Protecting their title
KARNS CITY — Karns City forced four turnovers, including three interceptions on its way to a 43-18 football victory over Punxsutawney on Senior Night at Diehl Stadium.
“We needed some big plays tonight, because they had a good running back, a good quarterback, and their schemes were good,” Karns City coach Ed Conto said. “I was really pleased with our defense because it took an excellent effort to get it done.”
The win secured the third straight KSAC Large division title for Karns City.
The Gremlins scored first on a Colton Hawk 10-yard run and on the next Chucks possession, the defense made their first big play.
Punxsutawney quarterback Dakota Thomas threw a pass that hit off receiver Ethan Riley's hands and right into the clutches of Collin Dunmyre.
Dunmyre quickly took off down the sidelines and went 61 yards untouched to score, putting the Gremlins up 14-0 with 19 seconds left in the first quarter.
Dunmyre also had a 1-yard touchdown run to his credit.
The Chucks looked to respond with the ensuing drive and were able to move inside the Gremlins 10-yard line, but a bad exchange on a second down hand-off caused a fumble which was recovered by Karns City.
“We've had too many turnovers all season,” Punxsutawney coach Alan Nichol said. “Karns City is ranked near the top in the state for a reason, so you can't really make those kinds of mistakes against them.”
Punsutawney (6-3, 2-2) got on the board with their first drive of the second half on a 10-yard run by Thomas and added a two point conversion to cut the Karns City (9-0, 4-0) lead to 22-8 with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter.
“This was a hard hitting football game,” Conto said. “Those guys really came at us and it was a physical game.”
Karns City answered on the following drive, which started out with two penalties, including an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Gremlins bench after a holding penalty.
Conto wasn't sure if the penalty sparked the drive or not, but six plays later, the Gremlins were in the end zone.
“It probably ticked the kids off a little bit, sometimes you'll get that with a sideline warning, but it's part of the game,” Conto said.
Tristan Rhoades caught a pass for 34 yards on the play following the penalties and five plays later scored from a yard out to put the Gremlins up 29-8 heading into the fourth quarter.
Rhoades had two touchdowns on the night, both from a yard out.
Evan Stitt also scored on a 12-yard pass from Caleb King in the fourth quarter.
Next week the Gremlins will head to Dubois for a tough test to end the regular season against a Quad-A opponent.
“It will be a different test, because they are a finesse team that throws a lot,” Conto said. “It's going to be a battle.”
