Karns City's Mason Bell (36) runs with the football in a game last year. Bell doubles as a soccer player and football player during the fall and hopes to attend the U.S. Military Academy after high school. Butler Eagle file photo

KARNS CITY — Mason Bell is a football player. He’s also a soccer player. A skier, too.

Maybe even a future United States president?

“Now, I’m not saying that,” the Karns City senior said, laughing. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

An offensive tackle/defensive end/placekicker on the gridiron for the Gremlins, Bell is a history buff who’s dived into Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign memoirs and Robert E. Lee’s biography.

“Ask him anything about presidents, he’ll be able to tell you just like that,” Karns City football coach Joe Sherwin said.

Bell wants to attend the U.S. Military Academy, a plan largely influenced by Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“I would love nothing more (than) to be an officer in the U.S. Army. It’s my dream,” Bell said. “Seeing how those guys went to West Point and how their careers developed, it kinda made me look into it. I think that’s what I wanna do with my life.

Bell also plays forward and is a captain on Karns City’s soccer crew. As of Wednesday, he has 10 goals and an assist on the season, including an overtime game-winner against Keystone last week.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Gremlins boys soccer coach RJ Carson said. “He’s an animal. He is seriously an animal. He’s playing offensive (lineman), defensive end (on the football field). I ask him, ‘Do you want subbed out?’ And every time, he gives me that look and I’m like, ‘OK, he wants to keep going.’”

“He just never stops,” Sherwin said. “He kicks off for us. ... He doesn’t come off the field.”

Karns City’s Mason Bell has been playing soccer since he was about 5 years old and football since seventh grade. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Bell began playing soccer at 5 or 6 years old. He picked up football in seventh grade. By the time he reached high school, it was hard for him to pick between the two. He played club soccer for Steel City FC during his freshman year before joining Karns City’s varsity team as a sophomore.

Bell refuses to miss football practice after school if the soccer team has a 7 p.m. home game, although he may participate in a limited conditioning and repetition capacity.

“You find time to do things,” Bell said. “Most of the time, I don’t get home until 9 every night. I love both sports, and we’ve got a young soccer team here. Not all of (my teammates) really know the game. If I can teach them the game a bit and (help them) be better off in future seasons, that’d be great.”

When not blocking for a ball carrier, chasing an opposing quarterback or booting a ball, Bell enjoys hitting the slopes. He even began a skiing club at Karns City.

That lower-body strength serves him well.

“He’s hard to take down in a game,” Carson said. “I tell him sometimes, ‘Hey, if you get clipped in the ankle, go down.’”

“I like to think I have pretty good contact balance. It’s harder to get taken down,” Bell said. “I do get around the edge a lot at D-end.”

Bell had a sack and blocked for five rushing scores during the Gremlins’ 35-14 win over Central Clarion on Friday night. Combined with his game-winner on the pitch before that, it was a pretty impactful week for perhaps the busiest student-athlete in purple and gold.

“You have to have the mentality of, ‘Alright, I’m gonna do my best in both. I need to commit,’” Carson said. “If anybody wants to do the dual-sport, you have to love both games — and Mason’s a great example of it.”