KARNS CITY — During a late-August practice in 2000, several Karns City football players heckled the Gremlins soccer players on the new turf field below.

First-year football coach Ed Conto blew his whistle, halted practice and yelled down to Karns City soccer coach Roy Parker.

"Coach Parker," Conto bellowed. "Would you mind if my boys joined your practice?"

"Not at all," Parker answered.

While the football players struggled to keep up with the frantic pace of the soccer drills, gasping for air and bending over to catch a fleeting breath, Conto and Parker observed.

When Conto had seen enough, he whisked his players back up to the football practice field.

"Thank you very much, coach," Conto said. "That will be the last time I hear disrespect toward another team at this school."

Conto was right.

"That was the end of it," Parker said. "Since then, the teams have really supported each other."

The two teams have shared more than just support for each other. At times, they have shared athletes and they certainly have shared success.

Toss in a Karns City boys cross country team, which just completed a perfect Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference season and earned its first league title in four years, and the success of fall sports at the school has been unmatched.

"It's one of those things where it is a good situation for the school," Parker said. "We needed to do it, to have that school spirit for all the sports."

This season, the Gremlins football team is 7-0 overall and in the KSAC. The boys soccer team is 12-1-1 overall, 12-0 in the league and the cross country team is 9-0 overall, 7-0 in the conference.

"I truly think a lot of it has to do with how you present the school and the sport itself," Parker said. "One of the first things that Eddie put into play here and the same thing with me, was, look, you should be proud of the uniform you are wearing. You don't get to do this after (you graduate). That's it. It's done."

The players take that to heart.

While the football team gets the crowds and adulation, the soccer team has plugged away to a .730 winning percentage since 2001.

The football team is winning at an .810 clip during the same time period.

"Yeah, we're up to 20 people in the stands," Parker said, laughing.

Conto stresses doing the little things right, drilling until it is second nature.

Parker takes the same approach with his soccer team, which spends the beginning of each practice in a circle, heading the ball to each other.

"The football team is very well trained," Parker said. "You can tell. They were supposed to fall apart this year like we were two years ago with no seniors and we went on a 13-0 run. The fundamentals are so sound, it works very well.

"But the trick is the kids. If the kids don't buy into it, it's just talk."

This soccer team may be unique.

The Gremlins can score quickly and in bunches.

"We've won so many games in the second half," Parker said. "And that comes because we are so well conditioned. While other teams come out running all over the place in the first half, they wear out in the second half. Our guys — they can run all day."

And they often do.

"Physically, it's definitely complementary," said Karns City cross country coach Don Loughry. "They all have endurance."

Freshman Evan McGarvey is one of the six soccer players who also runs for the cross country team, along with his older brother, junior Ethan McGarvey, senior Bryce Foreback and freshmen Mat Slagle, Austin Murray and Eric Easley.

On a day when there is a soccer game and a cross country meet, Evan said he runs the equivalent of a half marathon.

"It helps me mentally to just keep on pushing and pushing," Evan McGarvey said. "I definitely feel it the next day."

But McGarvey said he would never choose to participate in just one.

Such is life at Karns City, where your forward could be your kicker and your No. 1 runner.

"I'd like them to play football," Parker said. "Hey, they only play once a week and I never play on Friday. There are some receivers in there who are quick."

The Karns City football and boys soccer teams have both enjoyed success over the past decade.<B>Year Soccer Football</B>2009 12-1-1 7-02008 12-5-1 12-22007 23-2 12-12006 16-3 10-22005 17-4-1 7-32004 15-5 5-52003 10-7 8-32002 10-6-1 9-22001 17-5-1 11-12000 18* 9-3* losses and ties unavailable