Senior quarterback Jordan Sanders is used to winning. He’s confident he can do that at Bloom, too.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Sanders transferred this fall from Merrillville in Indiana, where last season he led the Pirates to an 11-2 record and a semistate appearance.
The Blazing Trojans went just 3-5 last year — they did not play a Week 3 game — and haven’t made the playoffs since 2017. But Sanders believes a turnaround is coming. And he feels at home.
“This is a new program for me and it’s way better over here,” Sanders said. “I actually have coaches and players that want to be around me. It’s just great all around.”
Sanders is 2-for-2 so far at his new school. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Javion Hatten and ran for a 1-yard TD Saturday as host Bloom held on for a 12-7 nonconference win over Argo in Chicago Heights.
Sanders completed 8 of 20 passes for 128 yards and the TD. Jovarion Wilson was the workhorse for the Blazing Trojans (2-0), pounding away for 85 yards on 22 carries.
Kelonnie Owens led a relentless defense with three tackles for loss. Jayden Scott grabbed an interception and Christian Hawkins came up with a fumble recovery.
“It was a great win,” Owens said. “It feels really different here this year. I don’t ever like losing. I told my team, ‘We’re not having a losing season this year.’ This year, we’re always winners.”
Chance Sanders — no relation to Jordan — threw a 30-yard TD pass to Qassim Al-Jabri for Argo (0-2), which was held to 105 yards of offense. Skylar Arellano-Phipps and Angel Vazquez each recovered a fumble.
Jordan Sanders, meanwhile, showed his new teammates he’s willing to fight for them during a crucial sequence late in the third quarter. On second-and-goal from the 7-yard line, he scrambled toward the end zone and took a big hit, knocking him out of bounds at the 1.
After hobbling to the sideline, Sanders limped back onto the field and scored on a quarterback sneak to give Bloom a 12-0 lead.
“Sometimes, no matter if you’re hurting or not, you’ve got to go out there and do what’s best for the team,” he said. “I don’t want to quit on the team, so I’ve got to go out there.”
After being shut out for three quarters, the Argonauts nearly came back, pulling within 12-7 and then getting down to the Bloom 16-yard line in the final five minutes before a turnover on downs.
Bloom’s other TD came on a fourth-and-8 during the second quarter, when Sanders hit Hatten on a 33-yard pass.
Hatten, a sophomore who played on the varsity as a freshman, is enjoying the connection with his new quarterback.
“It’s been going great,” Hatten said. “We do team bonding together. Some days before school or after school, we hang out. We throw the ball around.
“I love how he can just make the right reads. He knows when and where to throw the ball. He just knows how to do it.”
Since moving to Illinois, Sanders has felt nothing but welcomed. He threw for 1,107 yards and 10 TDs last season at Merrillville.
“I don’t think there’s a hard part about the transition,” he said. “They just brought me in and everyone showed me love from the start. We just kept growing from there.”
The Blazing Trojans are looking for major growth under new coach Dante Culbreath, who went 114-37 over 13 seasons at Simeon before stepping down in 2023.
“We’re spending more time in practice and we’re working as a team, talking and being positive,” Owens said. “That’s a big change from last year. I love coach Culbreath.”
And Sanders is loving his new team.
“I feel like we’re going all the way,” he said. “You’ve got to think that way. We’ve got to keep the same motivation we’ve had and keep practicing the way we have been. We can keep winning.”