Grounded out
CLARION — Karns City went all-in on stopping Brett Brumbaugh and the South Fayette passing game.
Trouble was, the Lions have a pretty good ground attack, too.
Hunter Hayes rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns as South Fayette shook off feisty Karns City for a 42-15 win in the PIAA Class AA quarterfinals at Clarion University Friday night.
“Their passing game is so good, we tried everything to stop it and it opened up their running game,” said Karns City coach Ed Conto. “We couldn't defend both things.”
Karns City's blitz was getting to Brumbaugh early. The Gremlins sacked the Lions' senior quarterback, who came into the game needing just 303 yards to break the state career passing yardage record, twice and forced several poor throws.
Brumbaugh's first throw of the game was nearly intercepted. His second throw was picked off by Tyler Dunn.
“They did a couple of nice things,” said South Fayette coach Joe Rossi. “They showed us a couple of blitzes we hadn't seen. They were dropping guys off in coverage and blitzing. It was a nice job by our coaches to switch a little more to the running game.”
Karns City (11-2), though, couldn't muster much on offense, managing just two first downs and 21 total yards in the first half.
“I thought the defense played tremendous,” Rossi said. “I was proud of the effort.”
So was Conto of his team's effort. The coach said he thought the Gremlins were just as physical as the Lions.
“I thought we hit with them,” he said.
Hayes simply out-ran them.
Hayes scored the first of his touchdowns on a 1-yard run with 5:44 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 South Fayette lead.
Dan Trimbur kicked a 25-yard field goal with 5:54 remaining in the second quarter to start an onslaught of points in the final six minutes of the half for the Lions (14-0).
Hayes scored on a 9-yard run with less than two minutes left in the second quarter and then Nick Ponikvar broke the game open with a 77-yard punt return just three seconds before the half.“That was a huge, huge play right before the half,” Rossi said. “We went for the block, so it wasn't really a return. He just made a great individual effort.”South Fayette kept the pedal down at the start of the second half, scoring two more touchdowns on a 1-yard run by Hayes and a 6-yard pass from Brumbaugh to Logan Sharp in the first three minutes of the third quarter for a 36-0 lead.Karns City lost three fumbles in the first 22 minutes of the game.“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Conto said.Collin Dunmyre was one of the bright spots for Karns City. He rumbled 53 yards for a touchdown and finished with 118 yards on 10 carries.Following Hayes' fourth TD run of the game, Ethan Conto plunged in from the 1 for Karns City to close out the scoring.Karns City is now 4-11 in the state playoffs and 0-5 against WPIAL teams.“You gotta have a complete game at the end of the year and you gotta have a little it of luck,” Conto said. “We had some injuries and things like that.“It's always tough (to say goodbye to the seniors),” Conto added. “They're a great group of kids. They all played hard for us. That's the toughest part about coaching. You start out at the beginning of the year and you get to know them real well, spend every night with them for five months. It's tough. It's really tough.”South Fayette has now won 30 consecutive games and will play the winner of the Hickory-Tyrone game, which was scheduled for Saturday, next week in the PIAA Class AA semifinals.Brumbaugh finished 11-of-24 for 199 yards and is 104 yards shy of the state record. Trimbur caught five passes for 117 yards for the Lions.“I'm just proud of these guys,” Rossi said. “We've won 30 straight football games and nobody really talks about it. It's all about focusing on next week.”South Fayette 42, Karns City 15South Fayette 6 16 20 0 — 42Karns City 0 0 8 7 — 15SF KC20 First Downs 639-207 Rushes-Yards 34-180199 Passing Yards 311-24-1 Comp.-Att.-Int 3-11-1406 Total Yards 1830-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-35-45 Penalty Yards 3-30First QuarterSF — Hunter Hayes 1 run (Kick failed), 5:44Second QuarterSF — Trimbur 25 field goal, 5:34SF — Hayes 9 run (Trimbur kick), 1:47SF — Nick Ponikvar 77 punt return (Trimbur kick), :03Third QuarterSF — Hayes 1 run (Trimbur kick), 11:16SF — Logan Sharp 6 pass from Brett Brumbaugh (Trimbur kick), 9:36KC — Collin Dunmyre 53 run (Caleb King run), 9:17SF — Hayes 18 run (Kick failed), :39Fourth QuarterKC — Ethan Conto 1 run (Tyler Dunn kick), :22Individual StatisticsRushing: South Fayette, Hunter Hayes 23-183, Jasper Wolfe 10-31, Nick Ponikvar 4-12, Brett Brumbaugh 2-(-19). Karns City, Collin Dunmyre 10-118, Christian Turner 10-39, Maverick Kelsea 4-14, Logan Moroney 1-8, Ethan Conto 2-2, Caleb King 7-(-1).Passing: South Fayette, Brett Brumbaugh 11-24-199-1. Karns City, Caleb King 3-11-3-1.Receiving: South Fayette, Dan Trimbur 5-117, Logan Sharp 3-54, Ryan Schmider 2-12, Hunter Hayes 1-16. Karns City, Logan Moroney 1-5, Christian Turner 1-0, Chandler Turner 1-(-2).
