KARNS CITY 31, CLARION 7

Oct. 5, 2007

By Chris Rossetti

KARNS CITY – Anthony Stimac threw for a career-high 193 yards and three touchdowns to lead Karns City to a 31-7 win over visiting Clarion Friday night.

Stimac, who added eight carries for 55 yards, was 9 of 17 passing and threw two scoring passes to Stephon Conto and one to Josh Callender. He was also picked off twice – one of which was returned for a touchdown by Clarion – and had an interception of his own on defense.

“He’s everything you would want in a quarterback, and he is going to get better and better,” Karns City head coach Ed Conto, Stephon’s uncle, said. “By the end of the season, he might be the best all-around quarterback in the conference. He’s an outstanding athlete, he has speed and he is strong. He also doesn’t put his head down when he makes mistakes.”

Thanks to Stimac, Karns City, a team that entered the night with just one 100-yard passing game on the season, threw for a season-high 204 yards.

“We knew they would be hard to run against,” Conto said. “We knew we were going to have to run outside and throw to loosen things up. We are lucky enough to have kids who can do a little bit of everything and aren’t one dimensional.”

Karns City is also lucky enough to have kids who can play a little defense. The Gremlins held Clarion to 34 yards of total offense on 46 offensive plays including 26 rushes for four yards. Karns City has not allowed an opposing offense to score a touchdown in 10 straight quarters.

“Our defense was outstanding,” Conto said. “We played consistent team defense as usual. We mixed it up and gave them different fronts, and all our (defensive units) played well.”

The game was marred by a potentially serious injury to Clarion running back James Seidle in the first half.

Seidle was hit in the midsection at some point during the second quarter and came out of the game under his own power. But he was having trouble breathing on the sideline, and the Clarion medical staff decided to have him transported to the hospital for further evaluation. A medical helicopter was called in and originally was going land in the football practice area above the Karns City football field. Fans on the visiting sideline were asked to move away from the bleachers and the upper parking lot. But a few minutes later, another announcement was made that the medical helicopter was going to divert to an alternative landing zone to which Seidle was presumably taken in an ambulance.

“We don’t know (what his status is at this point),” Clarion head coach Larry Wiser said immediately after the game. “The doctor called and said he might have taken a shot in the kidney or liver area. He was having a very tough time breathing. I am very interested to find out what’s happening here. We are waiting for a call.”

The Bobcats also lost starting quarterback Kyle Zacour to a broken hand according to Wiser and fullback/defensive end Kevin Grejda to an undisclosed injury that kept him out the entire second half. Also, linebacker/fullback Jon Kemmer missed the third quarter, but did return in the fourth quarter.

“It was a very physical game, a very costly game for us tonight to say the least,” Wiser said. “I have never been in a game like tonight (where kids were getting hurt like this). I’m not going to make any excuses. But there is no continuity.”

The game was also choked with penalties, 21 of them for 252 yards including 13 for 183 against Karns City. There were seven unsportsmanlike or personal fouls combined with the Gremlins getting called for four and the Bobcats three.

“That is a concern,” Conto said. “A lot of them were the goofy things. That is the one negative. They had a lot of penalties too. I think the kids get caught up in the emotion.”

The game did have a bit of good news for Clarion, as senior quarterback Adam Bevevino, who entered the contest as doubtful at best, made an appearance in the second half after Zacour was hurt and backup Kurtis Shirey was ineffective. Bevevino, who injured his knee in the first half of a 14-7 Week Three loss to St. Marys was 1-for-10 passing for 14 yards while also being sacked once.

 “It was a real question mark,” Wiser said. “There is no question that I was worried about using him tonight. I’m not sure it was the smartest move, but we talked it over with his dad (D.J., Clarion’s athletic director) and talked it over with the doctor. I had a lot of reservations about putting him in there. He hadn’t been out there for a while, and he didn’t practice at all. At that point in the game, we believed he could run some of our shotgun stuff. We weren’t going to put him under center or do anything like that. If we were going to get back into the game, we were going to have to throw the ball.”

