Karns City Soars, Falls and Soars Again in Win Over Redbank Valley

Shane Lux

Shane Lux

Published September 9, 2017 4:20 am
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KARNS CITY, Pa. (D9Sports) — Karns City scored the game’s first 21 points and last 21 points as the Gremlins rode the legs of Dalton Beham to their first win of 2017, 42-28, over Redbank Valley Friday night.

(Photo by Bruce Lux)

Karns City blew a 21-0 lead, trailed 28-21 going into the fourth quarter but then scored the game’s final three touchdowns’ two from Beham, who led the Gremlins with 116 yards on 16 carries while scoring four times.

“This is the most mental team I’ve ever had,” said Karns City head coach Ed Conto. “Our first two games we made a mistake after mistake and when they came back tonight, I wasn’t sure how my guys would react. But they stepped up and played hard and for the first time we executed when we had to.”

At the start, the Gremlins (1-2) made it took easy taking the 21-0 lead.

A 74-yard, nine-play drive was capped by a 6-yard Beham touchdown to make it 7-0, and then, following a partially blocked punt, Karns City needed just four plays to go 30 yards as Beham scored on a 9-yard jaunt to make it 14-0 after a quarter.

“He’s shifty and makes good cuts, he’s a real solid back for us,” said Conto of Beham.

Karns City again put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive as Sebastian Troutman scored a 2-yard run putting the Gremlins in front 21-0 with 2:31 remaining in the first half. Troutman’s 33-yard run to the 2-yard line was the key play of the drive. He finished the game with 70 yards on 11 carries.

Needing to get something to get back in the game, the Bulldogs took over at their 43-yard line with 61 seconds left in the first half.

Quarterback Keaton Kahle was 3-for-3 on the drive and connected with Chase Wiles on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds remaining in the half cutting the deficit to 21-7 at intermission. Kahle’s 39-yard pass to Brock Barrett to the Gremlin 4-yard line was the big play of the drive.

Coming out smoking in the second half Clint Thurston, who was held to negative 1-yard on seven carries in the first half, exploded for 63 yards on the opening snap of the second half pulling Redbank Valley to within a touchdown at 21-14 just 16 seconds into the third quarter.

That was merely the beginning for the Bulldogs in the quarter.

A 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by Thurston’s second touchdown brought the Bulldogs to within a point at 21-20 following a missed extra point.

Holding Karns City to a three-and-out for the second straight series, Redbank took over at its 49-yard line.

Six plays later, the Bulldogs were fourth-and-1 from the Gremlins 33-yard line. A quick handoff and cut down the far sideline put Thurston in the end zone for the third time in the quarter, as Redbank scored the game’s fourth straight touchdown to take a 28-21 lead.

“It was the tale of two games,” Redbank Valley head coach Ed Wasilowski said. “They had the first half and we had the third quarter. We didn’t make any major adjustments just a few minor ones along the defensive line, but our third quarter was more a case of the kids just deciding to play football in the second half.”

Thurston lead all rushers with 121 on 17 carries.

Undaunted, Karns City cool and collected seized the momentum right back as they had five different ball carriers take them on a methodical 12-play, 75-yard drive that finished with Beham’s third touchdown from five yards out tying the game at 28.

Forcing a three-and-out, Beham broke free from 23 yards away as Karns City took their lead back at 35-28.

“I was proud of my guys tonight especially in the secondary, we had three starters out back there,” said Conto. “This is a good win.”

Clay Garing then ended any of Redbank’s comeback hopes as he intercepted a Kahle pass and returned it 30 yards and then put the finishing touches on the Gremlins first win of the season with a 16-yard run.

“We hurt ourselves with the blocked punt, bad penalties and dropped passes,” Wasilowski said. “But the biggest thing tonight was that we couldn’t stop their run when we had to, nothing we tried worked.”
Story by Shane Lux

KARNS CITY 42, REDBANK VALLEY 28

Score by Quarter

Redbank Valley — 0 7 21 0 — 28
Karns City — 14 7 0 21 — 42

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

KC — Dalton Beham 6 yd run (Clay Garing pat), 7:30
KC — Beham 9 yd run (Garing pat), 4:20

Second Quarter

KC — Sebastian Troutman 2 yd run (Garing pat), 2:31
RV — Chase Wiles 4 yd pass from Keaton Kahle (Clint Thurston pat), :29

Third Quarter

RV — Thurston 63 yd run (Thurston pat), 11:44
RV — Thurston 1 yd run (kick failed), 6:31
RV — Thurston 33 yd run (Wiles from Kahle), 2:50

Fourth Quarter

KC — Beham 5 yd run (Garing pat), 10:09
KC — Beham 23 yd run (Garing pat), 6:53
KC — Garing 16 yd run (Garing pat), 4:19

Team Stats
RV KC

First Downs 14 26
Rushes-Yards 24-149 50-310
Passing Yards 135 35
Comp-Att-Int 12-29-1 4-13-0
Total Yards 284 345
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 4-30 4-47
Punts-Avg. 6-34 4-35

Individual Stats

Rushing: Redbank Valley — Clinton Thurston 17-121, Keaton Kahle 4-14 Barrett 3-14, Totals: 24-149. Karns City — Dalton Beham 16-116, Sebastian Troutman 11-70, Clay Garing 10-88, Noah Kepple 4-22, Anthony Kamenski 1-0, Josh Wimer 1-4, Mitchell Kelsea 3-20, Team 4-(-10), Totals: 50-310.

Passing: Redbank Valley — Kahle 12-for-29 135 yards, 1 TD 1 Int. Karns City — Kamenski 4-for-13 35 yards.

Receiving: Redbank Valley — Chase Wiles 5-44, Hunter Martz 1-6, Tanner Kerle 1-7, Brock Barrett 4-73 Thurston 1-5. Karns City — Nick Schill 1-18, Troutman 2-16, Kepple 1-1.

Interceptions: Karns City — 1 (Garing).

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