CLARION — Members of Karns City’s girls basketball team took the court with heavy hearts Saturday afternoon.

One of their classmates, sophomore Briggs Buck, was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident Friday night in Fairview Township.

Buck, who was wearing a helmet, was a passenger on the ATV before being thrown from the vehicle, which then rolled on top of him.

The driver, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries.

“This is a very tough day for the Karns City family,” said Gremlins’ girls basketball coach Dave Kerschbaumer following his team’s District 9 Class AA title victory over Redbank Valley at Clarion University. “Our hearts go out to the Buck family. He was a neighbor of mine, so it hits a little closer to home for me.”

A grief counselor was brought in Saturday morning to speak with the girls basketball team.

“Then we had to try and get back into the game-atmosphere,” said Kerschbaumer, who did his best to do just that.

“Coach told us that we had a job to do,” said Gremlins’ senior Emily LoPresti. “He said the Karns City community needed this (win) and our fans were still here to support us.”

Buck was a tailback/safety on the school’s football team and also competed in track and field.

“He was a good kid, a quiet kid,” said Karns City football coach and assistant high school principal Ed Conto. “My nickname for him was ‘The Machine,’ because every time I saw him in the weight room, he would be going at it hard.

“A preview of what was to come for him came in our last junior varsity game last fall,” Conto added. “We played DuBois and they just could not stop him. Plays that should have gone for five yards, he was taking for 15. He was really talented.”

Buck was remembered with a moment of silence before the start of Saturday’s game.