Gremlins eye rebound
KARNS CITY — Karns City found itself in unfamiliar territory last year and it had nothing to do with scheduling road games out of the area.
No winning record meant no playoffs for the perennial power Gremlins, but coach Ed Conto is hopeful it was a lesson learned for his young team.
“A lot of young kids got to play a year earlier than we thought,” Conto said. “Hopefully, the experience will pay dividends.
“We have the benefit of a lot of kids and they got a lot of experience. It was a negative the way the season ended, but it's a positive for this season,” Conto added.
The Gremlins have 20 seniors on the roster but will need to find a new quarterback in either last year's junior varsity starter Brady Ellenberger or sophomore Tyler Kepple, as Dylan Hipple (788 yards, seven touchdowns) has graduated.
Both will battle during camp for the position as “both do certain things well,” Conto noted.
The Gremlins return Glenn Toy (445 yards, nine TD) and Justin Hutchison at tailback while Alex Kinkela (405 yards, 2 TD) and Tyler Shreve will bring experience to the backfield.
Expect Cody Coyle (11 receptions), Tyler Marsinetti and Ethan Williams to highlight the receiving corps this year.
“Ethan's the kind of kid we need to get on the field,” Conto said. “He could be a good tailback. We've got to get him the ball.”
Kyle Barger and Justin Hutchison will vie for center and the other will slide into another guard spot along with Mike Turner and Nathan Horrell while Dylan Freiters will start at tackle with Chris Znosko and Alan Davis.
“We have a high morale and are working hard in camp,” said Ellenberger. “Most of the guys got a lot of experience under their belts last year.”
On defense, Freiters, Horrell, Turner and Znosko along with Pat Phillips will anchor the line while Kinkela, Barger and Hutchison will play at defensive end.
The linebacking corps is solid with Ellenberger, Williams, Shreve, Dalton Bly, Dan Filges, Mike Olkowski and Shawn Edwards leading the way.Cody Coyle and Toy played at safety a year ago and Justin Hutchison also saw action while Brandyn Bowser, Marsinetti, Kepple and Matt Conto will be among a group to see action at cornerback.The team would like to erase last year's memory but knew it was part of the learning process.“It was tough last year, especially after going through my 10th-grade year and seeing the success and all our other teams go far like they did,” said Znosko, now a senior.“We've got a lot of seniors this year so we should be good. We're going to play hard every game. We're going to turn it around this year,” Znosko added.
