Glenn Toy - Karns City	Kyle Armagost - Moniteau
Photo by George Powers - http://www.georgepowersphotos.com/	Photo by Diane McMunn - http://dmcmunn.smugmug.com/

 By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Betting on a close game Friday night in the District 9 Class AA Championship game between Karns City and Moniteau at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium would probably be a safe bet.

After all, the last three games between the Butler County rival and four of the last five have been decided by two points or less. Add to that the fact that eight of the last 13 contests between the second-seeded Gremlins (8-3) and the top-seeded Warriors (10-0) have been decided by three or fewer points and the chances Friday night’s spectators will get their money worth is pretty good.

It’s the second meeting of the season for the two teams, and the loser will bookend its season with the rivalry game. Moniteau won a hard-fought come-from-behind affair in Week One 26-24 when the Warriors blocked a late Karns City field-goal attempt to preserve the victory. The Gremlins had bolted to an early 18-6 lead.

The late dramatics was nothing new to the two squads, as four of the past 13 contest have come down to a play in the last 2:19.

In 2010, Karns City scored with 17 seconds left to beat Moniteau 28-26. In the 2006 District 9 semifinals, the Gremlins got a touchdown with 24 seconds to play to pull out a 32-29 victory and in 2003, Moniteau snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Gremlins by stopping a two-point conversion with 2:19 left to get a 22-20 win.

The 2003 contest really started the renewing of what was once a pretty good series.

From 1957 until 1985 the rival schools played almost even with Karns City holding a 15-14-2 advantage. But from 1986-2002 the Gremlins dominated going 15-2. The 2003 game, though, marked the turnaround of the Warrior program, and Moniteau has gone 5-8 vs. it rival since 2003.

But while Moniteau has held its own against Karns City in the regular season since 2003 going 4-5 including 3-1 since 2008, the Gremlins have owned the Warriors in the playoffs winning three of four postseason games including the 2007 and 2008 District 9 titles.

The 2008 game is probably the cautionary tale for Moniteau. The Warriors started that season 9-0 before losing to Riverside in Week 10. That start including a 35-34 win over Karns City. But after beating Brookville 55-7 in semifinals, Moniteau got run over by Karns City 42-9 in the title game.

Will that happen again this year?

It will be interesting to find out.

Both teams enter the contest playing some very good football.

Moniteau is 10-0, the first time in school history the Warriors, who have never won a District 9 title, have started 10-0.

Karns City, meanwhile, has rolled off five straight wins and seven of eight since starting the year 1-2. The Gremlins are looking for their ninth District 9 title and their fourth in the past five seasons.

Both teams possess high-scoring offenses with Moniteau averaging 39 ppg and 437 yards per contest and Karns City averaging 32.2 ppg and 374.3 yards per game.

Where the difference might be is on the defensive side of the football.

Moniteau has the best scoring defense in District 9 allowing 12.2 points per contest, and the Warriors have delivered a pair of shutouts, including a 40-0 whitewashing of Sheffield in last week’s semifinal game, while holding five opponents to single-digit points including each of the last four games.

Karns City, on the other hand, is allowing 22.9 ppg with eight of the Gremlins 11 opponents reaching at least 20 points including Brookville in a 40-25 Karns City semifinal victory a week ago.

On offense, Moniteau runs a balanced attack that features quarterback Kyle Armagost, running back Dustin Geagan and wide receiver Ethan Pry.

Armagost is the first player in District 9 history to have two 1,000-yard passing and 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and he is on the verge of becoming the13th player in District 9 history to pass for 4,000 career yards.

This year, the senior is 82 of 153 passing for 1,642 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions while also rushing 152 times for 1,010 yards and 16 scores. He has 3,958 career passing yards after passing East Brady and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly last week (3,915 yards) and 2,761 career rushing yards. He has also thrown 39 career touchdown passes while rushing for 38 scores. If Moniteau moves into the PIAA playoffs, Armagost could potentially have a chance to become the first 2,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher in a season in District 9 history.

But Moniteau isn’t just about Armagost. Sophomore tailback Dustin Geagan is also a 1,000-yard rusher having carried the ball 148 times for 1,317 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Pry, a senior, has 36 catches for 831 yards and nine touchdowns.

Karns City is much more one-dimensional on offense than Moniteau.

Nearly 83 percent (82.9 percent to be exact) of the Gremlins yards have come on the ground this season with eight different ball carriers reaching 100 yards and three over 400 yards.

Junior Glenn Toy is the leading ground gainer for Karns City with 1,265 yards and 15 touchdowns on 140 carries. He brings a speed element to the running-back position that few teams can match.

Meanwhile, fullback Alex Kinkela is a power back who has rushed for 754 yards and 14 touchdowns on 94 carries, while Jerrod Hutchison adds 419 yards and seven scores on 74 carries. Quarterbacks Brady Ellenberger (184 yards, 3 TDs) and Tyler Kepple (174 yards) can run the option while wingbacks Cody Coyle (183 yards), Wyatt Everetts (110 yards, 1 TD) and Ethan Williams (83 yards, 1 TD) help multiple options to the Karns City attack.

When it comes to throwing the ball, both Kepple (382 yards) and Ellenberger (358) have similar yardage numbers but Kepple is the more accurate of the two having completed 47.8 percent (22 of 46) of his passes compared to 36.5 percent (27 of 74) for Ellenberger. Both have thrown more interceptions than touchdowns while Kepple tossing five scores and six picks and Ellenberger three scores and five picks.

The passing game has been virtually non-existent for Karns City the last two weeks with one completion for two yards in that span. But the Gremlins have rushed for 919 yards in those two games making passing really not necessary.

NOTES – Moniteau’s Joey Deal has set the school record for sacks in a season with 25 including four in the win over Sheffield last week … This will be Karns City’s third straight game at Clarion University. The Gremlins finished the regular season with a 46-28 win over Clarion on the Memorial Stadium turf two weeks ago and then beat Brookville in the semifinals Saturday Clarion … Moniteau’s lone playoff win over Karns City came in the 2005 semifinals when the Warriors upset the Gremlins 10-7.