KARNS CITY — Having 27 sophomores on a football roster sounds great for Quad A school or a college team, but not at a Class AA school.

Add to that only seven seniors and seven juniors to fill out the remainder of the squad.

To make it even tougher, have injuries sideline a few starters before the season begins.

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but Karns City seems to have done just fine so far.

With a tougher nonsection schedule plus teams such as Moniteau, Clarion and Redbank Valley looking to grab the title, the Gremlins still went through the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference unbeaten with a 6-0 record.

They were 8-0 before falling to District 6's Forest Hills 44-21 two weeks ago. After enjoying a bye week, they will host Moniteau in the District 9 Class AA semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday.

"I knew we'd be good. I knew we'd have a winning record, but I never dreamed we'd be 9-1 at the end of the season," said senior lineman Josh Williams. "We've been in a lot of close games, but all the guys had heart."

"Two years ago, this was the exact junior varsity team we had and lost only one game," said junior tight end-defensive end Cameron Turner. "We wanted to repeat that."

Still, the climb was a tough one for the Gremlins, who endured many injuries and much inexperience along the way.

"We talked at the beginning of the year that we had a young team, but we'd be good at the end of the year," said coach Ed Conto. "I didn't know if we'd be happy, but we finished undefeated (in the KSAC) and won the league. It was always a possibility."

The Gremlins opened the season with a 28-13 win over St. Marys and a rousing 28-25 overtime win over Hickory, a game Karns City trailed 25-10 late in the third quarter. Against Keystone, a 21-14 fourth-quarter deficit turned into a 26-21 victory.

That win over Hickory led Turner to believe the Gremlins were on to something special.

"We held them on the one-inch line," said Turner. "If we can fight back against them, then we could do it against teams in our league."

The Gremlins also have had fourth-quarter come-from-behind wins against Clarion (15-12) and Moniteau (20-18).

It's been injuries that have slowed the team, although it hasn't affected the squad much in the loss column.

Williams, the lone senior offensive lineman, missed the first three games of the season and wasn't expected back until the eighth or ninth game.

In Week 6 against Clarion, he broke his thumb, went to the hospital, then returned to finish the game.

"Josh is a steady influence. He's been a solid player since he's been back," said Conto. "You look at the Steelers. They have five guys on the line that have to work together. It's like us taking one starter and four rookies."

Williams was joined on the line by juniors Brett Green, Dan Everetts and Joey Everetts. So far, the team has used five tailbacks and seven fullbacks.

"Consistency is important. You have to have the guys trust the line," said Conto.

"That's been tough. We've never had the same lineup out there. To use that many people, it shows the kids have natural athletic ability.

This year has truly been a total team effort. There have been 18 different players who have run the ball and 15 players with at least one reception.

Entering Saturday's game against Moniteau, the running backs could be wide receiver Josh Callender and backup quarterback Anthony Stimac.

Backs such as Brett Green, Joey Everetts, Roy Beham, Markus Lavan and Ben Pyle have been banged up or are expected to miss the game.

The Gremlins hope lessons were learned from their loss that can be applied to a possible playoff run.

"Going against Forest Hills, they are a big team," said Turner. "Moniteau is not as big, and it shows we can go against a big team."

"We don't have the size, but there's so much heart," said Williams. "Our guys never quit."