Patience Pays Off
BROCKWAY — It would have been easy for Karns City to start pressing.
During the first half of Tuesday's District 9 Class 2A boys soccer title game against Punxsutawney, the Gremlins placed a lot of heat on Chucks' goalkeeper Jacob Ebel, but the senior turned them away each time.
He made seven saves in the first 40 minutes to keep the game scoreless, diving to make three of them and leaping high to keep a shot from Dakota King from finding the left top corner of the net in the 28th minute.
“We just kept a level head about it,” said King. “We told each other to keep firing and eventually, one will go in.”
That faith paid off in the 64th minute when a close-range shot by Braeden Rodgers was saved, but not controlled by Ebel. The ball bounced to the left side of the goal face, where Myles McCully tapped in the game's lone goal in a 1-0 defeat of the defending champion Chucks at Frank Varischetti Field.
“It feels really good to contribute to a district championship,” said McCully, a freshman forward. “Our defense is strong and I thought one goal would be enough.”It is KC boys' sixth district championship overall and their first since 2016. They fell in the district final the last three years, including losing to Punxsutawney here last year.In the girls' title game, KC lost a 5-4 decision to Clearfield.KC boys coach Jim Grenninger was frustrated the game remained scoreless at halftime.“In the first half, I thought we should have had three or four goals, but their kid kept coming up with save after save.“Then we get that rebound, kind of a lucky bounce.”The Gremlins had defeated the Chucks 4-0 earlier this season.Chucks' coach Eric Eddy knew his team had to account for KC senior forward Dakota King, who has 22 goals this fall.“We had a shadow on him. He's an amazing player,” Eddy said. “This was a much different game from the first and I thought it could have been a different result, too.”Punxsutawney junior forward Ben Gigliotti was involved in many of his team's threats on KC goalkeeper Mallick Metcalfe, but several of his unobstructed shots from the left of the net sailed wide and resulted in a goal kick.This sequence played out twice late in the game, in the 67th and 69th minute.Metcalfe earned the win with three saves and Ebel had nine stops.Getting to three straight district finals and losing made Tuesday's result a bit sweeter for Grenninger.“This was the seventh straight year we played for the championship, but this year's seniors had never won,” he said. “The boys had it in their mind that they were going to get it done no matter what.”KC (12-1-1) will open the state playoffs Tuesday.Three Gremlin players — Kaden Scherer, Matt Griffiths and Owen Collwell — also play football for Karns City, which won a District 9 title last Friday.
<b>Clearfield 5, Karns City 4</b>The complexion of a back-and-forth game changed in the 54th minute.That's when Elle Smith's header put the Bison up 5-3, the first time in the contest that either team enjoyed a two-goal lead.It proved vital because the Gremlins (9-3) scored again with Emma Dailey's tally in the 58th minute.But KC failed to score over the final 22 minutes.“We man-marked (McKenna Martin) and started to get more cover on defense,” said Clearfield coach Todd Winters, whose Bison lost to KC here last year in the final. “They were living and dying with those through balls and we told our girls to just kick them out of bounds if they had to.”Martin and Dailey's speed contributed to all four of KC's goals, both scoring twice.Dailey's first goal tied the game at 1 when she beat goalkeeper Cayleigh Walker in the 24th minute.Martin scored four minutes later for a 2-1 lead, but Emma Hipps scored for the second time shortly after and the score was deadlocked at 2 entering halftime.“I had been keeping tabs on them and knew they're a very good team,” said KC coach Tracy Dailey. “I thought this game could go back and forth.”Riley Ryen and Amanda Hazel both scored in the second half for Clearfield (15-2-1).“I believed with our speed, we would score at least four goals tonight,” said Winters.KC's Rossi McMillen had eight saves and Walker seven for the Bison.The Gremlins had won eight straight district titles from 2012-19.“As much as it may seem like we're missing something with not winning another district championship, 2020 has been so unpredictable,” Tracy Dailey said. “Any day you get to play is a good day. We have nothing to hang our heads over. Our girls played hard and I told them before the game that I'm proud of them no matter what.”
