By Rich Rhoades

CLARION – In a game for the ages and the highest scoring District 9 Championship game ever, it was the rebuilding Karns City Gremlins that captured their third straight Class AA title with a 42-40 win over Brockway Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

The Gremlins weren’t a shoo-in to win anything this year considering they lost such a talented and large (23) group of seniors from last year’s title team, yet they were the ones celebrating with the trophy following a hard-fought win over the Derek Buganza-led Rovers.

“It is a special one because this is a group of seniors nobody expected much from,” Karns City head coach Ed Conto said. “We’re not that talented, to be honest. They just play well together. The secondary has been our weakness this year. We’re hard hitters, but not super athletes. So the kids pulling together and doing that is really special.”

Now the Gremlins (10-2) meet District 5 champion Bedford in the first round of the state playoffs next weekend at a site and time to be announced. Bedford beat the Pittsburgh City League’s Westinghouse, 29-6, in a state play-in game also on Friday night.

The Gremlins-Rovers championship showdown was a contrast in styles, pitting the Gremlins’ running game against the pass-happy Rovers and their record-breaking quarterback Buganza. Both styles were successful with the game swinging on a couple of two-point conversion stops and a key interception return for a score early in the game by the Gremlins defense.

Aaron Markle was the biggest playmaker for the Gremlins, as he started the game’s scoring by picking off a Buganza pass and returning it 36 yards to the end zone. He also scored on a 93-yard run in the second quarter and finished with 159 yards on 18 carries, leading a Gremlins running game that amassed 361 yards.

Buganza did break the state record for single-season passing yardage and finished with 389 yards, while throwing for four touchdowns and running for two others. He now owns the state’s single season yardage mark with 3,824 yards. Mechanicsburg’s Zach Frazer set the previous mark in 2004 with 3,684 yards.

“He’s as good as we thought he was,” Conto said. “We did what we thought we needed to do. We made a couple of bad calls, so we have to take some of that stuff on the coaching staff. There were a couple of times we let a couple of plays happen and it was just bad things by us. The kids played hard.”

After a 21-21 tie at intermission, the Gremlins scored on their first three possessions of the third quarter and took a 42-27 lead into the fourth quarter, only to see the Rovers rally.

Following a bad snap on Karns City’s attempted 32-yard field goal attempt, the Rovers drove 76 yards on 10 plays and scored on Buganza’s 1-yard pass to Chris Marshall. Philip Esposito’s point-after kick cut the deficit to 42-34.

The Rovers forced the Gremlins on a three-and-out possession following the ensuing kickoff and needed eight plays to go 65 yards to find the end zone on Buganza’s 15-yard pass to Mike Vervoort with 2:41 remaining.

The touchdown came on an amazing fourth-and-5 scramble by Buganza, who somehow found Vervoort open.

“Our defensive linemen got tired of chasing him,” Conto said. “We haven’t had to chase a quarterback around like that. Most kids can’t do what he does, escape and still roll around and throw the ball. Usually if they’re pressured, it’s an incomplete pass or whatever. Our guys got a little tired chasing him around.”

The game came down to the two-point conversion, which would have tied the game if converted, but Buganza never had a chance to throw as a group of Karns City defenders caught him this time, led by Tylar Parker, sacked him for a loss.

“I think we just brought five and somebody came off the ball quick,” Conto said. “Sometimes, you’re going to get there and sometimes you’re not.”

The Rovers elected to kick off following the score instead of an onside kick and never got the ball back as the Gremlins gained two first downs, including a big 3-yard run by Markle on fourth-and-inches with 1:02 left in the game.

The Gremlins jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first half following Markle’s 93-yarder with 4:13 left in the first half. The Rovers had come up short three possessions deep into Karns City territory as Buganza was intercepted at the Gremlins’ 1 by Brandon Collier, the Gremlins blocked a Philip Esposito 29-yard field goal attempt and a third possession that started at the Gremlins’ 31 managed to lose two yards before punting away.

All three possessions wound up giving Karns City poor field position, but the point of keeping the Rovers off the scoreboard was not lost on Conto.

“That is a big swing. If we have good field position we do a lot better in the first half, but we put ourselves into that situation,” he said. “I’m proud of the kids for that.”

But the Rovers recovered and tied the game by halftime. Following Markle’s big run, the Rovers took the ensuing kickoff and drove 82 yards. Buganza completed 6 of 9 passes on the drive for 60 yards and running back Ryan Terwilliger ripped off a 21-yard run to help set up Buganza’s 1-yard TD run with 1:09 left in the half.

In the first of a couple curious calls by both coaches, the Gremlins stalled on downs at the Rovers’ 40 with 34.1 seconds left after deciding to go for the first down on fourth-and-10 instead of punting.

“We like to play aggressive football too, it’s just a little different style than what Brockway plays,” Conto said. “I’d do the same thing again.”

And in their typical quick-strike fashion, the Rovers made the Gremlins pay for the decision dearly when Buganza hit Jake Shaffer with a 60-yard TD pass two plays later with 23.8 seconds remaining. Shaffer caught 7 passes for 151 yards.

Still not done with the first half, the Gremlins had the ball at their own 45 with 6.1 seconds left and decided to throw deep instead of kneeling down. Karns City quarterback Dylan Hipple’s pass was intercepted by Ethan Gillespie at the Rovers’ 34 and nearly returned for a score with no time left on the clock, but he was tackled at the Gremlins’ 24.

With momentum clearly on the Rovers’ side to start the second half, the Gremlins answered by taking the ball and going 59 yards on eight plays to score. Seven straight runs by four different ball carriers set up Hipple’s 10-yard TD pass to Collier.

