During her senior season in the fall of 1996, Tracy (Pollock) Dailey made a big move from sweeper to midfield for the Karns City girls soccer team.

“The sweeper coming in was better than I was,” Dailey said. “And I found myself at midfield.”

It was a radical move for a player who had only known being a sweeper.

But it happened to be the best move for the team.

It worked out.

For Dailey, who went on to star at Slippery Rock University — as a midfielder — and for Karns City, which was in the dawn of a dominating run that is as mind-boggling as it is impressive.

Dailey's position switch in the 1990s is a prime example of why the Gremlins have been able to sustain unprecedented success with eight consecutive District 9 crowns and a staggering 22 championships in the past 25 years.

The unselfishness has been just as big a key to the Gremlins' success as scoring goals and stopping them.

Dailey became the head girls soccer coach in 2014 and has nine district titles under her belt and counting — three as a player and six as a coach.

This year's district championship — a 3-2 win over Clearfield Wednesday night — took on added meaning for Dailey.

Her eldest daughter, Emma, is a freshman on the team.

She grew up watching Karns City win.

Now she's a part of it with her mother.

“It's just unbelievable,” Tracy Dailey said.

That's a good word for it.

There are dynasties ... and then there's Karns City.

It's difficult at any level to sustain success for very long.

It's even harder at the high school level.

Class sizes wane. Talent graduates.

There's bound to be a down year here and there.

But the Gremlins have not had a lull in 25 years.

And they've done it in different ways.

This year's team is balanced with potent scorers lurking everywhere on the pitch and a defense that can be smothering a stifling.

Past Karns City teams have been like that as well.

Other have used scoring stars to claim titles.

Stars like Amanda Leyland, who played with Dailey in the mid-90s.

Leyland scored more than 40 goals during multiple seasons for the Gremlins.

Stars like Leslie Barnhart. “Peanut,” as she was nicknamed, scored 213 goals in her storied career.

Stars like Brittni Grenninger and Emily LoPresti and Breann Wood and Megan McCartney and the list goes on and on and on.

Like the wins.

Like the titles.

Like the tradition.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.