This is one in a series of articles previewing Butler County high school football matchups this FridayCLARION — Karns City is the lower seed and is playing its District 9 Class AA playoff game on the road Friday night against a team that has had its number.But the Gremlins (4-2) remain confident entering their 7 p.m. kickoff against Central Clarion (5-1) at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.“We had a 35-15 lead in the third quarter last time,” KC coach Joe Sherwin said. “We didn't close it out.”That was only two weeks ago. The Gremlins surrendered four fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 43-41 loss to the Wildcats at Diehl Stadium. The game's outcome came down to its final play.Two lost fumbles deep in KC territory and a 46-yard interception return for a score by Ethan Burford fueled the Central Clarion comeback. Still, the Gremlins drove 80 yards in the final 90 seconds, Nathan Waltman catching a 15-yard touchdown pass on the final play of regulation.KC's two-point conversion run attempt was stopped and the Wildcats held on.“We don't want to fall behind by 20 points like that again, absolutely not,” Central Clarion coach Larry Wiser said. “They did a lot of good things against us that night.”“Clearly, we have to take better care of the football,” Sherwin said. “We have to tighten our pass coverage, too.“But we're confident we can make the adjustments and come up with a more complete game.”Central Clarion quarterback Calvin German threw for 251 yards and four touchdowns in that game. He has thrown for 1,671 yards and 21 touchdowns on the season.Burford is his prime target, sporting 28 catches for 673 yards. Cutter Boggess, a running back, has 34 catches for 516 yards and five TDs.“I thought we did a good job on Burford last time,” Sherwin said. “That No. 21 (Boggess) really hurt us, though.”Wiser likes Burford on defense as well.“He's been a safety for us since he was a sophomore,” he said. “I love our secondary. It's the best I've had since I've been coaching and that covers a lot of years.”Boggess and Cooper Shall lead the Wildcats defensively with 49 tackles each. Central Clarion's defense has 14 takeaways on the season, including 11 interceptions.The Gremlins have settled on Eric Booher at quarterback. He threw for 212 yards and two scores in that Central Clarion loss.“I can;t believethat (Booher) kid is a sophomore,” Wiser said. “Micah Rupp does damage on the outside and he's a sophomore, too.“I like the (Luke) Garing kid at fullback and Nathan Waltman has been a quality player for them for a few years. Karns City always has good kids.”Sherwin plans to use a lot of them.“We'll still be using a number of different backs,” Sherwin said of his running game. “We're pretty healthy going into this game.“We don't know if (Central Clarion) will come at us with the same look defensively or throw something different at us. We'll be prepared to adjust. We'll take what they give us.”Wiser said a first-round playoff match between teams who played each other only two weeks ago is typical 2020.“It's been a crazy year all the way around,” he said. “I'm not sure what to expect Friday. Expect anything when these two teams get together. We've gone at each other hard for years now.”

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