KARNS CITY 20, PUNXSUTAWNEY 14

Sept. 4, 2009

PUNXSUTAWNEY – Karns City graduated 23 seniors from its District 9 Championship team of a season ago, but those seniors passed on a valuable lesson to this young group of Gremlins: how to finish games.

Karns City's defense stood tough after a blocked punt by Punxsutawney's Duell Thompson with 1:32 remaining in the game and held on for a 20-13 win at Punxsutawney Friday night.

"I was real proud of the kids," said Karns City head coach Ed Conto. "It's a long season, and we've still got a lot of things to learn. But I am real proud of how they played tonight."

Late in the game around midfield, the Gremlins were called for a too-many-men-on-the-line-of-scrimmage penalty after their first punt and were forced to try again.

The second attempt was blocked by Thompson and set-up the Chucks with a first down at the Karns City 33-yard line,                           

But Aaron Markle's sack on first down put Punxsy in a second-and-long situation that they were never able to recover from.                           

Punxsy quarterback Corban Cressley, pressed into duty when starter Logan Weaver went out with severe cramps in the third quarter, was pressured into three straight incompletions that sealed the win for the Gremlins.

"If you have a mistake in the punt game, nine times out of 10 you lose," Conto said.  "The kids could have caved, and they didn't. I have to give them credit for that."

Dylan Hipple, starting his first career game at quarterback, capped a 7-play, 42 yard drive that was set-up by a 31-yard punt return by Brandon Collier with an 11-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter that proved to be the decisive score.

"I thought Hipple did a real good job with most of the things he was doing,” Conto said. “That is a plus.”

After rushing for just 26 yards in the first half, Punxsutawney came out to start the second half looking like a different team on offense.  The Chucks marched the ball 51 yards for a touchdown to start the half with all but nine yards on the ground.  Nick Wehrle's 25-yard run on third-and-a-yard coupled with a pass interference call in the end zone setup Ben Blazavich's 1-yard plunge that tied the score at 13.

"Things weren't going our way at times, and it is easy to drop your head,” Punxsutawney first-year head coach Alan Nichol said. “But we just kept coming and coming and played hard."

Defense set up Punxsutawney’s first touchdown late in the first half.

With 1:32 remaining in the half and no timeouts, Conto and the Gremlins decided to air it out from their own 29-yard line.

Hipple's pass was intercepted by Weaver at midfield, and the sophomore then went to work on offense.  He marched the Chucks right down the field and capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Braedon Pennington to make it 13-6 just eight seconds before halftime.

"We are a pretty aggressive team," Conto said.  "We have confidence in our kids and they have to learn how to do those kinds of things."

Karns City dominated play for much of the first half. 

On their second drive of the game, the Gremlins marched the ball down the field with ease with Aaron Markle racing untouched into the end zone from eight yards out for an early 7-0 lead.

A bad snap on a Punxy punt early in the second quarter setup a short field for the Gremlins at the Punxsy 18-yard line, and Jake Wagner made the Chucks pay three plays later as he scored on a 7-yard run to up the lead to 13-0.

Markle led a balanced rushing attack for Karns City with 12 carries for 97 yards and a score.

Before leaving midway through the third quarter, Weaver was 6 of 12 passing for 94 yards and a touchdown.

"We're disappointed, but the sun will come up tomorrow and we are going to get right back to work," said Nichol.  "They are the type of kids that want to work hard and have success, and I know that they want to get right back at it.

Karns City will travel to Union next week while Punxsy goes on the road to take on DuBois in a non-league matchup.

NOTES – This is the seventh straight season opening win for Karns City, with their season opening loss coming to Clarion-Limestone in 2002 … Punxsy started off the season with a loss for the fifth consecutive year, with their last season opening win coming against Bellefonte in 2004.

KARNS CITY 20, PUNXSUTAWNEY 13

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Punxsutawney 0 6 7 0 – 13

Karns City  7 6 0 7 – 20

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter                                  

KC – Aaron Markle 8 run (Zach Kepple kick), 2:38

Second Quarter

KC – Jake Wagner 7 run (Conversion failed), 2:38

P – Braedon Pennington 7 pass from Logan Weaver (Conversion failed), 0:08  

Third Quarter

P – Ben Blazavich 1 run (Pennington kick), 7:07

Fourth Quarter

KC – Dylan Hipple 11 run (Kepple kick), 11:54

TEAM STATISTICS

KC                  P

First Downs                        14                    9

Rushes-Yards                     41-245             25-60

Passing Yards                     66                    123

Comp-Att-Int                     5-6-1                10-20-0

Total Yards                                    311                  183

Penalties-Yards                  8-56                 5-20

Punts-Avg.                         1-0                   5-29.5             

Fumbles-Lost                     2-1                   0-0

Individual Stats

Passing:  KC: Dylan Hipple 5 of 6, 66 yards 1 INT.  Punxsutawney:  Logan Weaver 6 of 12, 94 yards, 1 TD, Corban Cressley 4 of 8, 29 yards.                         

Rushing:  KC: Aaron Markle 12-97, Craig Slomers 8-62, Jake Wagner 9-45, J.R. Yough 1-5, Dylan Hipple 8-35, Jesse Garing 2-(-5), Ethan Beale 1-7. Punxsutawney: Nick Wehrle 11-28, Ben Blazavich 5-7, Logan Weaver 5-26, Corban Cressley 3-(-11), Braedon Pennington 1-10.

Receiving:  KC Brandon Collier 4-63, Markle 1-3. Punxsutawney:  Pennington 4-45, Wehrle 3-58, Zak Dickey 1-9, Blazavich 2-11.