SPORTS

Bloom-Carroll gets win at home

Tonya Shipley

CARROLL — Another week, another fast start for Bloom-Carroll.

And more importantly it was another win.

In its home opener Bloom-Carroll defeated Bexley 27-17.

Forcing the Lions into a punt on their opening drive, the Bulldogs got a block that ended with Auston Sorg recovering it in the end zone for the touchdown. Just over a minute into the game, Bloom-Carroll had a 7-0 lead.

Early in the second quarter the Bulldogs drove down the field to set up a first-and-goal from the 6-yard line. But the Lions defense held until fourth-and-1 when Seth Paszke barreled through the line for the score to make it 13-0.

The play was very much in the style of second-year coach Wade Bartholomew.

“From the moment I got the job I told the kids I’m an extremely aggressive individual,” he said. “Fourth down is just another down for us to score a touchdown so when we get in those situations there is no hesitation.”

Bexley stormed back though, answering with its own drive that resulted in a field goal.

But when the Bulldogs again got the ball deep in Lions’ territory, a costly fumble gave Bexley another chance before halftime. Bexley drove it down to the Bulldog 15 where quarterback Simon Kroos hit Marcus Johnson for the touchdown making it 13-10 at the half.

Bloom-Carroll made it 20-10 part way through the third quarter when quarterback Justin Harvey ran it from 24 yards out.

Then a three-yard run from Nick Patsch made it 27-10.

Once again Bexley came back, cutting the score to 27-17 on a three-play drive that went 85 yards.

Bloom-Carroll began its next drive but stalled on a fourth-and-five. But again Bartholomew went for it, though, this time his team turned it over on downs.

The Lions got another chance and they too ended up in their own fourth down situation.

“They had to come up with something and they came up with a really good play. Our kids were extremely disciplined,” he said. “I grabbed our DBs and said listen we have to be disciplined and I think our kids on that play stayed home and forced them to make a play.”

The result was a turnover on downs.

Bloom-Carroll (2-0) faces Licking Valley (1-1) next week.