Wildcats Season Ends With Playoff Loss To Karns City

(Image by Nate Girvan: Wildcats’ Touchdown)

The Central Clarion Wildcats season ended with a 35-7 District Nine Class-A semifinal loss to the homestanding Karns City Gremlins on Friday (November 12th).

Luke Garing had an eight yard touchdown run at 8:28 of the first quarter, for the Gremlins. Zach Kelly’s extra-point was good and Karns City led 7-0.

Two more Karns City touchdown runs in the second quarter, five yards by Chase Anderson at 7:40, fifty yards by Garing at 3:25 and a thirty-five yard scoring pass from Eric Booher to Micah Rupp at 1:33, with Kelly’s PATs after each, had the Gremlins up 28-0 at halftime.

Ryan Hummell got the Wildcats on the board with a one yard run at 3:41 of the third. Charley Franchino’s extra-point was good and Central trailed 28-7.

Jayce Anderson scored the Gremlins last touchdown from two yards out with 9:58 left in the game and Kelly’s point after set the final.

Wildcats finished the season with a 4-6 record. After opening the season with four losses, the Wildcats won four straight, before falling to Clearfield and Karns City. All of the Wildcats’ losses were to teams that made the playoffs, while two of their wins were over playoff teams, Class-AAAA DuBois and Ridgway/Johnsonburg, which faces Karns City in the District Nine Class-AA Championship game this Friday.

So the Wildcats can be proud of their season.

Coach Davey Eggleton said, “I am proud of the effort our guys put forth this year. We faced a lot of adversity and it would have been easy to pack it in and quit, but these guys kept working hard and getting better every week. I am excited to see what these seniors accomplish in the next chapter of their lives. I be am also excited for our underclassmen. We have a very talented group of players returning next season.”