The Carmi-White County Football team celebrated Homecoming with a dominant 38-7 victory over Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton-Elverado at Harrington-Jeffries Stadium on Friday Night, winning their second straight game while putting together one of their most complete performances of the season.
Carmi jumped on the Bearcats early and never looked back.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a 14-play, 53-yard drive that ended with Cooper Hill finding the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run. Carmi was unable to convert the two-point attempt, but took an early 6-0 lead with 4:28 remaining in the opening quarter.
The defense then gave the Bulldogs an opportunity to extend that lead.
On just the second play of the ensuing CZRE possession, Cole Evans and Trenton Chambers combined to force a fumble, and Carmi recovered to take over at the Bearcats’ 41-yard line.
The Bulldogs needed just nine plays to capitalize. Kyzen Edwards punched it in from four yards out to cap the drive, and Branson Burnett ran in the two-point conversion to give Carmi a 14-0 lead with 10:39 remaining in the first half.
CZRE would threaten to get back into the game before halftime, moving into Carmi territory before turning the ball over on downs, however the Bulldogs were unable to capitalize. Facing a 4th & 15 at the Bearcat 46, quarterback Dakota Brown tried to connect with Isaac Northcott down the sideline, but the pass fell incomplete.
CZRE took over with less than a minute remaining and was able to run out the clock, sending the teams into halftime with Carmi holding a 14-0 advantage.
The Bearcats came out of halftime looking to cut into the Bulldogs’ lead and appeared to have the perfect opportunity on their opening possession. Landon Farmer broke free for what looked to be a 62-yard touchdown run, but the play was wiped out by a holding penalty. CZRE was unable to recover from the penalty and would punt two plays later.
It didn’t take long for the Bulldogs to answer.
On just the second play of their first possession of the second half, Hill took the handoff to the right side and found nothing but open field. The senior running back raced 44 yards past the CZRE defense for his second touchdown of the night. Burnett once again converted the two-point attempt, pushing Carmi’s lead to 22-0 with 6:40 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
The Bearcats nearly answered right back on the ensuing kickoff.
Tripp Fletcher, who entered the night as the Black Diamond Conference’s leading rusher, fielded the kick and broke down the sideline with open field in front of him. With just one Carmi defender left to beat, Keaton Grant tracked him down and made a huge touchdown-saving tackle, preventing six points and setting CZRE up inside the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line.
That tackle proved to be huge.
Just two plays later, the Bearcats fumbled the snap, and Matthew Kueber recovered for Carmi, giving the Bulldogs possession at their own 18-yard line.
Carmi would eventually face a 3rd & 15 at the CZRE 46 following a holding penalty, but Brown came through with one of the biggest plays of the night.
The junior quarterback took the snap and rolled to the left before receiving a big block from Northcott on the edge. Brown then cut back toward the middle of the field and raced past the entire CZRE defense for a 54-yard touchdown run, his first rushing touchdown of the season. Jazz Duckworth ran in the two-point conversion, and Carmi had opened up a 30-0 lead with just 40 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter.
The Bearcats turned the ball over on downs on their next possession, and the Bulldogs put the game away shortly after.
On the second play of the ensuing drive, Hill struck again. Hill took the handoff and exploded through the CZRE defense, racing 64 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the night. Reece Jamison converted the two-point attempt, giving Carmi a commanding 38-0 lead with seven minutes remaining.
CZRE would eventually find the end zone against the Carmi JV defense, but the Bulldogs cruised to the 38-7 victory.
“Our kids played really, really well tonight,” CWC head coach Clinton Wolff said. “Our Tuesday practice wasn’t the best, but they bounced back Wednesday and had a heck of a practice, and yesterday we were sharp in our walkthrough, and I thought our kids played a heck of a game tonight.”
While the offense put 38 points on the board, the biggest story of the night may have been what Carmi’s defense did to one of the conference’s top offensive weapons. Fletcher, who rushed for 230 yards and three touchdowns against Red Hill one week ago, entered Friday’s game as the BDC’s leading rusher, but the Bulldogs held him to just 32 rushing yards.
