BROCKWAY — Not much has fazed the Karns City girls soccer team this season.

Falling behind 1-0 just four minutes into the District 9 Class AA championship match against Brookville certainly wasn't going to rattle the Gremlins.

Instead, Karns City took the patient approach.

The mindset was the shots the Gremlins were peppering Brookville's goalkeeper with were eventually going to find the net.

And they did — in bunches — as Karns City scored three second-half goals within a 14-minute span for a 3-2 win over the Raiders for the district title.

"We're not a team that quits when we get down," said senior Cristen Futcher. "We were underestimated a lot this season, so this feels really awesome."

Karns City (16-5) lost to Brookville last season in the District 9 title match, breaking a streak of nine straight titles.

This season, the Gremlins were largely overlooked because of their graduation losses. It also didn't help that they started the season 4-3 while playing a difficult non-league schedule.

"What happened last year was still lingering in our minds," said senior Hannah Beck. "But this is amazing. We worked so hard for this."

When Amanda Ruffner punched a goal into the net four minutes into the match to give Brookville a 1-0 lead, there was no panic on the Karns City bench.

Instead, The Gremlins dominated the pace of the match, taking shot after shot that Brookville keeper Janelle Mescall was able to turn away to preserve a one-goal lead at halftime.

Karns City had six shots on goal in the first half.

In the second half, the Gremlins converted on their opportunities.

Emily Potchak scored six minutes into the second half with a perfect shot that bent into the top right corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1.

Five minutes later, Beck, a sweeper, scored on a direct kick to give the Gremlins the lead and firm control of the momentum.

"I've been practicing those kicks forever," Beck said.

With 20:38 remaining in the match, Millie McKain gave Karns City an insurance goal when she scored off a deflection on a shot by Christina Endlish.

Brookville added a goal on a direct kick by Jordan Mason from 35 yards out, but Karns City was able to hold on to reclaim the district title.

"This team is very unique this year," said Karns City coach Lisa Castiglione. "With girls' teams, it's all about chemistry, and I think we decided we were going to keep playing soccer together and having fun. Everyone wants to win it for each other."

Unlike past years when Karns City had a superior goal scorer, this team lacks that hammer. That, Castiglione said, has turned out to be a positive rather than a negative.

It showed against Brookville. The Raiders (18-3) were unable to deal with all the scoring threats on the field.

"I never know who's going to score, and the girls don't care who does," Castiglione said.

KarnsCity will have a tough test when it will face WPIAL runner-up Springdale in the first round of the state playoffs at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Clarion University.

Springdale (18-3-1) lost to South Park 1-0 Saturday in the WPIAL final.

Not many will give the Gremlins much of a chance to topple a WPIAL power. Then again, not many gave Karns City much of a chance to even be there to try.

"Sometimes it is great to be an underdog," Castiglione said.