By Rich Rhoades

LARION – The Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference will get its first District 9 champion in football since 2003. Yes, that’s a guarantee thanks to the conference’s top two Class AA programs – Karns City and Moniteau – meeting for the title.

The two Butler County KSAC schools and backyard rivals square off in the District 9 Class AA Championship game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

It is the second meeting of the season for the teams, as Karns City (11-0), the KSAC champion and top seed in the playoffs, walloped Moniteau (6-5), the third seed 39-19 in Week 7 at Moniteau.

Will this one be different?

The Warriors have a gap they must close, and it is a big one. Karns City led 32-7 at halftime and scored 32 unanswered points during one stretch including 25 in the second quarter after going to the quarter tied at seven. Moniteau scored some points and made some stats look better when the game was already decided.

Even though Karns City owned a 404-312 advantage in yardage, the Gremlins held Moniteau to minus-10 yards rushing, due largely to four sacks of Warriors quarterback Tyler Armagost. But therein lies a potential weakness in the Karns City defense. Moniteau quarterback Tyler Armagost threw for 322 yards in that game – although 199 of those yards came in the fourth quarter – and last week, Brockway’s Matt Pentz had 256 yards passing in a 62-28 semifinal loss to the Gremlins.

Those two games, though, have been the only time all season Karns City has given up 19 or more points. The Gremlins enter the game with the third best scoring defense in District 9 (9.5 ppg), and they have given up 14 or fewer points in nine games with three shutouts.

That defense will be tested by a Moniteau offense that ranks fifth in District 9 in points per game (31.5). The Warriors have been held under 20 points just twice, and then in both instances they scored 19 points (Karns City and Clarion).

That offense is led by Armagost, the son of Moniteau boys’ basketball coach Randy Armagost, who leads District 9 in passing yards (2,002) while throwing 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He is just the second District 9 player since 2000 to throw for 2,000 yards, and he is also capable of beating teams with his legs having rushed for 371 yards and 19 touchdowns out of the Warriors spread offense.

The top three targets for Armagost are senior Josh Loos (34-611, 9 TDs) and juniors Clayton Casper (19-408, 3 TDs) and Dakota Campbell (23-315, 6 TDs).

Sophomore running back James Shope (997, 12 TDs; 7 catches, 133 yards, 2 TDs) needs just three yards to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the season, while Campbell is adding 242 yards and three scores.

A big question for the Warriors will be which team shows up.

For the entire second half of the regular season, the Warriors started slowly and trailed at halftime of each of its final five regular-season games. Only once, in a Week 5 win at Western Beaver, did the Warriors rally for victory although they made close games out of potential blowout losses to Redbank Valley and Clarion.

Last week against Brookville, though, Moniteau turned the table on its first-half woes jumping out to a 30-6 halftime lead thanks in large part to a monster game from Armagost who threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 68 yards and three scores earning the CHAMP KSAC Player of the Week award along the way.

If Armagost and the Warriors can do that to Karns City, things could get interesting. No one is quite sure how the Gremlins would react to a close game since they haven’t had one since Week One. Since the come-from-behind squeaker over St. Marys in the opening week – Karns City needed two scores in the final four minutes to pull out a 23-14 win – the Gremlins have won their last 10 games by an average of 35.1 ppg. Moniteau was the closest of the victims losing by just 20.

And even if Moniteau puts points on the scoreboard, that is no guarantee for victory. After all, Karns City is second in District 9 in scoring at 42.3 ppg and average 366.6 yards per game despite not having any one standout player statistics wise.

That’s because all year long it’s been about balance for the Gremlins squad. They have four backs with 300 or more yards rushing and eight with at least 100 yards on the ground while 13 different Gremlins have found the end zone on offense. What it all amount to is Ed Conto’s squad outscoring it opponents by an average of 42.3 ppg to 9.4.

Junior quarterback Anthony Stimac has passed for 1,258 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s also rushed for 391 yards and eight scores. Three other rushers have over 300 yards. Senior Brett Green leads the way with 538 yards and eight touchdowns. Juniors Markus LaVan (395, 6 TDs) and Josh Stimac (361, 5 TDs) will also see action.

Anthony Stimac’s receiving targets are led by senior tight end Cameron Turner (17 receptions, 341 yards, 5 TDs), who is also a big factor in the team’s running game as a blocker and on the defensive side of the ball on the line as well.

Moniteau will try to buck some bad history against their Butler County rival to win the title. Karns City has beaten the Warriors in 23 of the last 28 games since the 1980 season and leads the overall series 35-18-2. The Gremlins have won the last three games, including two classic victories last year – 20-18 in the regular season and 32-29 in the playoffs. Moniteau did get a 10-7 victory in the 2005 D9 Playoffs.

Of course, Karns City has its own hurdle to jump. The Gremlins haven’t won a district title since 2001 and has gone 0-3 in title games since, including a 21-3 loss to Brookville last year.

The winner of Saturday’s game has the unenviable task of taking on the WPIAL champion next weekend at a District 9 site and time to be announced. That’ll be either top-ranked Jeannette (12-0), led by Terrell Pryor, or Beaver Falls (11-1), which will have pulled one of the great upsets to beat the Jayhawks. That game is set for Heinz Field in Pittsburgh Friday at 1:30 p.m.

NOTES – Karns City is making its 10^th trip to the District 9 Class AA title game. The Gremlins are 5-4 in the first nine with the five titles tying Brookville for the most in Class AA … Moniteau has reached the title game for just the second time in history. The Warriors lost to Brockway 22-20 in 2005 … The Warriors are looking for seven wins in a season for the first time since going 7-2 way back in 1960 … Karns City, on the other hand, is accustomed to double-digit win seasons. This is the Gremlins second straight double-digit win campaign and fourth in the last 11 years. During that 11-year stretch, Karns City has averaged 8.8 wins per season and has failed to reach at least seven wins just once (5-5 in 2004) … Last season’s playoff win over Moniteau in the D9 Class AA semifinals came in dramatic fashion for Karns City. The Gremlins trailed 29026 with just over two minutes to play, and Moniteau had the football at the Gremlin 11-yard line following an interception. But things went drastically wrong for the Warriors, who ended up giving the ball back to Karns City on downs at the Gremlin 30-yard line thanks to a couple of negative yardage plays and a penalty. Karns City then drove 8- yards in the final 1:02 scoring the winning touchdown on an 11-yard Matt Endlish to Josh Callender pass with 24 seconds left. Endlish managed to get one foot down in the right-corner of the end zone for the score. Moniteau actually led the game 19-7 at halftime and  … That win came on the heels of an exciting 20-18 Gremlin win in the regular season that saw Karns City rally from an early 12-0 deficit and then hold on by sacking Armagost on a 2-point conversion try with 1:29 left.