CARNAHAN SCORES FOUR TOUCHDOWNS TO LEAD KARNS CITY TO BIG WIN OVER KEYSTONE

SEPT. 6 WEEK TWO - Karns City 39, Keystone 28

KNOX – Matt Carnahan ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns to lead Karns City to a 39-28 win over Keystone Friday night in Knox.

Carnahan needed just 15 carries to gain his 206 yards scoring on runs on 1 yard, 5 yards, 17 yards and 85 yards, as Karns City (1-1 overall, 1-1 KSAC) rallied from a 22-20 halftime deficit to get the win. Carnahan added one catch for 18 yards giving him 224 yards of offense on the night.

Keystone (1-1, 1-1) suffered a potential blow in the game, as all three of the Panthers quarterbacks were injured during the game. The extent of the injuries to the three signal callers, Buck Neely, Billy Colwell and Justin Bifano, were unknown Friday night, although Colwell’s was to the knee area.

The first half was a run-and-gun affair with each team scoring three teams.

Karns City got on the scoreboard first when Carnahan plunged in from 1 yard out with 5:25 left in the first quarter. The extra point put the Gremlins up 7-0.

Keystone responded with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Colwell to Jared Griebal with 3:32 left in the opening frame. A 28-yard pass from Neely to Bobby Telesz set up the score.

The Panthers then had an opportunity to take the lead late in the quarter when Ben Cobler returned a Karns City punt 52 yards to the Karns City 23-yard line. But the Gremlins defense held. When Keystone went for it on fourth down the snap went over the quarterback’s head giving the ball back to Karns City.

But Karns City couldn’t capitalize on the turnover, and it was Keystone who got on the scoreboard next.

The Panthers scored on a 29-yard pass from Neely to Telesz with 4:03 left before halftime, and a Neely to Cobler two-point pass gave Keystone a 14-7 lead.

Karns City came back late in the half to cut the Panther lead to 14-13 when Carnahan scored on a 5-yard run with 2:33 left in the quarter.

But 23 seconds later Keystone stormed back scoring on a 65-yard pass from Neely to Telesz. Neely then hit Barry Swartzfager for the two-point conversion making the score 22-13 Keystone.

With 54 seconds left in the half, Karns City was stopped on downs at the Keystone 33, and it looked like the Panthers would go into halftime with the momentum.

But then the momentum and the game changed completely when Pat Miller intercepted a Neely pass and returned it to the Keystone 20-yard line. The turnover led to a Gremlin touchdown with Noll Steiner catching an 8-yard pass from Erik Fuhrer with 13 seconds left before the half to cut Keystone’s lead to 22-20.

Karns City used the momentum switch to retake the lead, this time for good, early in the third quarter. An 85-yard run by Carnahan with 8:50 left in the quarter but the Gremlins up 26-22.

Carnahan then put Karns City up 33-22 on a 17-yard run with 2:49 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter the Gremlins lead jumped to 39-32 on a 2-yard run by Mike Stimac before Keystone got a late touchdown run from Sam Swartzfager (1-yard) with 1:16 left to play.

In addition to Carnahan’s big night, Karns City got 171 yards passing from Erik Fuhrer, who was 13-for-23 with a touchdown and an interception.

Telesz led Keystone catching four passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. With the four catches he moves into second place on Keystone’s all-time receiving list.

Neely was 6-for-17 passing for two touchdowns and one interception while running 10 times for 58 yards.