Hunter Scherer, Owen Heginbotham are Karns City football’s picture-perfect pair in the backfield
KARNS CITY — Hunter Scherer and Owen Heginbotham were once youth football foes.
Picture that.
The two senior Karns City tailbacks spent their first six football seasons hitting each other much more than they do now, where opposing linebackers are now their primary targets.
“We were always the best two running backs going against each other,” said Scherer, who suited up for the Karns City Blue Devils as they’d face off with Heginbotham and the East Brady Bulldogs. “It was fun. He’d tackle me and I’d tackle him. We were both linebackers, too. We played the same positions on both sides of the ball.”
Ahead of their matchup with Punxsutawney on Friday night, Heginbotham and Scherer have combined for 613 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground for the Gremlins (3-1). The two have even joined forces in yearbook class, a course no other teammates are in.
“It was always like, ‘Hunter Scherer. That guy. He’s gonna be the guy. You’re on him the entire game,’” Heginbotham said, looking back on their youth football days. “I’m pretty sure I just went back and forth the entire time. So I literally had him man-to-man for at least two years of my peewee days.”
Scherer remembers a young Heginbotham’s physicality and sportsmanship.
“He never opened his mouth or anything,” Heginbotham said. “He was always a very respectful player. He was a pretty hard runner for how small (he was). ... He still blew through all of us.”
Heginbotham wasn’t used to sharing carries when he got to junior high, the first time he and Scherer played on the same team. However, Heginbotham understood why he’d have to balance carries with his former rival, who he said was a short rusher who regularly “bowled through the entire defense.”
Karns City coach Joe Sherwin described his program’s approach as: “When your number’s called, run as hard as you can. One guy does it for a few plays, and then it’s somebody different,” he said.
“Some people key on Owen, and some people key on me,” Scherer said. “It’s not like everyone’s keying on the same person. They don’t know whether they’re gonna have to break down, like, ‘Who’s getting the ball?’”
Heginbotham doesn’t mind the rest that comes with the timeshare. He also feels relieved not to have to put the offense on his back, he said.
Or carry a yearbook on his shoulders.
Scherer told Heginbotham in the beginning of the school year he was bored sitting in his extra study hall. Heginbotham convinced him to join the yearbook class, and now the two are trying to find a creative way to put it together. That includes snapping photos.
“I’m gonna say I’m a beginner level,” Heginbotham said. “I might be a little better than Scherer, though.”
“I don’t really like using a camera,” Scherer said. “I didn’t know I had to use a camera. ... I turned it on today, and I tried to take a picture and (it wouldn’t let me). It was something about the flash.”
Heginbotham, who’d rather take a good picture than get one taken of him, considers himself to be the speedy tailback while Scherer is “the heavy hitter.” The latter felt the former was shortchanging his style.
“He has the mentality ... that he’s gonna put his head right through you and drag you,” Scherer said of Heginbotham.
As for their photo-taking skills?
“I think they’d better maybe look for another line of work,” Sherwin said, laughing.
