After a big 42-26 win over Fairfield in Week 5, the 4-1 Carmi-White County Bulldogs will travel to Christopher to face the 0-5 CZR Bearcats this Friday.
It has been another down year for the Bearcats. Tommy Spillan enters his first year as CZR’s head coach, their 3rd in the past 3 seasons. Spillan is trying to turn around a program that has been trying to turn around for the better half of a decade.
CZR has not had a winning season since 2008, and they have only beaten Carmi once (2009) since the Bulldogs joined the Black Diamond Conference in 2003. Despite the struggles, the Bulldogs still have to show up, execute and play their game.
The Bearcats will run a similar offense as to what the Bulldogs saw a couple of weeks ago with the Sesser-Valier Red Devils. They will spread things out, oftentimes with two wide receivers on each side of junior quarterback Carson Hobbs. Hobbs has thrown the ball 100 times this season for 710 yards, 4 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Hobbs’ favorite target is sophomore Landen Butler who has caught 19 passes for 302 yards and 3 touchdowns. Briar Rowland has also caught 9 passes for 145 yards and 1 touchdown. Rowland is also the team’s leading rusher, rushing for 456 yards and 3 touchdowns on 86 carries.
It’s not a secret that the Bulldogs are the heavy favorite to win this game. Calpreps.com predicts Carmi will do so by a final score of 51-10. Kurt Simon’s focus is on how his team can get better and still do things the right way.
“Obviously, they’re down right now,” said Simon. “We are more concerned about our execution and getting better every week and playing the game with great effort on every play.”
It was an incredible performance by the Bulldogs in Week 4 with their 42-26 win over Fairfield. In the contest, Noah Pollard rushed for the 11th most yards in a single game in CWCHS history with 256 to go along with his 4 touchdowns. Don’t expect Carmi to do much of anything different or “cute” this Friday. Lots of running plays, and hopefully lots of yards and points.
A win for the Bulldogs will make them playoff eligible for the 3rd straight season.
Fans who can’t make the long road trip to Christopher will be able to listen and watch the game on 97.3 FM WRUL and the WRUL Sports YouTube Channel.
