KARNS CITY — The Karns City football team certainly didn't win the game against Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference rival Moniteau on the stat sheet.

But the Gremlins have shown all season that games aren't played on the stat sheet.

This one certainly wasn't.

Moniteau outgained the Gremlins by more than a 2-to-1 margin, but Karns City emerged with a 20-18 win in front of a standing-room-only crowd Friday night.

"They were supposed to be the better team," said Karns City defensive end Cameron Turner, who made the biggest play of the game for Karns City when he slapped the ball away from Moniteau quarterback Tyler Armagost, gift-wrapping a defensive score for teammate Justin Switzer. "No one picked us to win this game. That's what makes this all the sweeter."

Moniteau (6-1 overall, 4-1 in the KSAC) rolled up 445 total yards in the game, but scored only two touchdowns.

The Warriors struggled in the red zone, coming away with 12 points on their six trips inside the Karns City 20.

"We'll get a red-zone offense one of these days," Moniteau coach Steve Wilson yelled to Karns City coachEd Conto after the game.

"The last two weeks we have struggled to punch it in. That's on me. That's my fault. We tried spreading them out. We tried packing it in. We tried outside. We tried inside. When you get first-and-goal, you have to score," Wilson added.

A lot of that had to do with the Karns City defense.

The Gremlins attacked Moniteau's offense, especially in the second half.

After sitting back and watching Armagost throw for 205 yards in the first half, Karns City blitzed the sophomore quarterback mercilessly in the final two quarters.

KarnsCity also took Armagost's favorite target, JoshLoos, out of the game for the most part, limiting the former QB to one catch for 27 yards.

"We just went after him," Conto said of blitzing Armagost. "We also tried to take Loos out of the game, doubling him and jamming him at the line. Then, they were completing all these passes to the other guys, so we said the heck with that. Let's get after (Armagost)."

It worked. Turner in particular went after Armagost and got to him with 9:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, causing a fumble that Switzer scooped up at the Moniteau 3 and jogged into the end zone to give the Gremlins a 20-12 lead.

The defense helped the Gremlins overcome five fumbles, two of which they lost.

The first lost fumble led to a short field goal by Adam Cousins that gave the Warriors a 9-0 lead six minutes into the game.

Cousins scored on a 27-yard touchdown run to cap a seven-play, 70-yard drive to open the game for Moniteau.

"There were a lot of positives in this game," Wilson said. "We had opportunities. We just didn't capitalize on them."

Cousins booted a 30-yard field goal early in the second quarter to give Moniteau a 12-0 lead, but Karns City didn't panic.

Roy Beham rumbled six yards for a score with 5:47 remaining in the second quarter and then, early in the fourth quarter, Matt McConnell slipped into the back of the end zone to catch a 15-yard pass from MattEndlish for a 13-12 lead.

Moniteau rallied as Armagost connected with Cousins on a 32-yard pass play and on a 7-yard hookup on fourth-and-6 that got the Warriors to the Gremlins' 5.

Cousins, however, injured his left knee on the play and didn't return.

"It doesn't look real good," Wilson said of the injury.

Two plays later, Armagost plowed in from the 2 to make it 20-18.

Armagost rolled to his right, looking toward Loos on the 2-point conversion attempt, but he was swarmed under for a sack.

Karns City couldn't kill the clock and Moniteau got the ball back with one minute remaining. The Warriors drove to the Karns City 35, butArmagost's 36th pass attempt of the game was intercepted as time expired.

Wilson said he had to change his strategy because of Cousins' injury. There was no positioning for a field goal. It was TD or nothing.

Armagost finished with 332 yards passing and hooked up with seven different receivers. Cousins caught three balls for 118 yards.

KarnsCity is now 7-0 and 5-0 in the KSAC. That's as much of a surprise toConto as it probably is to the rest of the league.

Conto just shook his head when asked if he thought his team would be 7-0.

Switzer did, however.

"I don't know why people overlook us," said Switzer, who caught four passes for 78 yards. "I think people saw we lost some guys and we are young. But in this locker room, we all believe."