KARNS CITY 17, CLARION 14, OT

Oct. 7, 2005

KARNS CITY – Two weeks ago after two straight loses, most people were writing off the 2005 Karns City Gremlins.

No more. The Gremlins (4-2 overall, 3-1 KSAC) put themselves right in the thick of the KSAC title hunt thanks to a 17-14 overtime win against previously unbeaten Clarion (5-1, 4-1) Friday night in Karns City.

With a win over Moniteau next week and a Clarion win against Clarion-Limestone, Karns City could be in a three-way tie for first place in the conference with two weeks left to play.

Matt McConnell’s right foot and a defensive that bent a lot but didn’t break very much had a lot to do with the Gremlins upsetting Clarion.

McConnell booted a 21-yard field goal in overtime, and the defense forced a Chris McSwain fumble – a fumble that left the Clarion coaching staff upset at the officials – on Clarion’s overtime possession to seal the win.

The Bobcat coaches believed that McSwain was ruled down before fumbling, but the officials disagreed. All that Karns City knew was that Matt Stimac recovered the loose ball, and the officials were pointing in the Gremlins direction setting off a wild celebration on the home sideline.

Clarion, which still clinched a District 9 Class A playoff spot despite the loss, dominated the stat line and in the second half the line of scrimmage, but Karns City used two big plays in the first half to stay in the game.

The Bobcats outgained the Gremlins 309 yards to 218 while running 18 more plays than Karns City – 62-44.

Karns City, though, scored on two 40-yard plus plays in the first half that accounted for 114 of those 218 yards to lead 14-6 at halftime.

Wayne Harris got the party started with a 70-yard run in the first quarter, and Stephen Black hit tight end Cameron Turner with a 44-yard pass in the second quarter for the two Gremlin scores of regulation.

Sandwiched between those two big plays was an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Sean Wolf for Clarion.

Clarion started to take over the game in the second half thanks to a heavy dose of McSwain, who ran 35 times for 181 yards. But the Gremlin defense kept bending and not breaking while holding on to the lead.

It was a big play by the Clarion defense, though, that helped set up the game tying touchdown.

Manny Carpin intercepted a Black pass at the Clarion 46 and returned it into Karns City territory to the 45.

The Bobcats then picked up a first down at the Karns City 35 before the drive started to fizzle thanks to a fumble and two 5-yard false start penalties. That left Clarion facing a fourth-and-14 from the 39.

Wolf, though, found Tyler Schwab with a 27-yard pass to the Karns City 12. Schwab went up and beat to Gremlin defenders to the ball.

That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by McSwain with 6:00 to play that cut the score to 14-12. Wolf then ran a naked bootleg to the right side for the two-point conversion tying the game.

Clarion’s defense then appeared to hold the Gremlins forcing a punt on a fourth-and-13 from the Karns City 18. But Karns City caught a big break when the official ruled that the Bobcats roughed punter Mike McConnell on the punt giving the Gremlins a first down.

Once again, the Clarion coaching staff disagreed believing that if anything should have been called it should have been running into the kicker not roughing the kicker. A running into the kicker penalty would not have given Karns City a first down.

Karns City wasn’t able to turn the penalty into points, but the Gremlins were able to run about three more minutes off the clock basically forcing the overtime.

In the extra session, Karns City had the ball first moving six yards before kicking the field goal.

Clarion then lost three yards on his first play of overtime before McSwain’s fumble of the second play.

NOTES – Clarion has now lost three straight games at Karns City last winning 20-14 in 1999 … The all-time series between the Bobcats and Gremlins is tied at 17 wins each plus a tie … The overtime game was the first regular-season overtime game in Clarion history … Karns City is now 1-1 in overtime this season … The Bobcats remain at 398 wins in their history … Clarion returns home next week to face Clarion-Limestone, while Karns City is at Moniteau.

KARNS CITY 17, CLARION 14

Score by Quarters

Clarion 0 6 0 8 0 – 14

Karns City 7 7 0 0 3 – 17

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

KC – Wayne Harris 70 run (Matt McConnell kick), 7:22

Second Quarter

C – Sean Wolf 8 run (Run failed), 9:50

KC – Cameron Turner 44 pass from Stephen Black (Matt McConnell kick)

Fourth Quarter

C – Chris McSwain 1 run (Wolf run), 6:00

Overtime

KC – Matt McConnell 21 field goal

Team Statistics

C K

First Downs 14 8

Rushes-Yards 50-253 35-167

Passing Yards 56 51

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 3-12-1 2-9-2

Total Yards 309 218

Punts-Avg. 3-23.3 3-38.0

Fumbles-Lost 4-1 3-1

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Clarion: Chris McSwain 35-181, Eric Grejda 5-28, Brad Rapp 2-25, Manny Carpin 3-23, Sean Wolf 4-0, Jake Fleeger 1-(-4). Karns City: Wayne Harris 11-90, Stephen Black 9-29, Justin Macurak 6-24, Joey Everetts 3-16, Matt Stimac 4-12, Stephon Conto 1-3, Matt Endlish 1-(-7).

Passing – Clarion: Sean Wolf 3-for-12, 56 yards, 1 interception. Karns City: Stephen Black 2-for-9, 51 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception.

Receiving – Clarion: Tyler Schwab 2-38, Chris McSwain 1-18. Karns City: Cameron Turner 2-51.

Interceptions: Clarion: Blake Lantelme, Manny Carpin. Karns City: Justin Macurak.