Ground game carries KC
KARNS CITY — Karns City ran away with a win over Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference foe Keystone.
Literally.
The Gremlins (4-0) used a strong ground attack, outgaining Keystone 406-95, en route to a 42-14 victory Friday.
"Last week, it started coming together," Karns City coach Ed Conto said. "Tonight, they cleaned some things up. We knew they were going to blitz, and when they didn't bust our plays, we had some room. We had a really good hitting night. It wears the other team down."
Karns City's Brett Green led the attack with 103 yards on eight carries while Josh Stimac added an additional 101 yards on four attempts and quarterback Anthony Stimac rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns on seven attempts.
"We didn't tackle real well," Keystone head coach Jason Nellis said. "We didn't break down and wrap up. It was not typical of us."
Karns City had nine runs for more than 15 yards while Keystone had only three runs for 15 or more yards.
"We went with pressure," Conto said. "We did a lot of different things. We made them throw the ball when they weren't ready. We put pressure on their spread (offense)."
Nellis admitted the pressure of Karns City's defense hindered his offense.
From the opening drive, Karns City wasted little time in taking the lead. The Gremlins put together an eight-play, 68-yard drive that was capped with a 16-yard Anthony Stimac touchdown.
Karns City's second possession went 90 yards in three plays and ended when Anthony Stimac found Mike McConnell in the end zone for the score. Josh Stimac helped set up the touchdown with a 54-yard run on the first play of the drive.
The Gremlins' first two drives netted 158 yards and seven first downs. Their final four possessions of the first half netted only 36 yards and one first down as Keystone cut the score in half.
Keystone quarterback Ben Black missed some open receivers, including a wide-open Gary Stephens on the Panthers' first possession, early in the game that halted drives and helped keep the momentum on Karns City's side.
"The first one was pretty big," Nellis said. "The kids would be more pumped up. But they didn't pack it in. We just didn't execute."
As the Gremlins offense sputtered, the special teams unit came up big. Josh Callender fielded a punt at Karns City's own 35 yard line and ran 65 yards for the touchdown.
The second half was similar to the first half. Karns City moved the ball at will early and sputtered midway through the half.
Karns City's first possession started at its own 1-yard line and went 99 yards on seven plays. The first four plays went 82 yards. Green pushed the ball in from the 5-yard line to open a 28-7 lead.
Anthony Stimac added a 55-yard run and Aaron Markle rounded out the scoring on a three-yard plunge in the final quarter.
