 to Hamilton County in Week 4. It’s one thing to lose, but when you lose games by a close margin, it helps keep that motivation through a long season.
Edwards County does present an offense that Carmi has not seen yet this season, the option. The Lions will run an offense similar to Georgia Tech, Army or Navy, running the option out of the I-Formation, which seems to be rare in today’s high school football. Edwards County was able to drive down and score on their opening possession last week against Sesser-Valier, but turnovers and struggles from the offensive line made things difficult for them to stay competitive with the unbeaten Red Devils.
The Lions’ leading rusher is senior Max Gerlach, who has carried it 51 times for 232 yards. Jackson Hensley has 141 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 46 carries. Quarterback Jax Duncan has 112 rushing yards on the year with 3 touchdowns.
“They have a couple kids who can run the ball,” said CWC head coach Kurt Simon.
“We haven’t seen much of the option this year, we have to be disciplined on our assignments.”
The Bulldogs will be without their starting left tackle, Eli Bryant. He injured his knee in the 2nd half of last week’s win over CZR. With Bryant out, Konner Buchanan makes his return after missing the last 3 games with a hand injury. He will fill Bryant’s spot at left tackle and sophomore Dakota Southerd will make his 4th varsity start at right tackle.
Calpreps.com predicts that the Bulldogs will win 42-7.
Fans who can’t attend the game will be able to watch on the WRUL Sports YouTube Channel and listen at 97.3 FM WRUL and online at WRUL.com. Jason Craig & Chris Myers will have all the action.
Kickoff is set for 7 PM, the Taylor Eye Care pregame show will begin at 6:45 PM.
