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Brett Green ran for 108 yards for Karns City - Picture courtesy of the Clarion News |
Alex Bladel had 85 yards rushing for Redbank Valley |
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By Rich Rhoades NEW BETHLEHEM — Too many weapons and too much balance. That’s what Karns City opponents have to deal with each week. The Gremlins’ latest installment of the balanced approach resulted in a 23-0 shutout victory at Redbank Valley Friday night. It was a battle of unbeatens in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference and the win sent the Gremlins (5-0, 3-0) to their 16th straight conference victory. They now share the KSAC lead with Moniteau. Karns City piled up 393 yards of offense and rushed for 304 yards, putting Brett Green and Markus LaVan over the century mark with 108 and 102 respectively on a combined 19 carries. Just as impressive was the Gremlins’ defensive work on Redbank Valley (4-1, 3-1), especially quarterback Jake Smith. Smith, last week’s D9Sports.Com Player of the Week, was 8-of-27 for 93 yards and was intercepted twice. “(The defense) has played great all year,” Karns City head coach Ed Conto said. “Against these spread offenses, it’s tough. You get a play, you give away a play, but to shut them out is tremendous. With (Smith), you have a deep ball threat and he can run the ball. He’s good all the way around.” Smith had 47 yards rushing on 15 attempts “We were in second and long a lot and that’s not our game,” Redbank Valley head coach Ed Wasilowski said. “You almost have to throw the ball and we weren’t hitting our passes. Give Karns City credit. They baited us a couple of times and we walked into it. We’ll learn from it I hope.” Running back Alex Bladel gained 85 yards on 19 carries, but his first carry went for 42 yards. From there, he was contained by the Karns City defense. Karns City scored first when quarterback Anthony Stimac found Mike McConnell for a nice over-the-shoulder touchdown connection from 28 yards out. Then McConnell’s interception of Smith on a deep pass to the Gremlins’ 15 set up Karns City’s second score on its next possession. Backup quarterback Chris Price threw a 30-yard TD pass to a diving Josh Callender at the 10:01 mark of the second quarter. Price replaced Stimac, who bruised his lower leg. Stimac returned to finish the first half, but Price played the entire second half as Stimac was held out for precautionary reasons. “(Henry) is coming off an injury and he missed most of camp, so I give him credit too,” Conto said. “The backups stepped up big.” The other backups were two sophomore tackles — Jake Wagner and Tyler Parker — who filled in nicely replacing injured starters. Wagner actually moved from his regular position at running back. “They did that against a good football team and that speaks volumes,” Conto said. While the two first-half scores were done through the air, the Gremlins were racking up big numbers on the ground. Karns City rushed for 205 yards on 20 carries in the first half, getting nine rushes of 10 or more yards. Five came from Green, who had consecutive gains of 24, 11, 38, 12 and 11 yards. LaVan gained 51 yards on only three attempts, including runs of 29 and 15 yards. “It was nothing we didn’t work on,” said Wasilowski of his defense. “They counter-trapped us to death. We worked on it, worked on it and worked on it. …. We had a guy in the right place to make plays. There’s nothing you can do.” Despite the lopsided statistics, the Bulldogs were a couple of plays away from changing the complexion of the game. In their final four possessions of the first half, drives were stopped by downs or turnover at the Gremlins’ 22, 15, 8 and 3. On Redbank Valley’s second possession of the game, Bladel’s 42-yarder gave the Bulldogs good field position. They reached the Gremlins’ 25 on a fourth-and-eight, but Smith’s 3-yard pass to Kasey Haines was well short of the first-down marker. After Smith’s interception on a deep pass to the 15 resulted in Karns City cashing in the turnover for a touchdown four plays later, the Bulldogs went at it again. Nash Rupp’s 40-yard kickoff return combined with Smith’s 29-yard pass to Jerrett Magagnotti gave the Bulldogs