ANTHONY STIMAC LEADS KARNS CITY TO SECOND STRAIGHT DISTRICT 9 CLASS AA TITLE

District 9 Class AA Championship Game

Karns City 42, Moniteau 9

Nov. 14, 2008

CLARION – Anthony Stimac's big night lifted the Karns City Gremlins to their second straight District 9 Class AA Championship with a 42-9 win over the Moniteau Warriors Friday night at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.

“It's good for the kids and good for the program,” said Karns City head coach Ed Conto.  “This was the goal at the start of the season, and we achieved it.”

Karns City (11-1) got a star effort from Stimac, as the senior signal caller accounted for five touchdowns and 173 yards of total offense.

“Anthony had a great game tonight,” Conto said.  “That's just the kind of stuff he is capable of.”

Leading 28-9 at halftime, the Gremlins wasted little time putting the game away in the third quarter.

Josh Stimac capped an 11-play, 64-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run bowling over Moniteau's Tyler Armagost in the process to put the Gremlins up 35-9 midway through the third quarter.

Moniteau (10-2) drove inside the Karns City 20-yard line on the following possession only to have the drive stall as they turned the ball over on downs.

“We didn't execute offensively, we didn't execute defensively, and Tyler was off on some of his throws,” said Moniteau head coach Jeff Campbell.

Stimac was able to put the game away on the very next play, as he capped his stellar night by racing 77 yards for a touchdown to put the Gremlins ahead 42-9 late in the third quarter.

The game got chippy after that as both teams were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties before the officials were able to restore order.

The game started inauspiciously for Moniteau with the Warriors going three-and-out on their opening possession followed by a bad punt that traveled just four yards to set up Karns City at the Warrior 24.

“I told the kids the team that made the fewest mistakes would win tonight and they (Karns City) made very few mistakes if any,” Campbell said.

The Gremlins took advantage as Stimac was able to find Josh Callender from 10 yards out to give Karns City the early 7-0 lead.

Callender came up big on defense later in the first quarter intercepting Armagost's pass setting up the Gremlins with excellent field position once again at the Moniteau 24.

“We didn't change anything defensively from the first game (a 35-34 Moniteau win),” said Conto. “We just played it the way we were supposed to play it.”

Karns City was once again able to capitalize as Stimac and Callender hooked up again on a 22-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to make it 14-0.

Moniteau had a glimmer of hope in the second quarter as Andrew Miller connected on a 34-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-3.

After forcing a Karns City punt, Justin Sanderson scored on a 1-yard run made it 14-9, but that was all the closer the Warriors would get.

On the ensuing possession the Stimac to Callender connection struck again.  A perfectly set-up screen pass left the middle of the field wide open for Callender, and he took it 51 yards untouched to make it 21-9.

Another Armagost interception, this one by Markus LaVan, set up the Gremlins final score of the half.  Stimac ran in for a touchdown from 2 yards out with just over a minute left in the half to make it 28-9.

“I know Armagost was a little banged up tonight, and I think you could tell on a few of his throws,” Conto said.

Stimac completed three passes on the night, all of which were touchdowns to Callender to account for 83 yards passing.  Josh Stimac added 71 yards on the ground while LaVan added 69.

It was a tough way to go out for Armagost, as the senior quarterback completed 10 of 23 passes for 116 yards and two interceptions.  James Shope carried the ball 18 times for 76 yards while receiver Tony Campbell caught 5 passes for 92 yards.

Karns City will play either North Star or Langley in the first round of the PIAA playoffs either next Friday or Saturday at a site to be determined.

NOTES – Shope was taken from the field on a stretch late in the game, but preliminary indications were that was he was fine and that it was a precautionary measure … Karns City’s back-to-back titles mark the first time the Gremlins have won back-to-back titles since winning three in a row from 1999-2001 … Karns City is now 7-4 in District 9 title games while Moniteau, which lost to the Gremlins 50-14 in last year’s championship game, fall to 0-3 in title games … Moniteau’s 10 wins are a school record, while Karns City’s 11 wins marks the third time in school history the Gremlins have gotten to 11 wins. The 2001 Gremlins were also 11-1 under Conto, while last year's team was 12-1. Stimac now has 857 yards passing and 824 yards rushing this season … Armagost finished the year with 1,912 yards passing and 19 touchdowns and ends his career with 5,278 yards passing and 52 touchdowns and 864 yards rushing and 21 scores.

KARNS CITY 42, MONITEAU 9

Score by Quarters

Karns City 14 14 14 0 – 42

Moniteau 0 9 0 0 – 9

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

KC – Josh Callender 10 pass from Anthony Stimac (JJ Grenninger kick), 9:50

KC – Callender 22 pass from Anthony Stimac (Grenninger kick), 2:55

Second Quarter

M – Anthony Miller 34 field goal, 11:07

M – Justin Sanderson 1 run (kick failed), 5:09

K – Callender 51 pass from Anthony Stimac (Grenninger kick), 2:37

K - Anthony Stimac 3 run (Grenninger kick), 0:34

Third Quarter

K – Josh Stimac 29 run (Grenninger kick), 6:22

K – Anthony Stimac 77 run (Grenninger kick), 1:27

Team Statistics

                                                KC                  M

First Downs                            12                    13

Rushes-Yards                          40-264             35-88

Passing Yards                         83                    116

Passes: Comp-Att-Int             3-6-0                10-23-2

Total Yards                             .347                 204

Fumbles-Lost                          0-0                   1-0

Penalties-Yards                       6-71                 5-58

Punts-Avg.                              3-31.3              3-21.3

Time of Possession                  22:10               24:05

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Karns City-Anthony Stimac 9-90; Josh Stimac 7-71; Markus LaVan 9-69; Levi Buck 5-19; Tyler Slagle 2-4; Jake Wagner 2-3; Josh Callender 2-3; Aaron Markle 2-3; Dylan Hipple 1-2; Nick Reed 1-0. Moniteau-James Shope 18-76; J. Sanderson 10-28; Tyler Armagost 5-minus 8; TEAM 2-minus 8.

PASSING:  Karns City-Anthony Stimac 3-for-6, 83 yards, 3 touchdowns. Moniteau- Tyler Armagost 10-for-23, 116 yards, 2 interceptions  

RECEIVING:  Karns City-Josh Callender 3-83. Moniteau-Tony Campbell 5-92; James Shope 3-33; J. Sanderson 2-minus 9.

INTERCEPTIONS: Karns City-Markus LaVan 1; Josh Callender 1.