KARNS CITY PULLS AWAY FROM KANE LATE

Semifinals of District 9 Class AA Playoff

Karns City 42, Kane 14

Nov. 7, 2008

District 9 Playoff Home

By Steve Smail – For D9Sports.com

CLARION – After leading just 14-7 after three quarters, second-seeded and defending champion Karns City used four big plays to score 28 fourth quarter points on its way to logging a 42-14 victory over third-seeded Kane in the District 9 Class AA semifinals at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium Friday evening.

“I don't know what happened with our guys because we had a good week of practice,” said Karns City head coach Ed Conto. “We just came out flat through the first half of the game before we picked things up in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter.”

Anthony Stimac paced the Gremlins (10-1) with three rushing touchdowns along with one through the air and finished the game with 153 yards on the ground on 11 attempts. He was also 2 of 8 passing for 38 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Josh Stimac added 135 yards on 12 carries including a 65-yard touchdown run. Josh Callender caught both of Stimac’s passes including a 30-yard touchdown pass.

“(Anthony) Stimac is one heck of a football player and those kind of kids make plays,” said Kane coach Jason Barner. “He’s very elusive and doesn’t go down easy, and he keeps his balance. They are good team, and they aren’t ranked in the state for nothing.”

Karns City finished the game with 386 yards on the ground while holding Kane (8-3), the AML Champion and last season’s D9 Class A champion, to just 47 yards rushing overall and just five yards on the ground in the second half.  

 “Our defense got more aggressive after their first drive and we started making some plays,” said Conto.

The Gremlins finished with a 424-193 advantage in total yards.  Kane held a 146-38 advantage through the air with Kenny Kane completing 10 of 29 passes for 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Andrew Olson led the Wolves receivers with five catches for 96 yards.

The game was tied at seven at halftime before Karns City took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 61 yards in 15 plays while taking six minutes off the clock. The Gremlins were able to cap off the drive on an Anthony Stimac 5-yard touchdown run to go ahead 14-7. Six different players carried the ball on the drive.

The score remained 14-7 until Stimac rambled 82 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter for a touchdown. Stimac appeared stopped at his own 45 before breaking loose to run the rest of the way untouched for a 21-7 lead.

After a Karns City fumble at their own 12 on their next possession, Kane took over at the Gremlins 16. Following a pair of 15=yard penalties by each team on successive plays, Kenny Kane connected with Olson from 26 yards out to cut the lead to 21-14 with 8:30 to play.

Cody Williams took the ensuing kickoff and raced 80 yards for a Gremlins touchdown to push the lead to 28-14.

 “That was a tough break when they ran the kickoff back,” said Barner. “It happened to us last year in the state playoffs against Serra Catholic. We just gave up too many big plays, but our guys fought hard.

 Kane was unable to recover and mount much offense after the return, and Karns City took advantage with two more touchdowns.

Stimac hit Callender on a 30-yard pass with 6:08 to play to push the lead to 35-14 and four minutes later Stimac ran 40 yards for the final touchdown to set the final score of 42-14.

“We have some tough kids and our defensive coaches prepared them well for this game,” said Barner. “They made a couple big plays and the score was not indicative of how this game was played. I'm proud of my kids because they gave me a maximum effort and that's all I can ever ask of them.”

Kane took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after a punt snap sailed over the head of Karns City punter J.J. Grenninger. After a scramble in the end zone, the Wolves Ross Nicholson came away with the ball for the touchdown.

Karns City answered quickly, as Josh Stimac raced 65 yards on the second play of the ensuing drive for a touchdown to tie the game at seven with 2:27 to play in the first quarter.

The game remained tied at halftime, as the second quarter turned into a battle of field position and neither team could mount a serious scoring threat.

Karns City will face Moniteau for the championship. The Warriors handed Karns City its lone loss of the season 35-34 a few weeks ago at Karns City.

KARNS CITY 42, KANE 14

Score by Quarters

Kane................. 7  0  0  7--14

Karns City......... 7  0  7  28--42

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

Kane- Ross Nicholson recovery of a bad punt snap in end zone (Arie Paup kick) 3:22

Karns City- Josh Stimac 65 yard run (Josh Grenninger kick) 2:27

Third Quarter

Karns City- Anthony Stimac 5 yard run (Grenninger kick) 5:56

Fourth Quarter

Karns City- Anthony Stimac 82 yard run (Grenninger kick) 11:41

Kane- Kenny Kane 26 yard pass to Andrew Olson (Paup kick) 8:30

Karns City- Cody Williams 80 yard kickoff return (Grenninger kick) 8:18

Karns City- Anthony Stimac 30 yard pass to Josh Callender (Grenninger kick) 6:08

Karns City- Anthony Stimac 40 yard run (Grenninger kick) 2:08

      K               KC

First Downs                       13                11

Rushes-Yards                   31-47           46-386

Passing Yards                    146               38

Passes: Comp.-Att.-Int.    10-29-2             2-8-2

Total Yards                        193                424

Fumbles-Lost                    0-0                 2-1

Penalties-Yards                 3-30              13-113

Punting                             7-211               2-63

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Kane- Shane Todd 10-13, Andrew Olson 5-16, Ross Nicholson 11-28, Kenny Kane 4- -10, Arie Paup 1-0. Karns City- Markus LaVan 6-50, Josh Stimac 12-135, Levi Buck 4-15, Aaron Markle 2-4, Anthony Stimac 11-153, Jake Wagner 5-40, Josh Callender 3-16, Team 3- -27.

Passing: Kane- Kenny Kane 10-of-29 146, 1 TD, 2 Int. Karns City- Anthony Stimac 2-of-8 38, 1 TD, 2 Int.

Receiving: Kane- Shane Todd 3-32, Andrew Olson 5-96, Arie Paup 1-10, Ross Nicholson 1-8. Karns City- Callender 2-38.

Interceptions: Kane 2 (Ross Nicholson and Shane Todd). Karns City 2 (Dan Wolf and Brad Francis).