first down at the Karns City 18, But Bladel’s run on fourth-and-1 came up inches short of the first down inside the 9. McConnell, the Gremlins’ punter, didn’t have numbers worth bragging about on his two punts, unless you knew how it happened. His first punt went just two yards, but it came after a snap over his head. McConnell dashed back to the ball inside his own 10 and somehow managed to get off the kick without it getting blocked. That gave the Bulldogs good field position once again at the 35, but they couldn’t convert. With time ticking down on the first half, the Bulldogs got a first down at the 10. Three runs gaining seven yards gave the Bulldogs fourth down at the 3. Smith’s pass was deflected on fourth down by Gremlins standout 6-foot-2, 235-pound tight end/lineman Cameron Turner with 14.4 seconds remaining. “We went 20 to 20 or 10 to 10, whatever it was, and couldn’t get it in twice,” Wasilowski said. “A couple of other times we had plays where we’ve executed and made them, but tonight for whatever reason we missed the pass. I think it was a little excitement on Jake’s part, but because of him we’re 4-1. You can’t be perfect all the time. I’m not.” Early in the third quarter, McConnell’s second punt went a modest 32 yards, but it pinned Redbank Valley down at its own 4-yard line. After a three-and-out, the Gremlins went back to work with good field position at the Redbank Valley 40. When the drive stalled at the 21, Conto trotted out kicker Matt McConnell, Mike’s twin brother. Matt had missed a 26-yard field goal in the first half, but this time drilled a 38-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare to give the Gremlins a 17-0 advantage at the 2:37 mark of the third quarter. “He can get it 48 to 50 on a good night on a good field, but it was too slippery tonight.,” Conto said. “(Going into the second half) I told the kids that we have to stop them and get one more score and we should be sitting pretty decent. We got that field goal and I told the kids they could give a little ground, but not the big play.” They never did. Turner’s interception and 65-yard return set up LaVan’s 1-yard TD run with 5:07 left in the game to set the final score. NOTES: Next Friday, Karns City hosts Clarion while Redbank Valley hosts Maplewood in a non-conference game … Karns City has beaten Redbank Valley 10 of the last 13 times since 1998, including five straight wins in New Bethlehem. … Turner had a second deflected pass that was caught by Smith, who then ran eight yards, turning it into an 8-yard pass to himself. … Mike McConnell also had one of the two Gremlins sacks. KARNS CITY 23, REDBANK VALLEY 0 Score By Quarters Karns City
7 7
3 6
-- 23 Redbank Valley
0 0
0 0
-- 0 First Quarter K – Mike McConnell 28 pass from Anthony Stimac (Matt McConnell kick), 1:52. Second Quarter K – Josh Callender 30 pass from Chris Price (McConnell kick), 10:01. Third Quarter K – McConnell 38 field goal, 2:37. Fourth Quarter K – Markus LaVan 1 run (run failed), 5:07. TEAM STATISTICS
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R First Downs 20 13 Rushes-Yards 43-304 38-136 Passing: Comp-Att-Int 5-15-0 8-27-2 Passing Yards 89 93 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-0 Penalties-Yards 7-66 6-33 Punts-Avg 2-17 5-31.6 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – Karns City: Brett Green 10-108, Markus LaVan 9-102, Anthony Stimac 4-48, Ben Pyle 4-27, Josh Callender 4-22, Josh Stimac 4-7, Levi Buck 1-3, Chris Price 3-(-3), Stephon Conto 2-(-4), Team 2-(-6). Redbank Valley: Alex Bladel 19-85, Jake Smith 15-47, Jerrett Magagnotti 2-8, Nash Rupp 2-(-4). PASSING – Karns City: Anthony Stimac 3-for-13, 45 yards, 1 TD; Chris Price 2-for-2, 44 yards, 1 TD. Redbank Valley: Jake Smith 8-for-27, 92 yards, 2 Ints. RECEIVING – Karns City: Josh Callender 1-30, Mike McConnell 1-28, Brett Green 2-17, Stephon Conto 1-14. Redbank Valley: Kasey Haines 3-32, Jerrett Magagnotti 1-29, Craig Hibell 1-12, Nash Rupp 1-11, Jake Smith 1-8, Alex Bladel 1-1. INTERCEPTIONS — Karns City: Mike McConnell, Cameron Turner. SACKS – Karns City: Mike McConnell, Nick Sypulski. PUNTING – Karns City: Mike McConnell 2-32. Redbank Valley: Jake Smith 5-158. |
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