The wait is over — the high school football season has finally arrived. The Carmi-White County Bulldogs will open their 2025 campaign on the road this Friday when they travel to Johnston City to face the Indians. The matchup was originally scheduled to be played at Harrington-Jeffries Stadium in Carmi, but poor field conditions forced the contest to be moved to JCHS.
Carmi enters the season with both optimism and uncertainty following a successful 7-3 run in 2024 that ended in a heartbreaking 35-30 first-round playoff loss to Warrensburg-Latham. The Bulldogs must replace a talented senior class that carried much of the load a year ago. Gone are the team’s leading receiver, top four tacklers, top three rushers, top three scorers, and sack leader. With major production leaving in graduation, the Bulldogs look to the Class of 2026 Seniors to step in and lead the team this fall.
Madden Anderson returns for his second season as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs. Anderson controlled the run-first Bulldog offense, starting all 10 games and completing 12 of 25 pass attempts for 116 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Anderson also snuck in three touchdowns on the ground.
Michael Miller, Dakota Southerd, and Nolan Aud return to the Bulldog offensive line in 2025 after starting every game up front in 2024. Aud and Southerd were All-BDC selections last season, Aud making the 2nd Team and Southerd being recognized as an Honorable Mention.
Josyah Perez started nearly every game in 2024 on the defensive line, with a couple of starts on the o-line as well. He was top ten on the team in tackles with 21, to go along with two tackles for loss and one sack.
Brodie Swanberg returns to CWC where we attended until his sophomore year. Swanberg spent the last two seasons at Grayson County High School in Kentucky, but has moved back to Carmi for his senior year.
While the seniors will be asked to set the tone, underclassmen are expected to play a major role. Six juniors appear ready to step into larger roles, including Javan Agan, Laeden Vargas, and Jazz Duckworth, all of whom saw significant varsity time last year. Jayse Digman played some varsity snaps but was mainly a JV player, he will now step into a starting role on the offensive line. Cayden Welch prepares for his first season as a varsity starter at safety.
The sophomore class is deep and talented. Dakota Brown started nearly every game for the Bulldogs as a defensive back. He was tied for the team-lead in interceptions with two, and was eighth on the team in tackles with 23. Kyzen Edwards started every game as a freshman as a tight end. He will be shifting to fullback this year, and will also be one of the team’s middle linebackers on defense. Fans got to witness Cooper Hill’s speed in a few instances last season, including a 52-yard touchdown run against CZR in last year’s Homecoming Game. Hill will see some time in the CWC backfield this season, as well as being one of the team’s starting safeties. Cole Evans and Branson Burnett played some special teams snaps as freshmen, and they are also expected to be full-time starters this year.
“We’re a young team,” said CWC Head Coach Clinton Wolff. “We’ve got some big shoes to fill from graduation, and it may be a learning curve for them these first couple of weeks.”
Wolff is entering his first year as head coach. He spent the previous 19 seasons as an assistant on Kurt Simon’s staff. Simon retired in May after 28 years as the CWCHS Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. Despite the changing of the guard, Wolff says there isn’t much of a difference in schematics between him and Simon.
“I played for Coach Simon for two years and coached with him for 19 years, and there are so many similarities. Obviously, his and I’s personalities are a little bit different, so just the tone of practice is a little bit different, but our scheme hasn’t really changed. As far as my approach, it’s been the same, it’s what I group up with, I haven’t worked for anyone else and so there’s only one thing I really know.”
The Bulldogs will still be a run-heavy team under Wolff in 2025. Expect Brown, Duckworth, Edwards, and Hill to all receive their fare share of carries in the Bulldogs’ rushing attack.
As for the Bulldogs’ Week 1 opponent, the Johnston City Indians, they are also going through a change at head coach. Todd Thomas stepped down after leading the Indians to a 53-19 record in seven seasons which included two trips to the IHSA Class 2A Semifinals (2022 & 2024) and three Black Diamond Conference titles. Marshall Mummert, one of Thomas’ assistants, is now the head coach with Thomas still helping as the lead assistant.
Although Johnston City lost key contributors to graduation, the program returns one of the league’s premier playmakers in running back Jace Weaver. Weaver (#22) rushed for 1,173 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, earning First-Team All-BDC honors. At just 5-foot-3, Weaver may be undersized, but his explosiveness makes him one of the toughest players to contain in the conference. Fellow backs Marcus Leitzen (#33) and Trey Johnson (#11), both top-20 rushers in the BDC in 2024, round out the backfield. Quarterback Kaden Koenig returns as well, giving the Indians veteran leadership under center in their foot-to-foot rushing attack.
Johnston City controlled last year’s Week 9 meeting, winning 28-6. The Bulldogs will now look to reverse their fortunes and earn their first win over the Indians since 2019, and their first in Johnston City since 2016.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Johnston City High School. Fans can listen on 97.3 FM WRUL and stream the broadcast live on the WRUL Sports YouTube channel.