FINAL SURGE: Karns City Mounts Furious Comeback Before Westinghouse Ends Gremlins’ Season With 50-21 Win

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (EYT) — For a few frantic minutes Friday night, Karns City had Westinghouse wondering what in the world had just happened.

The Gremlins were down 28 points, their usually powerful running game had gone nowhere and the Bulldogs had spent most of the evening treating the line of scrimmage like their own personal property.

It was 35-7 midway through the third quarter at Cupples Stadium on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

Westinghouse, the undefeated City League champions that were rarely challenged this season, were rolling again.

The game appeared over.

But Karns City coach Joe Sherwin wasn’t quite ready to concede anything. There was nothing left to lose, so the Gremlins decided to throw caution to the wind.

And the football.

Cole Johnston dropped back and found Owen Kaufman streaking down the middle of the field for a 39-yard touchdown pass.

Suddenly, it was 35-14 with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Then came an onside kick that Brock Dittman executed perfectly, and Karns City recovered.

A few plays later, Johnston went looking for Kaufman again and found him, this time for 47 yards and another touchdown.

Just like that, a 28-point deficit had been sliced in half to 35-21.

Less than a minute had elapsed between the two touchdowns, and a game that had been spiraling toward a blowout suddenly had a pulse.

The Gremlins weren’t finished.

Dittman lined up for another onside kick. Another perfectly placed ball. Another Karns City recovery.

For a moment, the impossible didn’t seem quite so impossible anymore.

“We’re going to lay it all on the line. There’s no holding back,” Sherwin said. “We figured, what the heck, we might as well try it and hit those big passes. I think at that point, we were right back in it. We had the momentum going.”

But momentum can be a fickle thing, particularly when the team on the other sideline has spent the entire night running the football almost at will.

Karns City couldn’t capitalize on the second recovery, eventually punting the ball away.

And Westinghouse went back to doing what it had done from the opening possession.

Running.And running. And running some more.

The Bulldogs churned out 417 yards on the ground, overwhelming a Karns City defense that had been so effective during the Gremlins’ run to a second consecutive District 9 Class 2A championship.

Westinghouse eventually pulled away for a 50-21 victory in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs, ending Karns City’s season at 10-2.

But for those few wild minutes in the third quarter, the Gremlins had given themselves a chance.

Karns City has built its success on physical football, a punishing running game and the ability to control the line of scrimmage.

Friday night, Westinghouse turned that formula against the Gremlins.

The Bulldogs held Karns City to just 48 rushing yards, repeatedly clogging running lanes and preventing the Gremlins from establishing the rhythm that had carried them through much of the season.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse seemed to find four or five yards whenever it needed them.

Sometimes considerably more.

“Both sides of the ball,” Sherwin said. “They were able to get four, five yards a pop, if not more. And offensively, we didn’t run the ball as well as what we have been throughout the season. I think that was the difference.”

It was a difference that became apparent early.

Westinghouse jumped ahead 14-0 on a pair of rushing touchdowns, the first a 2-yard run by quarterback Zahir Ishmail and the second a 19-yard burst by K’Shawn Hawkins.

Karns City was struggling to move the football, and after another three-and-out, the Bulldogs appeared poised to take complete control.

Then Hawkins made a mistake.

Fielding a punt, he was stripped of the football at the Westinghouse 10-yard line, giving Karns City the kind of break it desperately needed.

The Gremlins capitalized.

Bryce Galan scored on a 5-yard run, trimming the deficit to 14-7 and briefly giving Karns City some life.

But Westinghouse answered.

Ishmail scored again from 2 yards out, restoring the two-touchdown advantage and sending the Bulldogs into halftime with a 21-7 lead.

And the problems for Karns City were only beginning.

Westinghouse had already demonstrated that it could run the football with just about anyone carrying it. That became particularly important when Ishmail left the game with an injury shortly before halftime.

Omar Pack, who had actually started the game at quarterback before Ishmail took over, stepped back into the role and continued to torment the Gremlins.

Pack scored on runs of 30 and 1 yard in the third quarter, pushing the Westinghouse lead to 35-7.

“Just like our running the ball, they controlled the line of scrimmage with our pass protection,” Sherwin said. “For the few plays we were able to protect him, I think we hurt them a little bit.”

Kaufman was the biggest reason why.

The senior receiver had been one of Karns City’s most dangerous offensive weapons all season, capable of turning a routine play into a touchdown with his speed and ability to get open.

Kaufman finished with five receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for nearly all of Karns City’s production through the air.

“You could argue that he’s the best receiver we’ve had here in Karns City history,” Sherwin said. “He had a great season. Big catches in a big game like this. Hats off to him.”

Johnston completed 7 of 10 passes for 99 yards and the two scores. Galan added a 1-yard reception, while Tyson Fraser caught a pass for minus-2 yards.

The onside kicks were hardly acts of desperation dreamed up on the sideline.

Karns City had worked on them throughout the week, knowing that special teams might provide an opportunity to steal a possession against a talented opponent.
Dittman delivered when called upon.

Twice.

“It was something we had practiced throughout the week,” Sherwin said. “At that point, we thought we might as well go for it, and we had Brock make two nice kicks.”

Unfortunately for the Gremlins, the second recovery didn’t produce another touchdown.

And that was the opening Westinghouse needed to regain control.

Pack scored his third rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, extending the lead to 42-21 and effectively extinguishing Karns City’s comeback hopes.

Daejon Robinson added a 1-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds remaining, then ran in the 2-point conversion to account for the final margin.

Pack finished with 173 yards on 19 carries, while Jordan Reid added 122 yards on 21 attempts.

Together, they helped power a rushing attack that accumulated 417 yards and repeatedly kept the Gremlins on their heels.

Karns City, meanwhile, never found its footing on the ground.

Galan led the Gremlins with 35 yards on six carries.

Penalties made matters worse.

The Gremlins were flagged 15 times, with several other infractions offset by Westinghouse penalties.

For Karns City, the loss brought an abrupt end to another successful season.

“What happened tonight doesn’t diminish the type of season we had,” Sherwin said. “We were Region 1 champs. District 9 champs. This group of seniors led us back to where we were last year, and a lot of people didn’t have those type of expectations for us this year. They really came through this year.”

“The seniors stepped up big time,” Sherwin said of his seniors. “They really led this team. They are going to be sorely missed.”