After being limited to 126 yards rushing in the first half on 20 carries — and that’s including Markle’s 93-yarder — the Gremlins’ ground game churned out 235 yards on 31 attempts in the second half.

“We saw how they were blitzing and things they were doing and decided to go where they were blitzing (from),” Conto said. “Once we made that adjustment, we saw the big difference on getting the yardage.”

The Rovers responded, however, by marching 81 yards on 10 plays to score again. Buganza’s 25-yard pass to Freemer came with 5:52 left in the third. Thanks to two straight offside calls on Karns City on the point-after attempt, the ball sitting at the 1 convinced Brockway head coach Frank Varischetti to go for two points.

And in a decision and play that would come back to haunt the Rovers later, Tom Vervoort was stuffed shy of the goal line, keeping the Gremlins up on the scoreboard at 28-27.

Later, Varischetti defended his two-point decision and said he’d do it again.

In another interesting call, the Rovers followed up the missed conversion by trying to catch the Gremlins kickoff team napping with an onside kick, but Zach Barney fell on the rolling ball at the Gremlins’ 48.

Three plays later, the Gremlins went up 35-27 on fullback Jake Wagner’s second TD on a 3-yard run. His own 43-yard burst set up the score. He finished with 80 yards on 10 carries.

Then after forcing the Rovers on a three-and-punt possession, the Gremlins scored again on their first play from scrimmage when receiver Ethan Beale took an inside handoff while going into motion and raced down the Gremlins sideline for a 75-yard touchdown run. Zach Kepple’s point-after kick put the Gremlins up 42-27 with 3:46 remaining.

 But, once again, the Rovers rallied with two late scores. With another fourth-down call at the end of the game, Conto elected to go for it again instead of punting and came up on the right side this time around.

“I said we’re going for it,” he said. “If we can’t win it and blow them off the ball, then we don’t deserve to win it.”

NOTES: The Gremlins won their eighth district title overall. They also won three straight from 1999 to 2001. The first two came in 1993 and 1997. … While it was the highest scoring championship game in the district ever, the 82 points rank as the third-most points scored in a District 9 playoff game period behind two blowout games. The record of 92 points came in Karns City’s 69-23 win over Moniteau in the 2002 semifinals. The Gremlins were also involved in the second-most points with 90 in their 62-28 win over the Rovers in the 2007 semifinals. … Bedford and Westinghouse went into their game with losing records. Bedford is now 5-6 while Westinghouse finished 3-7.

KARNS CITY 42, BROCKWAY 40

Score By Quarters

Brockway       7          14        6          13        -           40

Karns City     13        8          21        0          -           42

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

K – Aaron Markle 36 interception return (Zach Kepple kick), 8:20.

B – Derek Buganza 6 run (Philip Esposito kick), 3:33.

K – Jake Wagner 4 run (Kepple kick missed), :57.9

Second Quarter

K – Aaron Markle 93 run (Dylan Hipple run), 4:13.

B – Derek Buganza 1 run (Philip Esposito kick), 1:09.

B – Jake Shaffer 60 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), :10.7.

Third Quarter

K – Brandon Collier 10 pass from Dylan Hipple (Zach Kepple kick), 8:19.

B – Zack Freemer 25 pass from Derek Buganza (run failed), 5:52.

K – Jake Wagner 3 run (Zach Kepple kick), 5:02.

K – Ethan Beale 75 run (Zach Kepple kick), 3:46.

Fourth Quarter

B – Chris Marshall 1 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), 6:23.

B – Mike Vervoort 15 pass from Derek Buganza (run failed), 2:41.

                                                B                                 KC

First Downs                            25                                17

Rushes-Yards                          18-81                           51-361

Passing Yards                         389                              84

Passes: Comp-Att-Int             28-59-2                       4-12-1

Total Yards                             470                              445

Fumbles-Lost                          1-1                               2-0

Penalties-Yards                       4-20                             14-105

Punts-Avg                               4-36.3                          5-31.6

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Brockway: Ryan Terwilliger 9-80, Derek Buganza 8-13, Team 1-(-12). Karns City: Aaron Markle 18-159, Ethan Beale 5-89, Jake Wagner 10-80, Craig Slomers 3-22, Dylan Hipple 10-16, Jesse Garing 1-4, J.R. Yough 2-2, Team 2-(-11).

Passing – Brockway: Derek Buganza 28-of-59, 389 yards, 4 TDs, 2 Int. Karns City: Dylan Hipple 4-of-12, 84 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.

Receiving – Brockway: Jake Shaffer 7-151, Mike Vervoort 9-83, Ryan Terwilliger 5-68, Zack Freemer 5-64, Chris Marshall 2-23. Karns City: Brandon Collier 2-19, Craig Slomers 1-44, Joe Fallecker 1-21.

Interceptions – Brockway: Ethan Gillespie. Karns City: Aaron Markle, Brandon Collier.

Sacks – Brockway: Mike Vervoort 1.5, Tom Vervoort 0.5. Karns City: Jake Wagner 1.5, Tylar Parker 0.5.

Kick returns – Brockway: Jake Shaffer 6-78, Mike Vervoort 1-16. Karns City: Brandon Collier 2-46, Tyler Slagle 1-21, Jerod Hutchison 1-9, Zach Barney 1-0, Ethan Williams 1-0.

Punt returns – Brockway: Kyle Braun 3-15.

Punting – Brockway: Derek Buganza 4-145 (long 50). Karns City: Zach Kepple 5-158 (long 35).