Karns City led 16-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 32-yard scoring pass from Stimac to Conto, a 37-yard Matt McConnell field goal and a 1-yard Brett Green run.

Clarion, despite being outgained 153 yards to two, got back in the game when Carpin picked off a Stimac pass and zigzagged his way 49 yards to the end zone to make it 16-7 midway through the second quarter.

Karns City answered, though, with a 6-play, 60-yard drive that ended in a 15-yard scoring pass from Stimac to Callender making it 24-7 at halftime.

The Gremlins then added the 47-yard scoring toss from Stimac to Conto late in the third quarter to close out the scoring.

Conto’s two touchdown catches made him the leading Gremlin receiver with two grabs for 80 yards. Tight end Cameron Turner added three for 53, and Callender had three for 45.

Clarion returns to action Friday when it hosts Clarion-Limestone at 7 p.m. at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium, while Karns City is at Moniteau at 7 p.m. Friday in a battle of KSAC unbeatens.   

NOTES –  Karns City, which has won four straight at home against Clarion since a Bobcat win in 1999 … Clarion played without starting offensive/defensive linemen Maurizio Giambanco, who was added to the walking wounded last week with a shoulder injury. That brought the total to four starters from the start of the season on defense who were out of the game … Ryan Smith had a solid night in the secondary for the Bobcats and had a team-high seven tackles and a sack.

KARNS CITY 31, CLARION 7

Score by Quarters

Clarion 0 8 0 0 – 7

Karns City 16 8 7 0 – 31

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

KC – Stephon Conto 32 pass from Anthony Stimac (Matt McConnell kick failed), 9:44

KC – Matt McConnell 37 field goal, 6:12

KC – Brett Green 1 run (Matt McConnell kick), 2:45

Second Quarter

C – Jarrod Carpin 49 interception return (Jon Kemmer kick), 5:55

KC – Josh Callender 15 pass from Stimac (Mike McConnell pass from Stimac), 3:37

Third Quarter

KC – Conto 47 pass from Stimac (Matt McConnell kick), 4:07

       CLAR KC

First Downs            6          21

Rushes-yards          26-4     46-175

Passing Yards         30        204

Passes: Comp-Att-Int         4-20-1  10-19-2

Total Yardage        34        379

Penalties-Yards      8-69     13-183

Fumbles-Lost         0-0       3-0

Rushing – Clarion: Joel Matticks 3-8, Kurtis Shirey 1-4, Jon Kemmer 2-4, Kevin Grejda 1-3, Jake Fleeger 3-2, James Seidle 6-1, Dan Walter 7-minus 3, Kyle Zacour 2-minus 7, Adam Bevevino 1-minus 8. Karns City-Anthony Stimac 8-55, Ben Pyle 7-31, Brett Green 5-24, Aaron Markle 3-23, Markus LaVan 6-19, Josh Callender 3-11, Josh Stimac 4-11, Craig Slomers 2-8, Stephon Conto 2-3, Chris Price 3-3, Levi Buck 1-2, Jake Wagner 1-minus 4, Mike McConnell 1-minus 11.

Passing – Clarion: Bevevino 1-for-10, 14 yards; Zacour 2-for-8, 12 yards, 1 interception; Kurtis Shirey 1-for-2, 4 yards. Karns City: Anthony Stimac 9-for-17, 193 yards, Chris Price 1-fo-1, 11 yards; Team 0-for-1.  

Receiving – Clarion: Scott Larson 2-28, Joel Matticks 1-4, James Seidle 1-minus 2. Karns City: Cameron Turner 3-53, Josh Callender 3-45, Stephon Conto 2-79, Brett Green 1-16, Cody Williams 1-11.

Interceptions – Clarion: Jarrod Carpin, Vince Mazzocchi. Karns City: Anthony Stimac.