BROOKVILLE 21, KARNS CITY 3

Nov. 25, 2006

District 9 Class AA Playoffs - Title Game at Clarion U.

Brookville used a strong defensive effort, turned back a stubborn Karns City squad and scored all of its points in the second half to beat the Gremlins 21-3 Saturday afternoon at a sun-splashed Memorial Stadium at Clarion University.

The Raiders (11-1) captured their second district title in three years with the help of many seniors who played key roles as sophomores on the 2004 title team.

Tyler Ross was one of them as he put the Raiders up for good with a 71-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shane Heschke midway through the third quarter. Another Ross reception of 29 yards -- he finished with 148 yards on four receptions -- set up the Raiders’ second score on Heschke’s 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Joe Galbraith, a freshman contributor on the 2004 team, capped the scoring with a 5-yard run with 3:11 remaining.

Despite Karns City’s excellent field position most of the game -- its average starting point was its own 49 -- the Gremlins failed to score a touchdown.

"The defense was able to keep pressure on them," Brookville head coach Chris Dworek said. "There were spots here and there, but we were able to battle back."

The Raiders sacked Gremlins quarterback Matt Endlish six times for minus-53 yards. Thanks to that, the Raiders limited the Gremlins to 17 yards rushing on 37 attempts and held Karns City to 35 yards of offense in the second half.

Overall, Brookville outgained Karns City, 369-128.

"Absolutely," said Dworek whenever he was asked if this was his team’s best defensive effort of the year. "The weapons Karns City has, their quickness and things they’ve done against other teams …"

And how they kept Karns City out of the end zone.

"We told our kids we’d have to score two touchdowns and we didn’t," Karns City head coach Ed Conto said.

It was a frustrating end to a somewhat surprising season that ended at 10-2 for the Gremlins, who won the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference. Karns City was flagged 10 times for 75 yards in penalties and had a touchdown called back that would have put them up 9-0 in its first possession of the second half.

"We had so many opportunities that we screwed up. We always seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot," Conto said. "There’s no moral victory here. We were capable of winning the game. We do have a lot of sophomores, but sometimes they have to grow up and step up."

Karns City scored first, but it was what it didn’t score that mattered later. Josh Callender’s interception off a tipped Heschke pass at the Gremlins’ 28 started a scoring drive that resulted in Matt McConnell’s 23-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in the first quarter.

The 12-play drive could have been more. Endlish’s 25-yard pass to 6-foot-2-inch tight end Cameron Turner on a third-and-7 play at the Raiders’ 26 gave the Gremlins the ball at the 1. But Levi Buck was stopped for no gain, the Gremlins were called for illegal procedure and McConnell had to boot it through the goalposts for three points.

That’s how the half ended, with the Gremlins owning a 3-0 lead.

"We told them at halftime that it was probably our worst first half of the year and we were only down 3-0," Dworek said. "Karns City is tough, they’re scrappy, they fly to the ball. You tell your players that over and over, but until they see it, they might not believe it. It took us a whole first half to believe it and the defense kept us in the game."

Karns City was confident it was heading in the right direction.

"We kept thinking our athletes were better and could make plays on the outside," Conto said. "We felt they couldn’t drive on us. We blew it with some stupid penalties."

Karns City forced the Raiders on a three and out on the first possession of the game, then started at the Raiders’ 43. On the seventh play of the drive on a fourth-and-14, Endlish threw a pass to a wide-open Matt McConnell for what was believed to be a 24-yard touchdown. But the play was called back. The Gremlins had an ineligible player downfield.

It was one of four such penalties called in the game, three of them against Karns City.

The Raiders seized the opportunity, forcing the Gremlins out on downs on an incomplete fourth-down pass. Then from their own 29, the Raiders scored their first points when Heschke found the 6-foot-4-inch Ross on a fly pattern in single coverage for a 71-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

"It’s simple execution," Dworek said. "It’s very important, but guys blocking up front, Shane throwing great passes and Tyler setting up routes. The way our running game hits, it forced defensive backs to stay up a bit. It was all those things wrapped into one."

Momentum swung to the Raiders the rest of the game.

"After we didn’t get in, we didn’t play as hard as before," Conto said. "We put our heads down and knocked off our intensity a degree. I’m not totally pleased with our effort."

"Whenever you score a TD and have it called back, it’s like a big balloon blowing up, a big deflation," Dworek said. "And we were able to take advantage of that spark, that break and they weren’t able to recover."

