Prep Football: Bulldogs flex BDC muscle
A familiar foe - the deep pass and a lesser-known one - Carmi senior Logan Weller - helped do in the Eldorado Eagles Friday in an abbreviated 28-6 loss in White County.
Weller, who carried the ball only four times for nine yards last year in Eldorado's Week 2 shutout win over the Bulldogs, scored all four touchdowns and racked up 175 all-purpose yards to help Kurt Simon's team end a two-year losing streak against the Eagles.
The game was halted due to lightning - and ultimately called - with 10:34 to go in the fourth.
Weller caught an 18-yard touchdown strike from sophomore Jake Simon in the first quarter and added TD runs of 46, 13 and nine yards later in the night.
Inasmuch as they were dominated at the line in a Week 1 loss to state-ranked Bismarck-Henning, the Bulldogs were the aggressors in the trenches Friday, racking up 229 yards on 35 rushing attempts and yielding only one sack.
"The kids executed so much better tonight," said Carmi-White County head coach Kurt Simon. "We played a more physical ballgame and kids were making plays. Our defense played really well with some new kids in there. There were a lot of good things we saw tonight."
One of Carmi's few mistakes on the night, a Weller fumble, was quickly converted into an Eldorado touchdown on a 32-yard scamper by junior Drew Woolcot early in the third period. The TD quieted the home crowd and brought new life to the Eagles, who pulled within two scores at 21-6.
Eldorado head coach Brandon Hampton tried to seize the momentum by going for an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but it was cleanly fielded by Bulldog junior Trae Smith.
After back-to-back penalties and a short gain by Weller, the hosts were facing a third-and-27 from their own 26 when senior QB Jordan Large hit Clay Vaught for a 62-yard gain down the right sideline.
The long bomb re-ignited the home crowd and two plays later, Weller scored from nine yards out to put the game out of reach.
EHS had given up 244 yards in the air - including a Hail Mary touchdown - last week against Sesser-Valier.
"Carmi really came out and out-played us in all facets tonight," said Hampton. "They out-coached us, they out-played us, they out-hit us. You have to give them a lot of credit. I thought our team competed a little better in the second half," he said. We got a touchdown and went for an onside kick, but didn't get it. We got real close to getting a stop after that, but they threw the ball over our head, which has been our Achilles Heel."
Woolcot paced Eldorado's offense with 50 yards on six carries. Logan Kanady added 34.
"The two things that are slowing this football team down right now are giving up big plays and the penalties our offense seems to get when we get into a rhythm," said Hampton. "We need to correct these mistakes and get ready for CZR next week.
"I really thought Carmi had an advantage by playing Bismarck-Henning last week. They're a top program. It was a physical game and they got better for doing that. Kudos to them for having the vision to schedule a game like that before they get into conference play."
Eldorado 0 0 6 0 6
Carmi-White Co. 7 14 7 0 28
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CWC - Logan Weller 18 catch from Jake Simon (Simon kick), 2:36
Second Quarter
CWC - Weller 46 run (kick failed), 11:20
CWC - Weller 13 run (Weller catch from Simon), 1:37
Third Quarter
Eld - Drew Woolcot 32 run (run failed), 6:24
CWC - Weller 9 run (Simon kick), 4:19
Eld CWC
6 First Downs 17
27-140 Rushing 35-229
2-6-0 Pass-Att-INT 5-9-0
26 Passing Yards 120
166 Total Offense 349
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
1 Turnovers 1
4-30 Penalty 6-45
2-63-31.5 Punts None
17:28 Possession 19:58
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Eld - Woolcot 6-50, Kanady 4-34, Vessel 8-17, Burnett 4-16, Emmons 4-15, Price 1-8; CWC - Weller 18-155, Russell 12-74, Cross 2-6, Large 2-4, Simon 1-(-10)
PASSING: Eld - Burnett 2-6-26 (0 TDs, 0 INT); CWC - Simon 4-8-58 (1 TD, 0 INT), Large 1-1-62 (0 TD, 0 INT)
RECEIVING: Eld - Kaiser 1-24, Emmons 1-2; CWC - Lucas 3-40, C. Vaught 1-62, Weller 1-18