“I was a nervous wreck all week, because that offense is very unique and Tripp (Fletcher) is obviously a very good football player,” Wolff said. “I thought we had things lined up the way we needed to, but you just don’t know against that unique offense. Our kids did a great job executing.”
With the victory, the Bulldogs have now won two games in a row, outscoring their opponents 64-7 in those two games.
With two winnable games remaining in the regular season (at 1-6 Edwards County and home vs 0-7 Eldorado), Carmi has a legitimate shot to finish the regular season over .500 and potentially host a first-round playoff game with the new IHSA playoff format. But Wolff knows his team can’t afford to look too far ahead.
“These last two weeks have been great, but we still have two weeks to play,” Wolff said. “Now that we’ve won a couple of games, let’s go act like winners, let’s practice like winners, and let’s go continue to be winners.”
The Bulldogs will hit the road Friday night when they travel to Albion to take on Edwards County.
Stats courtesy of Toby Brown & crew:
RUSHING:
Cooper Hill (CWC) – 13 rush, 149 yards, 3 TD
Jazz Duckworth (CWC) – 14 rush, 83 yards
Dakota Brown (CWC) – 5 rush, 76 yards, TD
Hunter Hammonds (CZRE) – 13 rush, 58 yards
Branson Burnett (CWC) – 7 rush, 33 yards
Tripp Fletcher (CZRE) – 15 rush, 32 yards
Landon Farmer (CZRE) – 4 rush, 28 yards, TD
Kyzen Edwards (CWC) – 5 rush, 17 yards, TD
Reece Jamison (CWC) – 4 rush, 16 yards
Caleb King (CWC) – 2 rush, 3 yards
PASSING:
Tripp Fletcher (CZRE) – 1 / 3, 4 yards
Dakota Brown (CWC) – 0 / 3
RECEIVING:
Brydon Huie (CZRE) – 1 reception, 4 yards
TOTAL OFFENSE:
CWC – 377
CZRE – 122
TURNOVERS:
CZRE – 2
CWC – 0
FUMBLE RECOVERIES:
Matthew Kueber (CWC)
Branson Burnett (CWC)
1ST DOWNS:
CWC – 19
CZRE – 8
TIME OF POSSESSION:
CWC – 27:54
CZRE – 20:06
3RD DOWN:
CWC – 5 / 10
CZRE – 4 / 7
4TH DOWN:
CWC – 4 / 5
CZRE – 0 / 2
TACKLES:
Lex Day – 8 total, 5 solo, 3 asst, 1 TFL
Cole Evans – 7 total, 3 solo, 4 asst, 1 TFL
Keaton Grant – 5 total, 2 solo, 3 asst
Trenton Chambers – 4 total, 2 solo, 2 asst
Isaac Northcott – 3 total, 1 solo, 2 asst
Jazz Duckworth – 2 solo
Dakota Brown – 2 solo
Matthew Kueber – 2 solo
Broden Bradshaw – 2 solo
Branson Burnett – 2 solo
Cooper Hill – 2 total, 1 solo, 1 asst, 1 TFL
Kyzen Edwards – 1 solo, 1 TFL
Laeden Vargas – 1 solo
Jayse Digman – 1 solo
Drenna Aud – 1 solo
Jermaine Burton – 1 solo, 1 TFL
TeDerrion Hines – 1 solo
Tucker Pringle – 1 solo
Kenny Clark – 1 solo
Jacob Brenner – 1 asst
Justus Tauiliili – 1 asst
SCORING PLAYS:
4:28 1st Q – Cooper Hill 1-yard run (pass failed) | 6-0 CWC
10:39 2nd Q – Kyzen Edwards 4-yard run (Branson Burnett run) | 14-0 CWC
6:40 3rd Q – Hill 44-yard run (Burnett run) | 22-0 CWC
0:40 3rd Q – Dakota Brown 46-yard run (Jazz Duckworth run) | 30-0 CWC
7:18 4th Q – Hill 64-yard run (Reece Jamison run) | 38-0 CWC
3:24 4th Q – Landon Farmer 20-yard run (Logan Jackson kick) | 38-7 CWC