COAL TOWNSHIP - Shamokin Area failed to take advantage of several early Montoursville mistakes, then had no answer for the Warriors' 6-foot-7 receiver, Cameron Karschner, in a 26-7 Heartland Athletic Conference Division I loss Friday at Kemp Memorial Stadium.
Montoursville muffed Shamokin's first two punts, and the Indians recovered both, first at Montoursville's 43-yard line, then at the 23, but the Indians got nothing out of it, with Jon Vanaskie missing a 25-yard field goal attempt after the second recovery.
The Indians (2-5) then recovered a fumble by Karschner after a completed pass at Shamokin's 17, but still couldn't get any offense going.
Still, the Indians only trailed 6-0 going into the fourth quarter,
giving up a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Jones to Karschner on a third-and-19.
But Jones and Karschner were only warming up. The pair connected seven times for 123 yards in the second half. Ironically, although the Warriors (3-4) desperately wanted to burn some time with their running game, the Indians stacked the box against them and stopped it, but Shamokin had no effective weapon against Karschner, who finished the game with 10 catches for 201 yards. Jones completed 13 of 23 passes for 250 yards.
"This was a game of missed opportunities," said disappointed Shamokin coach Dan Foor. "They gave us two gifts on their first two possessions and we didn't get any points from it. Later in the half, we had a wide-open fullback on a third down play and didn't make the play. We knew Montoursville was really improving and that their passing offense was starting to click, and we had a chance to go up on them early and didn't take it."
Jones and Karschner connected for their second touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 14-yarder which culminated a seven-play, 63-yard drive, in which Karschner had four catches for 74 yards (there was a holding penalty against the Warriors during the series).
But Shamokin came right back. Devin Madara made a nice catch on a deep sideline route against good coverage, kept his balance and went on for a 66-yard touchdown pass from Tucker Yost to cut the lead to 13-7 with 11:34 remaining.
But on the next Montoursville series, after another 23-yard Jones-Karschner hookup, the Warriors crossed the Indians up with a counter play to Cameron Ott, who went 30 yards around the left side to give Montoursville a two-touchdown lead again.
But Shamokin failed to get things going again. Yost was sacked three times in the Indians' next two series, even though Shamokin stopped the Warriors on downs in between, and the loss of field position eventually gave Montoursville the ball at Shamokin's 19.
Jones and Karschner connected again, for 16 yards to the one, and Matt Krezmer sealed the win with a scoring plunge from there with 3:10 remaining.