Gremlins Go Big
CHERRY TWP — Showing off a running game able to wear down the opposition through its first three games, Karns City decided to try a different mode of transportation Friday night.
Same result.
Eric Booher threw for 155 yards, including a pair of long touchdown passes, to go with KC's usually productive ground attack in a 44-6 football victory at Moniteau.
“ It was part of the gameplan tonight,” Booher said. “We wanted to work on our passing game. We executed our plays well and hit on a couple of big ones.”
Karns City (4-0) rushed for 195 yards in presenting a balanced attack. The Gremlins' first two scores were on a 3-yard run by Luke Garing and a 35-yard jaunt by Zach Blair.
Booher tossed a 32-yard pass to Cooper Coyle on the game's first offensive play, setting up Garing's score. Coyle caught three passes for 115 yards on the night.
“We're going to need to be able to throw the ball later in the season,” KC coach Joe Sherwin said. “It was important for us to work on that phase of our game and we did well.
“We did have one pass play that went awry and we had a quarterback sack. We had two turnovers, too. Those are things we have to clean up.”
Moniteau (0-3) cut into its 14-0 deficit suddenly when David Dessicino deflected an attempted Gremlin screen pass, secured the ball and raced 28 yards for a touchdown. That trimmed the gap to 28-6 with 7:57 left in the first half.
The Warriors didn't have much time to celebrate.
KC's Zach Kelly scooped up the ensuing squib kick and ran 61 yards for a touchdown. Booher added a 25-yard scoring strike to Micah Ruipp for a 30-6 lead by halftime.
“That play didn't get me down,” Booher said of the pick-six. “There was a lot of time left in the game to make more plays.”
KC's defense didn't give the Warriors much opportunity to score all night. Moniteau's deepest penetration was the Karns City 37-yard line.
Moniteau was held to 119 yards of offense in the contest.
“We did not play well on either side of the ball tonight,” Moniteau coach Bob Rottman said. “We didn't have enough effort. We didn't have the right attitude. We didn't have the right execution.
“I love the group of guys we have. I seriously doubt an effort like this is going to happen again.”
Matt Martino led Moniteau with 51 yards rushing. He recovered a fumble as well.
KC's defense had no takeaways, but never allowed the Warriors to come up with a big play.
“Our defense did extremely well,” Sherwin said. “We have some linemen out right now, so most of these guys had to play on both sides of the ball. It was a great effort.”
Garing rushed for two touchdowns and scored on a pair of two-point conversions. Coyle caught a 62-yard TD pass from Booher late in the third quarter, invoking the mercy clock the rest of the way.“Karns City has a very good football team,” Rottman said. A lot of teams are going to struggle against them. A lot of teams already have.”Booher agreed.“If our passing attack matches our running game, coupled with this defense we've got ... This could get scary,” the quarterback said.Karns City 14 16 14 0 — 44Moniteau 0 6 0 0 — 6First QuarterKC — Luke Garing 3 run (Zach Kelly kick), 10:17KC — Zach Blair 35 run (Kelly kick), 1:41Second QuarterM — David Dessicino 28 interception return (kick failed), 7:57KC — Kelly 61 kick return (Garing run), 7:43KC — Micah Rupp 25 pass from Eric Booher (Garing run), 1:02Third QuarterKC — Garing 2 run (Kelly kick), 6:37KC — Cooper Coyle 62 pass from Booher (Kelly kick), 1:55Individual StatisticsRushing: Karns City, Eric Booher 3-20, Luke Garing 7-42, TEAM 1-(-8), Jayce Anderson 6-38, Zach Kelly 1-11, Micah Rupp 3-17, Zach Blair 3-42, Levi Hawk 1-3, Jerry Kummer 4-22, Tyler Wolfe 1-5. Moniteau, David Dessicino 9-24, Matt Martino 11-51, Hunter Stalker 7-29, Isaiah Thompson 3-3.Passing: Karns City, Eric Booher 5-9-155-1. Moniteau, David Dessiciono 4-14-18-0.Receiving: Karns City, Cooper Coyle 3-115, Luke Garing 1-15, Micah Rupp 1-25. Moniteau, Hunter Stalker 1-(-1), Cody Daniels 1-12, Isaiah Thompson 1-3, Cooper Boozel 1-4.
