By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – For just the second time in its history, Karns City tasted victory in the PIAA playoffs Friday night with a 35-29 win over District 5’s Chestnut Ridge at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

With the win, the Gremlins (10-3) move into the PIAA quarterfinals where they will face WPIAL champion Aliquippa next week at a place, time and date to be determined.

“It feels good,” Karns City head coach Ed Conto, who won his 115^th game at Karns City and his 150^th as a head coach, said about reaching the final eight in the state. “I would have never expected it the way the season went. We are still not a great football team. We have a long way to go. But I am very proud of the kids’ character.”

Karns City was able to beat Chestnut Ridge despite the Lions (6-6) holding the ball nearly twice as long as the Gremlins (31:42 to 16:18) and running nearly twice as many plays (76 to 37). That’s because Karns City scored two non-offensive touchdowns in the second half getting an 80-yard kickoff return for a score from Matt Conto and a 6-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Christian Turner which accounted for the game’s final two scores.

“That’s big, that’s real big,” Ed Conto said about the two scores. “If you told me that before the game, I would have told you it’s not going to happen.”

Chestnut Ridge, which pretty much did whatever it wanted offensively in the first three quarters rolling up 368 yards including 364 on the ground in the first three 12-miniute segments, took a 29-23 lead, the Lions four separate lead of the game, on a 10-yard Jacob Mock touchdown run with 7:36 left in the third quarter. Mock’s third touchdown of the game ended a 9-play, 72-yard drive to start the second half by the Lions, who had four scoring drives of 60 yards of longer in the game.

“We weren’t doing a good job on the defensive line,” Ed Conto said. “Why? I can’t answer that question. We just didn’t do that stuff well.”

Karns City, though, had the answer in the form of Matt Conto’s 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It was Conto’s second long kickoff return of the game, as he had a 66-yard return in the first half to the Chestnut Ridge 20-yard line that set up Karns City’s second touchdown of the game, a 20-yard Adam Whited run that tied the game at 14.

This time, Conto’s long return knotted the contest at 29 midway through the third quarter.

“We practice a lot on our return game,” Ed Conto said. “I think we do a pretty good job with it. I thought special teams would be a swing point in this game.”

Chestnut Ridge came right back at the Gremlins driving from its own 31 to inside the Karns City 10-yard line before the Gremlin defense all of a sudden tightened up and a couple of stops plus a Lions holding penalty forced a 36-yard field goal attempt by Sean Van Meter which came up short in the windy, snow-covered conditions.

While Karns City wasn’t able to get much going offensively after the missed field goal, the Gremlins got a 50-yard punt from Tyler Kepple that was downed at the Chestnut Ridge 7-yard line.

The Lions were then able to gain just five yards on the first two plays, and 6-foot-5 quarterback Brandon Bosch was banged up on the second play requiring attention on the field and forcing him to miss a play.

That play turned out to be the difference in the game, as backup quarterback JD Weyant attempted to run an option play but was hit as he pitched the ball at the 6-yard line by Whited. Turned scooped the loose ball out of midair and churned the six yards for the go-ahead score with 8:27 to play.

“You’ve got guys flying around, hustling and sometimes good things happen,” Ed Conto said. “(Christian) was in the right spot and busted his butt to get into the end zone.”

The Gremlins defense then came up big again on Chestnut Ridge’s next possession forcing a three-and-out, and the Karns City offense looked poised to put the game away with a drive from its own 40 to inside the Lions 20 that took off over four minutes. But on a what would have been a first-down run by Zach Moore to the Chestnut Ridge 17 that would have most likely ended the game, Moore fumbled with the Lions recovering at the 17.

“You don’t know why that happens sometimes,” Ed Conto said. “You just have to learn from your mistakes. A lot of kids would have hung their heads there, but Zach came back on defense and played well.”

Chestnut Ridge was able to make things interesting using a short passing game to drive to the Karns City 35-yard line with just over 30 seconds to play. But a penalty forced the Lions back to the 40, and a pair of incomplete passes by Bosch set up fourth down.

The Lions then tried to get cut putting Weyant in at the Wildcat position at quarterback and splitting Bosch out to the near sideline. Weyant attempted a deep pass down the sideline that Dakota Mohney, the hero of last week’s District 9 championship game for Karns City, picked the ball off and returned it to the Karns City 38 with eight seconds left essentially ending the game.

“I knew No. 2 (Bosch) is a good athlete,” Mohney said. “I made sure I didn’t let him get behind me. I knew I had to make sure the ball didn’t get into his hands. Luckily, I made a nice play.”

The first half was an offensive show with the team combining for 451 yards of total offense and 44 points.

Karns City led 23-21 at the break thanks to touchdowns run by Tristan Rhoades (19 yards), Whited (20 yards) and Mohney (33 yards) and a 24-yard Moore field goal.

Mock finished with a game-high 171 yards on 29 carries, while Whited led Karns City with 85 yards one eight carries. Mohney picked up 63 yards on six carries.

NOTES – Conto is 115-38 in his 13 years at Karns City and 150-104-3 in 23 seasons as a head coach including 10 at A-C Valley. He has led the Gremlins to six seasons of at least 10 wins and 11 winning season including six District 9 titles … Karns City is now 2-7 in PIAA playoff games. The Gremlins last PIAA win was in 2008, 32-14, over North Star. That year, Karns City fell to Aliquippa 42-14 in the quarterfinals … Last year, Aliquippa beat District 9 champion Moniteau 32-7 in the quarterfinals.

KARNS CITY 35, CHESTNUT RIDGE 29

Score by Quarters

Chestnut Ridge 14 7 8 0 – 29

Karns City 14 9 6 6 – 35

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Jacob Mock 10 run (Sean Van Meter kick), 7:08

K – Tristan Rhoades 19 run (Zach Moore kick), 4:05

C – Mock 13 run (Van Meter kick), 3:28

K – Adam Whited 20 run (Moore kick), 3:08

Second Quarter

K – Moore 24 field goal, 10:39

C – Beau Bosch 2 run (Van Meter kick), 3:40

K – Dakota Mohney 33 run (Kick failed), 2:01

Third Quarter

C – Mock 10 run (Mock run), 7:36

K – Matt Conto 80 kickoff return (Kick failed), 7:23

Fourth Quarter

K – Christian Turner 6 fumble return (Kick failed), 8:27

                                                C         K

First Downs                            24        13

Rushes-Yards                          60-368 33-244

Passing Yards                         50        42

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            6-16-1  2-4-0

Total Yardage                         418      286

Punts-Avg.                              2-35     2-42

Fumbles-Lost                          4-1       1-1

Penalties-Yards                       4-27     4-24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Chestnut Ridge: Jacob Mock 29-171, Beau Bosch 22-164, Matt Wiley 5-29, Colby Hillegass 1-6, Trent Lohr 2-4, JD Weyant 1-minus 6. Karns City: Adam Whited 8-85, Dakota Mohney 6-63, Tristan Rhoades 3-39, Christian Turner 5-23, Tyler Kepple 3-15, Zach Moore 5-14, Wyatt Everetts 2-6, Team 1-minus 1.

Passing – Chestnut Ridge: Beau Bosch 6-for-12, 50 yards. JD Weyant 0-for-2, 1 interception. Team 0-for-2. Karns City: Tyler Kepple 2-for-4, 42 yards.

Receiving – Chestnut Ridge: JD Weyant 3-33, Trent Lohr 2-9, Tanner College 1-8. Karns City: Adam Whited 1-22, Wyatt Everetts 1-20.

Interceptions – Karns City: Dakota Mohney.