A scoring machine
KARNS CITY— Maybe the Karns City High football team should change its name from the Gremlins to the Patriots.
The Gremlins did their best impersonation of the NFL squad that calls New England home by pummeling Brockway 62-28 in the opening round of the District 9 Class AA playoffs Friday night.
Karns City used its running-back-by-committee system to roll up 289 yards.
"They take their turns," said Karns City coach Ed Conto. "They are all good backs, and any one of them could have been a 1,200-yard rusher for the season."
Ben Pyle was the leading rusher with 73 yards on four carries.
Karns City opened the scoring early when Markus Lavan sprinted around left end for a 24-yard touchdown on the Gremlins' second play from scrimmage.
Lavan ended up in the end zone again on the next Karns City possession when he broke through the Brockway defense for a 20-yard touchdown.
A key play on the scoring drive was a 42-yard pass from Anthony Stimac to Matt McConnell that was an apparent score, but the Gremlins committed an illegal block on the play and the ball was placed at the Rovers 20.
The Gremlins continued the first period scoring barrage when Josh Stimac sprinted for a 39-yard touchdown on the Gremlins' third possession of the game.
In the first quarter, Karns City had the ball for only 2:46 and scored 21 points.
Things didn't get any better for Brockway in the second quarter when Stephon Conto returned a Rovers punt for a 69-yard score.
"Our special teams let us down tonight," said Brockway coach Frank Varischetti.
After giving up 28 points, Brockway did manage to get into the end zone with 9:40 left in the first half when Matthew Pentz threw a 25-yard scoring strike to Aaron Shaffer.
Pentz, who connected on three of four passes for 60 yards on the drive, was 17-of-35 for 243 yards for the game"(Pentz) is a tough nut," said Varischetti. "He takes a lot of punishment, but he puts the ball where it needs to be."It looked as if Brockway might claw its way back into the game on the ensuing kickoff. Conto took the kick and appeared on his way to another Karns City touchdown, but he had the ball poked out of his possession and through the Brockway end zone for a touchback.However, the Rovers could not move the ball past their own 44-yard line and were forced to punt.One play later, the Gremlins added to their lead when Anthony Stimac floated a pass to Josh Callender for a 37-yard score.The Gremlins added to their lead before halftime when Ben Pyle and Anthony Stimac had scoring runs of 13 and 53 yards, respectively, to give Karns City a 49-7 lead at the break."That is a tough way to end the season," said Varischetti. "We ran into kind of a buzz saw tonight."The combined score of 90 points is the second highest in District 9 playoff history behind the 92 points Karns City and Moniteau rolled up in the opening round of the 2002 playoffs. The 62 points Karns City scored is the second-highest total in District 9 playoff history behind the 69 points the 2002 Gremlins scored in that same game.<B>Karns City 62, Brockway 28Brockway 0 7 7 14—28Karns City 21 28 13 0—62B KC</B>16 First Downs 1633-99 Rushes-Yards 21-289238 Passing Yards 9817-36-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 3-6-0342 Total Yards 3871-0 Fumbles/Lost 2-25-33 Penalties-Yards 8-70<B>First Quarter</B>KC — Markus Lavan 24 run (Matt McConnell kick), 7:40KC — Lavan 20 run (McConnell kick), 2:33KC — Josh Stimac 39 run (McConnell kick), :50<B>Second Quarter</B>KC — Stephon Conto 69 punt return (McConnell kick), 10:26B — Aaron Shaffer 25 pass from Matthew Pentz (Daniel Golemboski kick), 9:40KC — Josh Callender 37 pass from Anthony Stimac (McConnell kick), 6:52KC — Ben Pyle 13 run (McConnell kick), 4:42KC — Anthony Stimac 53 run (McConnell kick), 2:17<B>Third Quarter</B>KC — Brett Green 4 run (McConnell kick), 10:58B — Camdon Makay 8 run (Golemboski kick), 5:34KC — Aaron Markle 5 run (kick failed), 3:21<B>Fourth Quarter</B>B — Dillon Park 5 run (Golemboski kick), 9:06B — Jeremy Lee 5 pass from Pentz (Golemboski kick), :08<B>Individual Statistics</B><B>Passing:</B> Brockway, Matthew Pentz 17-35-243-0, Camdon Makay 0-1-0-1. Karns City, Anthony Stimac 3-6-98.<B>Rushing:</B> Brockway, Camdon Makay 15-76, Armando Fortunato 3-7, Dillon Park 12-33, Matthew Pentz 3- (-17). Karns City, Josh Stimac 3-51, Markus Lavan 4-48, Ben Pyle 4-73, Josh Callender 1-17, Anthony Stimac 1-53, Brett Green 2-14, Dan Wolf 2-14, Aaron Markle 2-8.<B>Receiving:</B> Brockway Armando Fortunado 7-60, Dillon Park 4-86, Aaron Shaffer 3-67, Mark Shannon 2-25, Jeremy Lee 1-5. Karns City, Matt McConnell 1-42, Josh Callender 1-37, Stephon Conto 1-19.
