KARNS CITY PICKED TO TRI-PEAT IN KSAC

KARNS CITY – After winning at least a share of the last two Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference titles, Karns City is once again the favorite to take home conference gold in a voting by the league’s coaches.

The Gremlins, who finished 7-0 in the conference and 10-2 overall while finishing second in District 9 Class AA, narrowly outpolled Clarion (59-56) in the voting that was conducted as a joint venture by D9Sports.com and the Oil City Derrick. Each of the league’s coaches was asked to rank all eight teams, including their own, one through eight in the order of predicted finish.

Moniteau, under first-year head coach Jeff Campbell, is the narrow third-place predicted finisher with 42 ½ votes, while Redbank Valley with 42 votes is picked to finish fourth. Keystone (39 ½ votes) then rounds out a rather closet Top Five with Clarion-Limestone picked six, Union seventh and A-C Valley eighth.

This is the final season of the eight-team KSAC with Brookville and Punxsutawney joining the league next year to give the conference 10 members for the first time since 1998.

If Karns City wins the 2007 title, the Gremlins, who were tri-champions with Clarion and C-L in 2005 before winning last year’s title outright, would become just the third school to win three straight KSAC titles since the conference was formed from the former Little 12 in 1993. Clarion-Limestone won or shared four straight titles from 2002-2005 and Redbank Valley won three in a row from 1994-96.

The 2007 football season kicks of Friday, Aug. 31, with three KSAC games and two non-conference contests. A-C Valley is at Clarion, Clarion-Limestone is at Moniteau and Redbank Valley is at Keystone in the conference clashes, while Union hosts Cambridge Springs and Karns City hosts St. Marys. All games start at 7 p.m.

2007KSAC PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1. Karns City – 59 votes

2. Clarion – 56 votes

3. Moniteau – 42 ½ votes

4. Redbank Valley – 42 votes

5. Keystone – 39 ½ votes

6. Clarion-Limestone – 20 votes

7. Union – 18 votes

8. A-C Valley – 11 votes