Big plays drive Gremlins
KARNS CITY — The Karns City football team had the ball for only 18 plays in the first half, but big play after big play still put 34 points on the board.
The explosive first half set up the Gremlins' 55-0 rout of A-C Valley Friday night.
Coming off a hard-fought, one-point loss to rival Moniteau last week, Karns City used big plays to strike quickly against the Falcons' defense.
The Gremlins had runs of 17, 23, 36, 53 and 55 yards from four different players in the first half.
Karns City jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a four-play, 48 yard drive that was finished by a 9-yard touchdown run by Craig Slomers. This came after a 36-yard carry by J.R. Yough put the Gremlins in scoring position.
But it wasn't until the second quarter when Karns City (8-1, 8-1) blew the game open.
The Gremlins added four touchdowns in the quarter, including two by Brandon Collier, who caught an 8-yard pass from Dylan Hipple, then electrified the crowd on a punt return before half.
Collier took the ball at his own 42, ran toward the Falcons' sideline before reversing his course and running down the opposite sideline. A few key blocks and a juke move at the 10 gave Collier a 58-yard touchdown, making the score 34-0 at half.
The Gremlins were mixing both varsity and junior varsity players into the game, leading to a bit of a sluggish start on both sides of the ball."But as we got into the game, everybody started playing well," Karns City coach Ed Conto said. "We seemed to click a little better offensively, which I don't know why because all week long we did better defensively."The game took on a serious tone before the half. On Collier's punt return, A-C Valley defender Ernie Switzer laid motionless on the field for more than 10 minutes after the play.Switzer was taken off on a stretcher, but he had movement in his arms and waved to the crowd. Switzer's brother, senior running back Ken Switzer, accompanied Ernie to the hospital.After the game, A-C Valley coach Chris McNany addressed the injury."I know they flew him down to Pittsburgh, but that's all I know right now," McNany said. "He had movement in everything and he could feel everything, but there was something on his spinal cord they just weren't real sure about. My understanding is they flew him just for precautionary reasons."As for the rest of the game, Karns City had its way with the Falcons.The Gremlins had seven different players score their eight touchdowns while amassing 387 yards on 36 carries.And despite the slow start on defense that Conto wasn't pleased with, his team tightened down for the shutout. The Gremlin defense had six sacks of A-C Valley quarterback Mike Orrvick and forced one interception.The Karns City win clinches at least a share of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference title.But a big regular season game looms."Next week we have a big game with ... Wilmington and we're real excited about that," Conto said. "We go out and play them and become better automatically, and then we'll worry about the playoffs the week after."
