JOHNSONBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) – The Karns City Gremlins used a consistent ground attack on the road Friday night to defeat District 9 Large School foe, Ridgway, in a 35-0 shutout of the Elkers in Johnsonburg.
(Stats courtesy of Bob Parana from The Ridgway Record)
The Gremlin victory improved their record to 7-1, while the Elkers of Ridgway lost their second straight contest and fell to 5-3.
Nearly 300 yards of offense, including 244 yards on the ground, paved the way for a Gremlins’ victory Friday night. Karns City distributed the ball to four key runners, including Luke Garing, Jayce Anderson, quarterback Eric Booher and Cooper Coyle, who shared a majority of the 39 rushing attempts by Karns City in the game.
Leading the attack was Garing, who carried 16 times for 106 yards and a score. Garing also caught two passes for 33 yards in the matchup. Anderson was able to find the end zone twice, carrying eight times for 77 yards. Booher accumulated 49 yards on the ground on six carries, while Coyle carried three times for 24 yards.
Two Gremlin touchdowns also came through the air as Booher connected with Nate Garing and Micah Rupp for scores.
“We were able to get the run game going on the opening drive and take it down the field, which I think was a big plus for us in the game.” said Karns City coach Joe Sherwin. “With a long trip, we wanted to be ready when it kicked off. We told the guys, ‘Lets come out ready to go.’ It is not always easy to do on these long trips, so that was a point of focus for us.”
The Elkers were without starting quarterback Jonathan Hinton in this tilt, so Ridgway elected to use sophomore Cameron Larkin and Domenic Allegretto in the role. Ridgway focused much of their offensive attack on the run game, carrying the ball 33 times for 100 yards. The Elkers gained just 159 yards of offense, with Allegretto and fellow senior Camron Marciniak combining for 86 of those yards on the ground.
“We gave up some yards, but we bent and never broke,” Sherwin said. “I think that was key, and being able to force some turnovers, too, is always big when you are playing a good team, and Ridgway is a good team. I am proud of the way the guys played and how we trained throughout the week.”
Karns City has now won two straight games and improved to 4-0 in road games heading into a showdown next Friday night as they welcome the Bradford Owls for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Ridgway will look to snap a recent skid as they hit the road for Jefferson County to take on the Raiders of Brookville. That contest is scheduled to get under way at 7 p.m. on Friday.
