CLARION — Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell pointed at the fans in the crowd and pumped his fists.

Players mobbed each other at midfield and held the trophy as if it was a priceless treasure.

In a way, it was a priceless treasure to a Warriors’ football team that had been pursuing it year after year, but unable to grasp it.

This time, though, it was different. This time, Moniteau made the big plays on both sides of the ball and held off a rival in Karns City that had won the district crown eight times already.

This time, following a 26-12 win over the Gremlins at Clarion University Friday night, it was Moniteau’s turn to proclaim itself District 9 Class AA champions.

“It just feels so great,” said senior quarterback Kyle Armagost. “I’m just so happy. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group. Since we were kids, we talked about being champions. And now we’ve done it.”

Armagost rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns and Dustin Geagan added 144 yards and a 60-yard TD run as the Warriors never trailed.

Karns City had opportunities, though, but fumbled six times, losing three, and scored only two touchdowns despite four trips inside Moniteau’s 30 and having good field position the entire game.

“Moniteau did a nice job tonight. They out-played us,” said Karns City coach Ed Conto. “We played hard, but they out-executed us. We made the mistakes and we didn’t do things as clean as I would like to do them. Hat’s off to them.”

Moniteau (11-0) drove 77 yards in 13 plays and consumed half the first-quarter clock on its first possession.

The scoring drive was capped by the first of Armagost’s touchdowns, this one from the 2.

The drive was kept alive on an 11-yard pass from Armagost to Joey Deal on a fourth-and-9 from the Karns City 19.

“That was big,” Campbell said. “We made big plays all night.”

Armagost said on that fourth-down play, he walked into the huddle and said, “Who wants the ball?

“The first person to say anything was Joey Deal,” Armagost added. “He’s my sure-hands man. He has the strongest hands on the team. He’ll catch anything.”

Moniteau took a 13-0 lead on Geagan’s long touchdown run.

Karns City, though, cut the lead to 13-6 on two big plays — a 31-yard pass from Tyler Kepple to Brandyn Bowser followed by a 27-yard touchdown run by Alex Kinkela.

The Gremlins (8-4) had the ball at the Moniteau 35 early in the second half, but lost one of their three fumbles, which led to a scoring drive by the Warriors, capped by a 3-yard TD run by Armagost.

After Karns City cut the lead to 19-12, Armagost kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, split two Gremlin defenders and cruised 64 yards for a touchdown with 8:31 remaining in the game.

“To tell you the truth, I thought I was going to get tackled after two yards,” Armagost said. “I can’t believe I made it 64 yards. I was out of breath. I don’t run long distance. I run people over. Hey, the hole was there. I just hit it and kept going.”

And so now, too, will Moniteau.

The Warriors will play City League champion Oliver at 7 p.m. Friday at Cupples Stadium.

“I have film to study,” Campbell said, smiling. “We’re going to Pittsburgh next Friday night. We’re ready to go. We’re rolling. We’re still undefeated.”

Moniteau 26, Karns City 12Karns City 0 6 0 6 — 12Moniteau 7 6 6 7 — 26KC M18 First Downs 1239-162 Rushes-Yards 43-285129 Passing Yards 999-24-0 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 4-13-1291 Total Yards 3846-3 Fumbles-Lost 1-06-41 Penalties-Yards 8-70

First QuarterM — Kyle Armagost 2 run (Armagost kick), 6:01

Second QuarterM — Dustin Geagan 60 run (run failed), 11:15KC — Alex Kinkela 27 run (kick failed), 6:34

Third QuarterM — Armagost 3 run (run failed), 9:48

Fourth QuarterKC — Ethan Williams 4 run (kick blocked), 9:33M — Armagost 64 run (Armagost kick), 8:31

Individual StatisticsPassing: Karns City, Tyler Kepple 7-20-135-0, Brady Ellenberger 2-4-(-6)-0. Moniteau, Kyle Armagost 4-13-99-1.

Rushing: Karns City, Alex Kinkela 6-96, Glenn Toy 12-73, Jerod Hutchison 5-17, Ethan Williams 4-14, Cody Coyle 3-6, Brandyn Bowser 1-3, Brady Ellenberger 1-(-4), Team 1-(-18), Tyler Kepple 6-(-25). Moniteau, Dustin Geagan 15-144, Kyle Armagost 21-129, Andrew Armagost 6-14, Team 1-(-2).

Receiving: Karns City, Brandyn Bowser 4-81, Glenn Toy 4-33, Ethan Williams 1-5, Alex Kinkela 1-2. Moniteau, Brayden McCorry 2-77, Ethan Pry 1-11, Joey Deal 1-11.