By Rich Rhoades

LOYSBURG – While the Karns City Gremlins were forging a new identity with an almost brand-new lineup on their way to a 7-0 start to the season, the Bedford Bisons were 1-5 after six games.

But Friday night at Northern Bedford High School’s Panther Community Stadium, both teams come from different directions — geographically and figuratively — to play each other in the first round of the PIAA Class AA state playoffs.

The Gremlins (10-2), coming off their third straight district title with a 42-40 slugfest against Brockway last week, take on the Bisons (6-6) who evened their record to .500 thanks to a 29-6 win over the Pittsburgh City League’s Westinghouse in a state play-in game.

Karns City beat the District 5 champion last year in the first round when it defeated North Star 32-14 at Clarion University. That could be an indicator of what could come Friday, but this is a longer road trip for a Gremlins. Karns City will trek about 113 miles for Friday’s game while Bedford will make another 20-mile jaunt north to play at Northern Bedford for the second time in three weeks.

Bedford entered the season coming off two straight losing seasons of 1-9 and 2-8, but after a season-opening 14-9 win over Bishop Carroll, the Bisons lost five straight games.

For sure, the Bisons have played some strong competition. Richland (35-0), Forest Hills (41-7) and Bishop McCort (48-13) have good resumes. Forest Hills, ranked No. 8 in the state in Class AA by the Pennsylvania Football News, plays Tyrone for the District 6 title Friday while McCort is the No. 3 team in Class A. It’s playing Bellwood-Antis this week in the D-6 title game.

Still, Bedford has no wins against a team with a winning record. The Bisons rebounded with five wins in six games to get where they are. In Weeks 10 and 11, Bedford closed the regular season with a 31-20 win over Chestnut Ridge, then beat Ridge again in the District 5 Championship game, 29-18. Ridge beat DuBois in Week 7, 31-25.

Bedford head coach Dan Smith, who indicated he’ll step down after this year, gets plenty of production from sophomore quarterback/linebacker Marcus Shippey. He’s passed for 791 yards, rushed for 596 yards and eight scores, and leads the team with 146 tackles on defense.

Senior running back Paul Detwiler is the team’s leading rusher with 1,198 yards and 14 TDs. Last week against Westinghouse, Detwiler returned a kickoff 75 yards for a score and rushed for 101 yards on 17 carries. Detwiler has speed as he was part of Bedford’s state-medaling sixth-place 400-meter relay team last spring.

Senior Kyle Deneen (24 catches, 509 yards, 3 TDs) is the top receiver and junior linebacker Brian Gibbons has 124 tackles.

Head coach Ed Conto’s Gremlins have to be confident, at least offensively, going into their game with the Bisons thanks to a strong running game. The Gremlins have rushed for over 300 yards in two straight games, including 361 against Brockway last week.

Senior running back Aaron Markle rushed for 159 yards last week and leads the Gremlins with 1,214 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also returned an interception for a score against the Rovers.

Gremlins junior quarterback Dylan Hipple, although he completed just 4 of 12 passes for 84 yards a week ago, went over the 1,000-yard plateau for the season.

Defensively, you have to wonder if the Gremlins are happy to face the Bisons, considering they had to outlast record-breaking Rovers quarterback Derek Buganza. Markle led the Gremlins with 11 tackles to go along with his pick-6 while Jake Wagner had 10 tackles and made two sacks. For the year, Markle and Wagner now share the team lead with 76 tackles while Carrick Harp has 74. Wagner now has 14 sacks.

Last year’s win over North Star was Karns City’s first-ever state playoff victory. The Gremlins then advanced to lose to Aliquippa, 42-14, in the state quarterfinals. Karns City will be playing its ninth state playoff game and it’s 1-7 overall.

In 2007, the Gremlins lost to Jeannette, 35-6, in their state opener. From 1999 to 2001, Karns City was beaten in the first round each time by District 10 champion Sharon. In 1997, Wilmington edged the Gremlins, 22-17, and in the Gremlins’ first-ever state playoff appearance in 1993, they lost to Northwestern, 22-0.

Friday’s winner meets the WPIAL champion Dec. 4 or 5 in the Western Region semifinals. Aliquippa (11-1) and Greensburg Central Catholic (10-2) also square off Friday at Heinz Field at 1:30 p.m.