KARNS CITY 13, CLARION 0

Oct. 10, 2008

For D9Sports.com

CLARION – Josh Callender provided all the offense Karns City needed Friday night, breaking off two long touchdown runs in the Gremlins 13-0 victory over Clarion at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.

“A win is a win,” Karns City head coach Ed Conto said. “You are excited about that. I thought our defense did all right. There a couple of wrinkles we need to work on, but they had momentum early and our defense got us out of it.”

Callender's second touchdown run of the night came after the Gremlins (7-0 Overall, 7-0 KSAC) were pinned at their own 1-yard line.

Six plays into the drive they had moved the ball out to their own 32-yard line, but a holding call put the ball back at the 15.  Callender made it a moot point, as he took the next play 85 yards down the sideline for a touchdown with 4:54 remaining in the third quarter.

“He came in and played a good ball game tonight,” Conto said.

Two Karns City penalties resulted in 121 yards of offense for the Gremlins on the drive.

That was more than enough for the Gremlin defense, as they limited Clarion's offense to three first downs from that point in securing the victory and the shutout.

“Our defense has played well all year,” said Conto.  “The kids are very aggressive.”

Callender's first touchdown run, a 59-yard scamper early in the second quarter to give the Gremlins a 7-0 lead, came after Clarion (4-3, 4-3) wasted two golden opportunities to take control of the game.

A fumble by Karns City quarterback Anthony Stimac, the Gremlins second lost fumble of the first quarter, gave Clarion the ball at the Karns City 23-yard line.

The Bobcats, thanks mostly to the running of Bubba Rue, got the ball down to the Karns City 1-yard line, where they were faced with a fourth-and-goal.  The Gremlin defense was up to the challenge, as they stuffed Kevin Grejda at the goal line and took over on downs.

“You keep seven points off the board, it puts a little different perspective on how you play the game and gives your defense confidence,” Conto said.

Clarion's defense forced the Gremlin's three and out on the ensuing possession, and got the ball again with excellent field position at the Karns City 34-yard line.

The Bobcats were able to move the ball inside the Karns City 10-yard line, but once again came up with no points, as Jon Kemmer's field goal attempt was blocked on fourth down by Cody Williams.

“That may have been the game for us right there,” said Clarion head coach Larry Wiser of the two possessions inside the 10 with no points.

Clarion was unable to take advantage of some sloppy play by Karns City, as the Gremlins were penalized over 100 yards for the second week in a row.

“We’re an aggressive football team, and sometimes we aren't very smart,” Conto said.

Callender finished with 185 yards rushing on just eight carries, a staggering 23.1 yards per carry.

Stimac, last week's RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com Player of the Week, was 6 of 13 passing for 65 yards, while also adding 57 yards rushing on 11 carries.

Rue had a solid game rushing for Clarion, carrying the ball 19 times for 90 yards.

Karns City will host Moniteau next week in a showdown of unbeaten teams.  Clarion will make the short trip to Clarion-Limestone next week to take on the Lions.

Notes: This was the first time Clarion was shutout since Oct. 20, 2006, when it lost to Southern Columbia 35-0.The last time the Bobcats were shutout in the KSAC was Oct. 25 2002, when it lost 35-0 to Keystone. The 13 points scored by Karns City were the fewest it had scored in a KSAC game since Oct. 14, 2005.

KARNS CITY 13, CLARION 0

Score by Quarters

Karns City 0 7 6 0 – 13

Clarion 0 0 0 0 – 0

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

KC – Josh Callender 59 run (J.J. Grenninger kick), 9:20

Third Quarter

KC – Callender 85 run (kick failed), 4:54

Team Statistics

            K         C

First Downs    17        9

Rushes-Yards  40-370 41-120

Passing Yards 65        14

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 6-14-0            4-9-1   

Total Yardage 435      134

Fumbles-Lost  3-2       1-1

Penalties-Yards           12-110 5-27

Punts-Avg.      2-33.5  5-35.2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Karns City: Josh Callender 8-185, Markus LaVan 13-47, Anthony Stimac 11-57, Levi Buck 5-23, Jake Wagner 3-58. Clarion: Jon Kemmer 6-11, Dylan Reinsel 2-minus 5, Bubba Rue 19-90, Kevin Grejda 8-13, Erik Hartle 3-11, Kris Burkhart 1-1, Brandon Heeter 1-1, Team 1-minus 2.

Passing – Karns City: Anthony Stimac 6-for-13, 65 yards. Team 0-for-1. Clarion: Brandon Heeter 4-for-8, 14 yards, 1 interception. Jon Kemmer 0-for-1.

Receiving – Karns City: Josh Callender 3-24, Brandon Collier 2-15, Jake Wagner 1-26. Clarion: Kevin Grejda 2-8, Erik Hartle 1-4, Jon Kemmer 1-2.

Interceptions – Karns City: Carrick Harp.