From that point, Karns City made one first down, gained only 15 yards of offense, were flagged twice for 30 yards and turned the ball over twice.

"That TD called back was the momentum killer," Conto said. "We must have gotten frustrated."

The Raiders made it 14-3 on the first drive of the fourth quarter, going 67 yards on nine plays. Ross’ 29-yard reception started the drive and then eight straight running plays culminating with Heschke’s 2-yard scoring run.

Brett Mohney’s interception on an Endlish tipped pass at the Raiders’ 36 led to the final score following an eight-play drive ended by Galbraith’s 5-yard run with 3:11 left in the game.

"It was frustrating we weren’t able to move the ball, but they have a good football team and made plays that we didn’t," Conto said.

Now it’s on to the state quarterfinals where the Raiders have the unenviable task of playing WPIAL champion Jeannette next Friday or Saturday at a WPIAL site to be determined.

NOTES: The Raiders now own five district championships. They won the Class AAA title in 1991 and Class AA crowns in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004 and this year. Brookville is now 2-2 against Karns City in district championship games. … Karns City, after winning three straight district titles from 1999 to 2001, has lost in the district final three times in the last five years. … Galbraith and Max Kutz rushed for 83 and 74 yards for the Raiders respectively. … Josh Callender ran for 52 yards on 14 carries for Karns City. Endlish completed 8 of 17 passes for 111 yards. … Karns City still leads the all-time series with Brookville 15-7-2. … The 11 wins are a season record for the Raiders, who have now won 10 games in a row. It’s only the second time that Brookville has had a double-digit unbeaten streak in school history. The Raiders had a 23-game unbeaten streak during parts of the 1969 through 1971 seasons. … Brookville is 1-5 in state playoff games, its only win coming in 1995 against Wilmington. Jeannette will be the first WPIAL team the Raiders have played in the postseason and just the fourth WPIAL team its played in its history -- Farrell, Kittanning and Shannock Valley-West Shamokin-Armstrong East (during Little 12 conference membership) -- with a combined record of 11-13. It was 11-9 vs. Shannock etc.

KC -- Matt McConnell 23 field goal, :25.

B -- Tyler Ross 71 pass from Shane Heschke (kick failed), 6:57.

B -- Shane Heschke 2 run (Greg Sobol pass from Shane Heschke), 8:35.

B -- Joe Galbraith 5 run (Ian Petardi kick), 3:11.

KC B

First Downs 8 11

Rushes-Yards 37-17 40-190

Passing Yards 111 179

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 8-21-1 5-10-1

Total Yards 128 369

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 10-75 3-25

Punts-Avg. 5-32.4 3-27

Time Of Possession 26:33 21:27

RUSHING -- Karns City: Josh Callender 14-52, Chris Reeves 2-12, Levi Buck 3-5, Brett Green 3-3, Stephon Conto 1-1, Josh Stimac 1-0, Team 2-(-1), Anthony Stimac 1-(-2), Matt Endlish 10-(-53). Brookville: Joe Galbraith 15-83, Max Kutz 17-74, Shane Heschke 7-33, Team 1-0.

PASSING -- Karns City: Matt Endlish 8-for-17, 111 yards, 1 Int; Anthony Stimac 0-for-2; Matt McConnell 0-for-1. Brookville: Shane Heschke 4-for-9, 148 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Tyler Ross 1-for-1, 31 yards.

RECEIVING -- Karns City: Mike McConnell 2-45, Cameron Turner 2-40, Chris Reeves 2-17, Matt McConnell 1-14, Levi Buck 1-(-5). Brookville: Tyler Ross 4-148, Brett Mohney 1-31.

INTERCEPTIONS -- Karns City: Josh Callender. Brookville: Brett Mohney.

SACKS -- Karns City: Cameron Turner. Brookville: Max Kutz 1.5, Greg Sobol 1, Eli Morres, Joe Galbraith, Kyle Thrush 0.5, Levi Singleton 0.5, Justin Smith 0.5.

PUNTING -- Karns City: Mike McConnell 5-162 (32.4 Avg., long 44). Brookville: Shane Heschke 3-81 (27.0 avg., long 34).

PUNT RETURNS -- Karns City: Stephon Conto 2-16. Brookville: Joe Galbraith 1-(-4).

KICK RETURNS -- Karns City: Cameron Turner 2-38, Josh Callender 1-19, Stephon Conto 1-4. Brookville: Joe Galbraith 2-50.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES -- Karns City: Matt Endlish 2, Levi Buck, Nick Sypulski. Brookville: Kyle Thrush.