JOHNSTON PASSES, RUN AND TACKLES C-L PAST KARNS CITY

Sept. 10, 2004

KARNS CITY – The million-dollar question in District 9 this season might be how do you stop Clarion-Limestone quarterback Hayden Johnston?

Don’t ask the Karns City Gremlins.

Johnston passed over, ran through and stopped cold Karns City while leading C-L to a 42-7 win over the Gremlins in KSAC football action Friday night at Karns City. With the win, Johnston concludes his career as a starting quarterback at 3-0 vs. Karns City while helping the Lions extend their District 9-leading regular-season win streak to 28 games.

Johnston was 9-for-15 passing for 214 yards and four touchdowns. He ran 11 times for 134 yards and another score while leading the Lions defense with 13 tackles.

"There are only two or three guys like him in Western Pennsylvania," Karns City head coach Ed Conto said. "We won’t play against anyone like him the rest of the season."

Johnston wasn’t the only star for the Lions.

Erik White caught four passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns, and Nate Tote helped lead a strong defensive effort with 10 tackles while also making the game-turning play when he intercepted a Karns City pass and returned it 37 yards for a game-tying touchdown early in the second quarter.

"I am so proud of this team right now," C-L head coach Todd Smith said. "People just stepped up tonight and made some plays. We had a lot of guys grow up tonight."

Maybe the most impressive thing about the Lions win was that it was accomplished entirely without starting offensive and defensive lineman Dan Jeannerat, one of the few returning linemen for the Lions. Jeannerat injured his knee on the opening kickoff and didn’t return.

"The credit goes to the kids," Smith said. "They could have got down, but we came right back."

Jeannerat’s injury did seem to effect C-L, especially in the first quarter when Karns City had two long drives that helped the Gremlins take a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.

"We were scrambling on defense because we practice with a certain unit and the main guy in our defensive line went down," Smith said. "It took us a couple of series to get the kinks worked out. That’s my fault. The kids went in there, and they did the job."

It took Karns City just 58 seconds to take the lead scoring on a 13-yard pass from Stephen Black to David Black, who finished with eight catches for 104 yards. A 45-yard run by Stephen Black to the C-L 13 set up the score.

The Gremlins then took the ball to the C-L 17-yard line on their next possession before the Lions forced a 34-yard field goal attempt by Luke McClaine. McClaine missed the field goal wide right, and that was as close as Karns City would come to scoring the rest of the night.

"Some young guys made mistakes, and they blew things wide open," Conto said. "We lost our composure. When you play a team like that, you can’t back off. We did that tonight. But we will get better."

The game really turned around for C-L on Karns City’s next possession when Tote stepped in front of a Stephen Black pass and returned the interception 37 yards for the game-tying touchdown 39 seconds into the second quarter.

"Nate Tote turned the game around," Smith said. "We tell the guys it only takes one guy to make a play and get things heading in the right direction. He made a huge play. It really turned the game around."

The C-L defense then forced a punt that gave the Lions the ball at the Lions 35-yard line.

Four plays later, Johnston hit a streaking White for a 54-yard scoring pass making the score 14-7 with 7:28 left in the half.

"We knew coming into the game that they were going to play man (defense) and it was going to be open," Johnston said.

On the Lions next possession, the Johnston to White pipeline was open again with Johnston hitting White with a 23-yard scoring pass with 2:03 left in the half making the score 21-0.

Karns City then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Scott Davis recovered the ball for C-L at the Karns City 25-yard line.

Four plays later, Johnston dove in from the 1-yard line making it 28-7 Lions at halftime.

"Hayden is super," Smith said. "What else can you say about him. Time and time again he does it."

In the third quarter, the Lions high-octane offense continued with Johnston hitting White with a 58-yard scoring strike and then finding Tuffy Brooks with a 17-yard pass to make the score 42-7 at the end of the third quarter. It marked the second time in three years that C-L has beaten Karns City by at least 35 points with the Lions topping the Gremlins 42-6 in 2002 at Karns City. Last year, C-L beat Karns City 12-7.

"I feel no pressure at all (to carry the team)," Johnston said. "The coaching staff prepares us to do what we need to do to win, and the offensive line did great. I will give all my credit to them. Some of the young guys stepped in and did what they needed to do to get us holes. They did a great job."

The Lions defense also did a great job. After allowing Karns City 113 yards on its first two possessions, the Gremlins managed just 71 yards the rest of the way against the Lions first-team unit before tacking on 76 against the Lion reserves.

CLARION-LIMESTONE 42, KARNS CITY 7

Score by Quarter

C-L 0 28 14 0 – 42

KC 7 0 0 0 – 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

KC – David Black 13 pass from Stephen Black (Luke McClaine kick), 11:02

Second Quarter

CL – Nate Tote 37 interception return (Brent Rhoades kick), 11:21

CL – Erik White 54 pass from Hayden Johnston (Rhoades kick), 7:28

CL – White 23 pass from Johnston (Rhoades kick), 2:03

CL – Johnston 1 run (Rhoades kick), :27

Third Quarter

CL – White 58 pass from Johnston (Rhoades kick), 10:33

CL – Tuffy Brooks 17 pass from Johnston (Rhoades kick), 1:51

Team Statistics

C K

First Downs 15 10

Rushes-Yards 31-199 28-143

Passing Yards 117 214

Passes:Comp-Att-Int 9-15-0 12-20-2

Total Yards 413 260

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 402

Penalties-Yards 5-50 9-76

Punts-Avg. 3-22.3 3-33.7

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 11-134, Scott Davis 9-64, Harry Cooper 4-10, Neil Reynolds 1-7, Erik White 2-1. Andy Wilson 1-(-3), Grant Romig 2-(-5), Team 1-(-6). Karns City: Josh Fiscus 12-40, Stephen Black 3-39, Wayne Harris 7-34, Roy Beham 2-24, David Black 2-6, Matt Stimac 1-1, Matt Endlish 2-24.

Passing – Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 9-for-15, 214 yards, 4 touchdowns. Karns City: Stephen Black 12-for-19, 117 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception. Matt Endlish 0-for-1, 1 interception.

Receiving – Clarion-Limestone: Erik White 4-144, Tuffy Brooks 4-64, Scott Davis 1-6. Karns City: David Black 8-104, Kyle Texter 2-10, Josh Fiscus 2-3.

Punting – Clarion-Limestone: Hayden Johnston 2-43, Brent Rhoades 1-24. Karns City: David Black 3-101.

Sacks – Clarion-Limestone: Corey Rominski

Fumble Recoveries – Clarion-Limestone: Scott Davis, Harry Cooper. Karns City: Kory Kusick.

Interceptions – Clarion-Limestone Nate Tote, Kyle Jones.