Conto

KARNS CITY — To stop finesse, Karns City football coach Ed Conto is going to rely on old-fashioned brawn.

The Gremlins face Brockway at 7 p.m. Friday in the District 9 Class AA title game at Clarion University.

To say the Rovers are a passing team is an understatement. Behind junior quarterback Derek Buganza, Brockway is averaging 335 yards a game through the air.

Buganza set the District 9 single-season passing yardage record last week in a playoff win over Moniteau.

To Conto, the best defense for Buganza and bombs-away Brockway is a good offense.

"We have to do a good job controlling the ball on offense," the coach said.

Karns City (9-2) might just have the makeup to do that.

The Gremlins are a run-oriented team, led by fullback Aaron Markle and his 1,054 yards this season. Karns City also has a battering ram of a fullback in Jake Wagner and a shifty quarterback in Dylan Hipple, who can hurt teams with his legs and his arm.

The Karns City running game concerns Brockway coach Frank Varischetti almost as much as his passing game has confounded his opponents.

"Everything they do, they do well," Varischetti said. "They run the jet sweep well. They run the option well. They run the iso well. They just run the ball real well. They are very dynamic."

Dynamic is a word that could also describe Brockway's passing game.

The numbers resemble NFL offenses.

Buganza has completed 228 passes — double the passes Karns City has

attempted this season — for 3,435 yards and 33 touchdowns.Leading receiver Mike Vervoort has numbers that would make Hines Ward envious: 79 receptions for 1,307 yards and 15 scores.Jake Shaffer also is closing in on 1,000 receiving yards.What concerns Conto is the variety and sophistication of Rovers' passing game."Brockway really has three types of passing games," Conto said. "They have the screen game, the crossing routes — which you don't see a lot of at this level — and there are times when they line up four receivers and run all kinds of routes."Conto, though, said he isn't going to tinker too much with his aggressive, attacking defense against Brockway."We're going to try to mix it up," Conto said.If the Brockway offense does have a weakness, it's in the running game. The Rovers average 3.9 yards per carry. Ryan Terwilliger, the team's leading rusher, has gained 590 yards on 116 carries.Brockway hasn't really needed to run the ball very often."We seem to be clicking right now," Varischetti said. "We're doing a good job handling the blitzes people are sending at us and we're beating man coverage and beating zone coverage."The only think that has stopped us is bad weather."Weather shouldn't be an issue Friday night.A stingy Karns City defense might.The Gremlins consistently have gotten to opposing quarterbacks. Karns City sacked Kane quarterback Alex Anderson six times for 50 yards Saturday. Wagner has 12 of the team's 31 sacks."They have some playmakers on defense, no doubt about that," Varischetti said. "They are pretty physical."But the Rovers can score from anywhere on the field — as they have proven time after time — and have scored touchdowns in the final minute of a half five times.A lot of that has to do with Buganza's accuracy."It's something he has worked very hard on," Varischetti said. "He can hit receivers and lead them so they don't have to break stride. We don't keep stats on yards after catch, but I'm sure it is out of control."Karns City's task will be to keep everything under control. It's a task Conto and his team welcome."(The Rovers' offense) will get some stuff," Conto said. "We have to do a good job on offense and special teams, and on defense, just do damage control."