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Season Preview: Bloom-Carroll looks to continue their winning ways
By: Charlie Ihlenfeld
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CARROLL, Ohio (WOUB) – Head coach Jeremy Mckinney and the Bloom-Carroll Bulldogs have been on top of the football world for the past two years.
In his first two seasons at the helm, Mckinney and the Bulldogs have finished 24-5. That includes a run to the state title in his first season where Bloom-Carroll fell 35-14 to Canfield. A massive component of that success was the efforts of some of the greatest players in school history. Many of those players have since departed the program.
The Bulldogs have seven starters from last year’s team playing football at the collegiate level this year. Bloom-Carroll will miss three players in particular from last year’s team: Brodyn Bishop, Dylan Armentrout, and Jaden Ball. All three will be playing Division One Football this year at Kent State, Army and Purdue respectively.
As for how he can replace their production, coach Mckinney remarked, “It’s going to be by committee. I don’t know if a single person would have the numbers that Dylan or Brodyn would have, and Jaden is a very special football player. We don’t have anyone that is Jaden Ball.”
It would be difficult to reproduce the accomplishments of the trio.
In his time at Bloom-Carroll, Armentrout smashed the school rushing record with 2,178 rushing yards in a single season. Bishop became one of the most decorated safeties in the region, racking up All-State, All-Conference and All-District honors for his performance.
Jaden Ball put up numbers at tackle that are hard to fathom, compiling 325 pancakes through the course of his time as a Bulldog. Despite their departure, replacing elite production is something Bloom-Carroll is accustomed to. After their state-runner-up season, the Bulldogs lost star linebacker Andrew Marshall, now a fixture of the Ohio University defense.
That is something coach Mickinney acknowledged while talking about the outlook for this season, and they are used to the doubters believing they cannot repeat their previous accomplishments. He commented, “We heard that last year, and the year before and the year before that. So, our plan is to go out and play Bloom-Carroll football and let the chips fall where they may.”
The team has bought into the culture of next man up at the program, and no one seems to grasp the family the Bulldogs have built more than senior tight end Michael Stevenson. When describing why Bloom-Carroll will continue to succeed despite their new look, he said, “Guys have been stepping up, working hard, and I think the expectation is to play together and see how far we will go.”
No matter how far they go, Stevenson and the Bulldogs will be going together. Bloom-Carroll has created a culture over the course of its past seasons of unprecedented success.
Coach Mckinney was proud to report the team had grown to 96 players from 9th to 12th grade. Stevenson described the Bulldogs as a “Family. I think a lot more so than last year. A lot better leadership. We break on family. Anytime we get a chance, we eat team meals. I feel like we are a family.”
That was a sentiment echoed by his coach, “Whether you’re a four-year letterman or a three-year starting quarterback, they guys know each other, love each other and what we do is really for each other.”
For this family, their final destination of Canton has remained a constant in their minds. Senior quarterback Ethan Thanthanvong said, “The first expectation is to win the MSL, and the next one is to win the state championship.”