Karns City claims 4th straight District 9 championship
CLARION — Ed Conto is looking forward to some tummy upset next week.
The Karns City football coach had a little bit of a queasy feeling early against rival Moniteau.
Rusty from a week off and going up against a feisty Moniteau team with little to lose, the Gremlins struggled early and led the Warriors just 9-6 midway through the second quarter.
But Karns City settled down, scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the half and cruised to its fourth consecutive District 9 Class AA championship with a 43-6 win over Moniteau at Clarion University Friday night.
“Bye weeks kill us,” Conto said. “We've never done well with bye weeks.”
Karns City, though, will be playing a playoff game the day after Thanksgiving for the fourth straight season. The Gremlins will square off against Bedford.
“We always play with a little bit of indigestion,” Conto said, laughing. “We like to play with a little bit of indigestion.”
Moniteau (5-7) had the Gremlins a little sick to their stomach in the first quarter.
Karns City (11-0) scored quickly on its opening possession, but Moniteau match a 23-yard Chandler Turner touchdown run with a quick touchdown of its own when quarterback Derek Boben found Wyatt Ifft wide open.
Ifft made a move, broke a tackle and dashed into the end zone for a 59-yard score and a 6-6 tie game.
Moniteau lost badly to Karns City in the first meeting of the season, falling behind 41-0 at the half and losing by that same score. The Warriors came into the district title game and a huge underdog.
“We felt as a coaching staff if we hang around there in the first quarter and the kids know they can play with them, good things can happen,” said Moniteau coach Wade Vogan.
Kaiden Powers booted a 32-yard field goal midway through the second quarter to give struggling Karns City a 9-6 lead.
Moniteau had its fair share of opportunities in the first half, but four turnovers torpedoed any chance the Warriors had.
“When you turn the ball over four times in the first half against a great team like Karns City, it's hard to win,” Vogan said.
Conto said his players were so hyped up to play a rival after a 13-day layoff, that they ran themselves recklessly into mistakes.
But that style also contributed to the forced turnovers, Conto added.“We're playing too fast and not executing,” Conto said. “We're flying around like mad men and not doing the right stuff. I hate bye weeks. This is what you get after that. You know what, though, Moniteau played hard. Give them big-time credit. They played very hard.”Maverick Kelsea caught a pass from Jacob King in the flat and rumbled 35 yards for a touchdown and Collin Dunmyre added a 5-yard scoring run to give the Gremlins a 23-6 lead at the half.Karns City scored three more touchdowns — a 3-yard run by Kelsea, a 54-yard run by Powers and a 6-yard run by Dunmyre — in the final 13 minutes to complete the win and tack on a fourth consecutive title to the resume.Karns City is the first Class AA team in District 9 history to win four straight.“It's a special thing to do it four years in a row,” Conto said. “It takes great groups of classes. It takes a bunch of kids coming out in a grade. I think what it says is we're doing a great job recruiting the kids and keeping them.”Karns City rushed for 354 yards as a team with Dunmyre leading the way with 113 yards on 15 carries. Turned added 102 yards on just nine carries and Powers gained 84 on a mere four attempts.Boben led Moniteau with 99 yards rushing and 115 yards passing.For Moniteau, a comeback season ends.The Warriors started 1-4 after suffering that lopsided loss to Karns City at midseason, but won four of six to get to the title game.“This group of seniors taught these underclassmen how to stick together and battle adversity as a team,” Vogan said. “My hat's off to those seniors. They came out to play tonight.”Vogan is particularly sad to see Boben go.Boben, who will play baseball at Slippery Rock University, was the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year.“He's a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Vogan said.
Moniteau 6 0 0 0 — 6Karns City 6 17 6 14 — 43M KC11 First Downs 1847-81 Rushes-Yards 49-354141 Passing Yards 874-16-3 Comp.-Att.-Int 7-12-1222 Total Yards 4414-2 Fumbles-Lost 4-26-50 Penalty Yards 7-69First QuarterKC — Chandler Turner 23 run (kick failed), 11:12M — Wyatt Ifft 59 pass from Derek Boben (kick failed), 9:16Second QuarterKC — Kaiden Powers 32 field goal, 6:14KC — Maverick Kelsea 35 pass from Jacob King (kick failed), 3:28KC — Collin Dunmyre 5 run (Luke Salerno pass from King), 1:21Third QuarterKC — Kelsea 3 run (kick failed), :49Fourth QuarterKC — Powers 54 run (Salerno pass from King), 7:54KC — Dunmyre 6 run (kick failed), 2:02Individual StatisticsRushing: Moniteau, Derek Boben 32-99, Shonn Kline 9-34, Wyatt Ifft 3-(-11), Team 3-(-41). Karns City, Collin Dunmyre 15-113, Chandler Turner 9-102, Kaiden Powers 4-84, Eric Dodd 5-32, Maverick Kelsea 5-25, Seth Silverio 4-17, Cullen Williams 4-10, Jacob King 3-(-29).Passing: Moniteau, Derek Boben 3-15-115-3, Dacota Skiver 1-1-26-0. Karns City, Jacob King 5-8-73-0, Cullen Williams 2-4-14-1.Receiving: Moniteau, Dalton Anderson 2-56, Wyatt Ifft 1-59, Nick Pfluph 1-26. Karns City, Maverick Kelsea 1-35, Chandler Turner 1-19, Collin Dunmyre 1-12, Kaiden Powers 1-10, Luke Salerno 1-8, Seth Silverio 1-2, Eric Dodd 1-1.
