WEST SUNBURY, Pa. – Scoring 30 unanswered points, visiting and unbeaten Karns City broke open a close game midway through the second quarter on its way to a 44-6 win over winless Moniteau.
Also see: District 9 Football Recaps: Mullins FG Wins it for Curwensville
Rewatch the game
The Gremlins were up by just eight, 14-6, following a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by Moniteau’s David Dessicino with 7:57 left in the first half.
But Zach Kelly returned the ensuing kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown to put Karns City (4-0) back up by two scores, 22-6, following a Luke Garing 2-point conversion run.
Then, late in the half, Micah Rupp hauled down a 25-yard touchdown pass from Eric Booher and Garing went in for two again to give the Gremlins a commanding 30-6 halftime lead.
It was the first of two touchdown passes for Booher, who also connected with Cooper Croyle on a 61-yard scoring bomb late in the third quarter to close out the scoring.
Booher was 5 of 9 passing for 152 yards, the two touchdowns, and the one interception.
Garing, who was named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game after an outstanding performance on both sides of the football, led a balanced Karns City rushing attack with 47 yards on just nine carries.
He opened the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run just 1:43 into the contest after the Gremlins returned the opening kickoff to the 50-yard line and then made it 37-6 midway through the third quarter on a 2-yard run.
Karns City made it 14-0 late in the first quarter on a 35-yard fullback dive run by Zach Blair, who finished with two carries for 37 yards before leaving the game in the second half with an injury on defense.
In all, nine Gremlins carried the ball a total of 31 times for 207 yards helping Karns City outgained Moniteau (0-3), 359 yards to 130 with 107 of the Warriors’ yards coming on the ground.
Jayce Anderson added 44 yards rushing on eight carries, while Coyle had three catches for 112 yards.
Matt Martino paced Moniteau rushing 11 times for 54 yards with Hunter Stalker adding seven carries for 31 yards.
Dessicino was 4 of 13 passing for 20 yards and ran 11 times for 22 yards.
