CLARION — A Karns City football player lifted the District 9 championship trophy into the air.

"Come here, beautiful," he said, pressing his lips against it.

Winning the district title had never felt nor looked so good.

The Gremlins rushed for 362 yards and did just enough on defense to emerge with a 42-40 win over Brockway in the District 9 Class AA title game at Clarion University Friday night.

"Everybody underestimated us before the season," said senior running back Aaron Markle. "But here we are — District 9 champions."

It was by no means a smooth ride, and Brockway quarterback Derek Buganza had a lot to do with that. The junior completed 28-of-59 passes for 388 yards, breaking the PIAA single-season passing yardage record in the process.

Buganza finished the season with 4,050 yards and 37 touchdown.

But the season is over for Brockway. In a game full of big plays, three short-yardage ones decided the fate of both teams.

After Karns City opened the second half by marching 59 yards for a touchdown to take a 28-21 lead, Brockway returned the favor, scoring on an 81-yard drive.

But on the conversion, Karns City was penalized twice for encroachment. Brockway coach Frank Varischetti pulled his kicker and decided to go for the 2-point conversion from inside the 1.

Karns City defensive tackle Tylar Parker, who also had two sacks Friday, blew up the play, stuffing fullback Tom Vervoort to keep Karns City ahead 28-27.

That decision ended up costing Varischetti and the Rovers dearly.

"We would do it again in a heartbeat," Varischetti said. "It looked like he was in to me. It looked like we had a good line surge. He got pushed back, but all you have to do is break the plane. There is no instant replay in high school football, so you have to live with what they call there. We still had chances to win the game."

After the failed 2-point conversion, Karns City scored a pair of touchdowns to take a 42-27 lead late in the third quarter.

A two-touchdown deficit is small potatoes for the Rovers, who stormed back to score two TDs of their own, the final one on Buganza's fourth scoring pass of the game with 2:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 42-40, Brockway went for the 2-point conversion again, but Buganza was sacked.

Brockway (8-4) never got the ball back, thanks to a gutsy Bill Belichekian call by Karns City coach Ed Conto, who elected to forgo a punt and go for a first down on fourth-and-1 from the Brockway 43 with a little more than a minute remaining in the game.

Quarterback Dylan Hipple squirted ahead for two yards and a first down, allowing Karns City to run out the clock.

"I just said, 'We're going for it,'" Conto said. "I figured if we can't blow them off the ball, we don't deserve to win."

"No way (were we punting)," Markle said. "Hipple is a playmaker and we figured we'd put the ball in his hands and he'd pick up the first down for us."

The game wasn't short on big plays, yardage or drama, as the teams combined for 917 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Markle scored two of those touchdowns, one on defense when he picked off a Buganza pass and raced 35 yards for a touchdown early in the first quarter. He also scored on a 93-yard run late in the second quarter to give the Gremlins a 21-7 lead.

That run helped get Karns City out of the poor field position it had most of the second quarter.

The Gremlins had to punt from their own end zone twice in the quarter, giving the potent Brockway offense the ball inside the Karns City 40 twice.

The Rovers didn't score, however, thanks to an interception at the 1 by Brandon Collier and a blocked field goal.

"That's character," Conto said.

Karns City (10-2) had its way with the Brockway defensive line in the second half. After sputtering at times in the first two quarters, the Gremlins' running game flourished after halftime.Markle tallied 157 yards on 17 carries. Ethan Beale, who had a 75-yard touchdown run, finished with 89 yards on five rushes and bruising fullback Jake Wagner gained 78 yards and scored on two short runs.That helped counter an epic performance by Buganza."We played well enough to win offensively," Varischetti said. "Forty points should be enough to win a playoff game. Giving up 42 points stings, but Karns City is a very good football team. They deserved to win."When the season started, few thought Karns City would be in position to play for a district championship for the third straight time."It's a special one because nobody expected much from this group of seniors," Conto said.Karns City will play Bedford, the District 5 winner, next week at a site, time and day to be determined.<B>Karns City 42 Brockway 40</B>Brockway 7 14 6 13 — 40Karns City 13 8 21 0 — 42B KC21 First Downs 1218-84 Rushes-Yards 49-362388 Passing Yards 8328-59-2 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 4-12-1472 Total Yards 4451-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-04-20 Penalties-Yards 14-109<B>First Quarter</B>KC — Aaron Markle 35 interception return (Zach Kepple kick), 8:20B — Derek Buganza 6 run (Phillip Esposito kick), 3:33KC — Jake Wagner 2 run (kick failed), :57<B>Second Quarter</B>KC — Markle 93 run (J.R. Yough run), 4:13B — Buganza 1 run (Esposito kick), 1:09B — Jake Shaffer 60 pass from Buganza (Esposito kick), :10<B>Third Quarter</B>KC — Brandon Collier 10 pass from Dylan Hipple (Kepple kick), 8:19B — Zach Kremmer 25 pass from Buganza (run failed), 5:52KC — Wagner 3 run (Kepple kick), 5:02KC — Ethan Beale 75 run (Kepple kick), 3:46<B>Fourth Quarter</B>B — Chris Marshall 1 pass from Buganza (Esposito kick), 6:23B — Mike Vervoort 15 pass from Buganza (run failed), 2:41<B>Individual StatisticsPassing:</B> Brockway, Derek Buganza 28-59-388. Karns City, Dylan Hipple 4-12-83-1.<B>Rushing:</B> Brockway, Ryan Terwilliger 8-83, Derek Buganza 8-14, Zack Siple 1-(-1), Team 1-(-12). Karns City, Aaron Markle 17-157, Ethan Beale 5-89, Jake Wagner 9-78, Craig Slomers 3-22, Dylan Hipple 12-21, Jesse Garing 1-4, J.R. Yough 1-1, Team 1-(10).<B>Receiving:</B> Brockway, Mike Vervoort 9-81, Jake Shaffer 6-124, Zach Kremmer 6-90, Ryan Terwilliger 5-70, Chris Marshall 2-23. Karns City, Brandon Collier 2-19, Craig Slomers 1-44, Joe Fallecker 1-21.