Some of the information for this story was found in the Oct. 24/25 edition of the Butler Eagle

MONITEAU – James Shope ran 30 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns and set the Moniteau career rushing record  to help the Warriors stun previously unbeaten Karns City 22-21 Friday night in the mud at “The Swamp” at Moniteau.

It is the first time Moniteau (5-3 overall, 5-3 KSAC) has beaten its Butler County rival in two straight regular-season meetings since winning five in a row from 1975-1979 (Karns City did beat Moniteau in the District 9 Class AA title game last season).

Shope now has 3,363 career yards and 35 career touchdowns, which is also the school record. The previous mark in both categories was held by Matt Schandelmeier, who had 3,228 career yards and 32 career touchdowns.  

Shope and the Warriors used a fast start to hand Karns City (7-1, 7-1) only its third KSAC loss since 2005 season.

A 2-yard Shope touchdown run with 4:53 left in the first quarter staked Moniteau to an 8-0 lead it would never relinquish.

Ethan Beale’s 7-yard scoring run just over two minutes later got Karns City within two after a missed extra point, but Moniteau scored the first two touchdowns of the second quarter to take a 22-6 lead.

First, Tony Campbell pulled down a 41-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Zach Wheeler, who was playing for injured starter Kyle Armagost. Then Shope broke free on a 62-yard scoring run with 3:33 left in the first half to get the lead up to 18 points.

But Karns City wasn’t going to go quietly.

The Gremlins closed the gap to seven at halftime when Dylan Hipple found Joe Fallecker with a 19-yard scoring pass with just four seconds left in the opening half and then Hipple ran for the two-point conversion.  

Karns City then closed the gap to one with 37 seconds left in the third quarter on a 47-yard Craig Slomers run. But once again, the Gremlins extra point was no good following a bad snap.

Moniteau, though, was able to run off most of the fourth quarter clock and was aided by a roughing-the-punter penalty on the Gremlins with three minutes left that would have given Karns City the ball back. Instead, the Warriors never relinquished possession.

Aaron Markle paced Karns City with 99 yards rushing.

The loss probably doesn’t hurt Karns City’s District 9 Class AA playoff positioning. As long as the Gremlins beat winless A-C Valley Friday night they will be the No. 1 seed. An unthinkable loss to the Falcons could open the door for Brockway but is so unlikely considering A-C Valley has been Mercy Ruled in every game this season and has lost 39 straight games that it isn’t even worth considering at this point. The loss could keep Karns City from the outright KSAC title. The Gremlins can still clinch at least a tie for the conference crown with a win over A-C Valley, but they would share that title with Punxsutawney if the Chucks beat Keystone this week and Brookville next week. A loss in either of those games for Punxsy and a Karns City win over A-C Valley gives the Gremlins the title outright – the KSAC has no tiebreaker in football thus if Karns City and Punxsutawney have the same league record they tie for the league title even though Karns City beat Punxsutawney in Week One.

The victory for Moniteau, on the other hand, was essential in the Warriors District 9 playoff hopes. A win over Redbank Valley this week and Moniteau is in. The Warriors could also qualify with a Kane loss to Curwensville or a Brookville loss to Clarion, although all scenarios are unofficial.

MONITEAU 22, KARNS CITY 21

Score by Quarters

Karns City 7 8 6 0 – 21

Moniteau 8 14 0 0 – 22

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

M – James Shope 2 run (Shope run), 4:53

KC – Ethan Beale 7 run (kick failed), 2:41

Second Quarter

M – Tony Campbell 41 pass from Zach Wheeler (Tony Miller kick), 5:09

M – Shope 62 run (Miller kick), 3:33

KC – Joe Fallecker 19 pass from Dylan Hipple (Hipple run), 0:04

Third Quarter

KC – Craig Slomers 47 run (kick failed),0 :37

                                           KC                  M

First Downs                        10                    13

Rushes-Yards                     35-182             43-186

Passing Yards                     70                    52

Passes: Comp-Att-Int         5-10-1              2-5-0

Total Yards                                    252                  238

Fumbles-Lost                     2-0                   2-0

Penalties-Yards                  3-21                 0-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Karns City: Aaron Markle 16-99, Craig Slomers 2-50, Jake Wagner 7-11, Ethan Beale 1-7, J.R. Yough 2-6, Jesse Garing 1-5, Dylan Hipple 5-5, Brandon Collier 1-negative 1. Moniteau: James Shope 30-141, Zach Wheeler 10-35, David Campbell 3-10.

Passing – Karns City: Dylan Hipple 5-for-10, 70 yards, 1 interception. Moniteau: Zach Wheeler 2-for-4, 52 yards, 1 touchdown. James Shope 0-for-1.

Receiving – Karns City: Brad Francis 1-21, Joe Fallecker 1-19, Aaron Markle 1-13, Jake Wagner 1-11, Ethan Beale 1-6. Moniteau: Tony Campbell 1-41, Zach Sloan 1-11.