CLARION – Two of the titans of District 9 Class AA football will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium when Karns City (10-1) faces Brookville (10-1) for the D9 Class AA title.

The two schools have combined to win nine of the 19 D9 Class AA titles and at least one of the teams have played in 13 of the 18 D9 Class AA title games (there was no opponent for Redbank Valley in 1991).

They have met twice to decide the District 9 Class AA title with Karns City coming out victorious both time.

The Gremlins won their first District 9 title with a 21-14 win over Brookville in 1993, and Karns City knocked off Brookville 14-7 in 1999.

Overall, the teams have met four times in the postseason with Karns City winning three of them. All four games have been decided by eight points or less including a 23-16 overtime win for Brookville in the 1998 semifinals.

The last time the teams met in the postseason was in 2003 when Karns City came away with a 21-13 win.

While Karns City has won more D9 Class AA titles than anyone (five), the Gremlins haven’t won the title since 2001 when they beat Brockway 46-0.

Karns City has lost in its last two D9 Class AA title games falling 33-5 to Brockway in 2003 and 14-7 to Brockway in 2002. The 2003 game ended a string of five straight title game appearances for Karns City.

The Gremlins have excelled in close games this season going 5-0 in games decided by five points or less including knocking off Moniteau 32-29 on a touchdown pass with 24 seconds left in the semifinals last Saturday.

A big reason for Karns City’s success in the close games has been defense and special teams. The Gremlins have six defensive touchdowns and two special teams touchdowns this year.

The leader of the defense, which is allowing 16.5 points per game is linebacker Justin Switzer, the leading tackler in District 9. Going into the semifinal game with Moniteau, Switzer had 103 tackles. Cameron Turner also plays a key role on that defense.

Karns City’s offense is a balanced attack that has run for 1,589 yards and passed for 1,399.

The rushing game doesn’t have any one star, especially since losing starting running back Roy Beham (94 carries, 494 yards, 9 TDs) in Week Seven. But four other backs have over 100 yards rushing on the season.

Marcus LaVan has gotten the majority of carries with Beham out and has 293 yards and four scores on 68 carries.

Brett Green is adding 42 carries for 229 yards and a score, while Anthony Stimac had 23 carries for 127 yards and two scores. Matt Endlish is adding five rushing touchdowns despite having only 17 total yards rushing.

Endlish is coming off a career games against Moniteau. He threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the game, and he is completing 51.3 percent of his passes (81 of 158) on the year for 1,235 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Tight end Cameron Turner is his top target with 13 catches for 295 yards and two scores, while Josh Callender has 11 catches for 200 yards and three scores including the game winner on an 11-yard grab late in the Moniteau game.

Mike McConnell is adding six catches for 200 yards, Stephon Conto had nine grabs for 167 and a touchdown, Switzer has 11 for 167 and one score and Matt McConnell has nine for 116 and three touchdowns.

Brookville is aiming for its second District 9 Class AA title in three years having knocked off Redbank Valley 42-15 to win the 2004 title.

The Raiders have four titles overall including back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, but this is just Brookville’s second title game appearance since 2000.

Brookville has a plethora of offensive weapons including two 1,000-yard rushers and a 1,000-yard passer.

Max Kutz (144 carries, 1,289 yards, 13 TDs) and Joe Galbraith (133 carries, 1,007 yards, 9 TDs) are the first Raider runners to go over 1,000 yards in a season since Doug Miller did it in 1995. They are the first teammates to go over 1,000 yards in the same season since Curwensville Nate (2,511 yards) and Nick (1,772) Sipes did it in 2004.

Behind Kutz and Galbraith, Brookville has rushed for nearly 3,000 yards (2,825) and 30 touchdowns this season.

Any talk of Brookville’s running attack wouldn’t be possible without the play of a great offensive line led by 6-6, 275-pound senior Eli Morres, probably the best linemen in District 9.

But teams can’t stack the line against Brookville, because the Raiders also have a 1,000-yard passer, the first time a D9 teams has had a 1,000-yard rusher and passer in the same season since the inception of D9Sports.com in 2000.

Junior Shane Heschke is completing nearly 60 percent of his passes (58.3) going 63-for-108 for 1,086 yards, 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions giving him a quarterback rating of 175.11.

Heschke can also beat teams with his legs having run 85 times for 448 yards and eight scores this season.

Tyler Ross is Heschke’s main target with 35 catches for 593 yards and eight touchdowns, while Alex Kerr has added 10 grabs for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Brett Mohney has nine catches for 150 yards and three scores.

Levi Singleton leads a solid Brookville defense that is allowing 14.2 points per game.

Singleton had 87 tackles and three sacks going into the Brockway game.

Kerr was adding 59 stops with four sacks and three picks, and Morres had 50 tackles with a team-high eight sacks.

Justin Smith was adding 43 tackles, five sacks and an interception, while Ross had 38 tackles and five interceptions. Kutz (37 tackles, 4 sacks) and Mohney (35 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 interceptions) also play key roles on defense.