Surprise!

The Karns City football team is the last one standing.

The Gremlins are like Connor MacLeod in Highlander.

There can only be one.

That one is usually Karns City.

It’s been a yearly kind of thing, sort of like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the buzzards returning to Hickley, Ohio, and an officiating controversy at the end of a Monday Night Football game.

It’s like clockwork.

This week, the Gremlins will travel to Northern Bedford High School to take on a very hot Chestnut Ridge team at 7 p.m. Friday in the first-ish round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs.

I say first-ish because as other districts are wrapping up their championships, District 9 and District 5 are already done. Thus, this match-up.

The formula for this Karns City return to Highlander mode has been a bit different.

This team has done it with a dominating running game, sure. But the Gremlins also possess a dangerous passing game.

Though it is unconfirmed, Karns City quarterback Tyler Kepple has set the single-season touchdown pass record at the school with 30.

Yes, that’s not a misprint. Thirty.

That’s a career, nay, two careers, for most Karns City signal callers in head coach Ed Conto’s reign with the Gremlins.

He’s had solid, standout quarterbacks before. But few have had the passing acumen of one Tyler Kepple.

Kepple, a senior who is also a standout on the basketball court, baseball diamond, track … well, everywhere, also is blessed with some dynamic and dangerous receivers around him.

The Logan Moroney and Dakota Mohney tandem is one of the most dangerous around.

Moroney is a big, physical target. Mohney is smaller, but quick and shifty in the open field. Both run excellent routes and have dependable hands.

Call them the M&M boys.

That’s a lot for a Chestnut Ridge team to contend with.

The Lions, though, have done a pretty good job in pass defense.

Chestnut Ridge has 20 interceptions as a team this season.

When it comes to offense, Chestnut Ridge likes to pound the football. Their quarterback is like another fullback in the backfield.

The Gremlins will have to be gritty.

Some things going for the Lions are the game is being played on a grass field and the Gremlins have a much much longer road trip.

Karns City also has some bad memories in Loysburg where the Gremlins lost to Bedford in overtime in 2009.

Still, I see Karns City remaining alive to see another week.

Karns City 30, Chestnut Ridge 24.

Scoop is hoping for at least another week of football.