Bloom-Carroll Football Ready For Another Successful Season

By: Bryan Kurp
Posted on: Tuesday, August 3, 2021

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CARROLL, Ohio (WOUB) — The Bloom-Carroll Bulldogs are coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history.

The Bulldogs won their third-straight Mid-State League title after an undefeated 6-0 regular season record, their first ever regional title and their first ever state final four game.  All that success came in a shortened 2020 season in the middle of a pandemic.

With a normal 2021 season set to kick off in the next few weeks, Bloom-Carroll is ready to get back on the field.

“I knew we had a (2020) season.  It was awesome but it was kind of a depressive season in a sense,” Head Coach Wade Bartholomew said.  “You really couldn’t hang out with the kids or get to know them or kind of spend that quality time.  Knowing that it’s all kind of back to normal just makes everything so much sweeter.”

Bloom-Carroll’s defense was considered one of the best in the state a year ago.  The Bulldogs allowed just 51 points in their ten games with six shutouts.

The Bulldogs return two all-state defensive backs in Brandon Totten and Beau Wisecarver. They hope to lead that same defense to success this fall.

“Our expectations are the same but probably a lot higher because we’re returning a lot of our starters on defense so our goal is to keep lowering that points per game average just to make it easier on our offense,” Totten said.

Wisecarver and Totten will also be impact players for Bloom-Carroll’s offense.

The Bulldogs return their starting quarterback KJ Benedict, who anchored the Bulldogs’ offense to the state semifinals.  The return of Benedict, Wisecarver, Totten and other offensive starters will be a major asset for Bloom-Carroll.

“All the seniors and juniors that we have that played in those big games and we know that will take us a long way whenever we do get (to the playoffs) so just having players that have played there will make us that much more prepared,” Benedict said.

While the Bulldogs have lofty goals, Bartholomew said it is important for the team to stay focused every day.

“Our kids have different expectations.  The community I think has different expectations, but I think we as a coaching staff, the thing we can do is keep our kids humble and grounded and know that we got to get to August 2nd.”

Bloom-Carroll is set to kick off its season on Aug. 20 at Highland.