EAST BRADY — Brad Miller knows all about beating the odds.

The 1998 Karns City graduate was a starting offensive tackle on the Gremlins football team that completed an undefeated regular season and District 9 championship before taking on Wilmington — the top-ranked team in Pennsylvania — in the 1997 state playoffs.

“No one figured we had a chance,” Miller, now 42, recalled. “One newspaper predicted we’d get beat 63-7. We didn’t just want to keep it close. Our goal was to win.

“The goal is always to win.”

Karns City did not win that night, dropping a 22-17 decision at Erie’s Veteran Stadium, but the Gremlins stayed in the fight.

That’s what Miller is doing now as he battles Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was diagnosed with the disease — a progressive neurological disorder that gradually weakens muscles throughout the body — in 2015.

Miller went on to play college football at Waynesburg before injuries shortened his playing career there. He began coaching youth football in East Brady while still in college and wound up on Ed Conto’s high school varsity staff. He coached football from 2002 through 2017.

Now he’s confined to his bed, unable to move his body from the neck down. But he keeps on going, looking forward to football rather than feeling sorry for himself.

“They say God only gives you what you can handle — and Brad’s handling this,” Conto said.

“I admire him,” said younger brother Eric Miller, who also played football at Karns City. “There’s no way I could handle this as well as he is. Not even close.”

Brad Miller’s parents had an extension put on their home, getting an additional bedroom constructed to handle him and his physical needs, along with hanging a big-screen TV above the foot of his bed.

Each Friday night during the high school football season, Conto visits Miller and they watch the Karns City game together via live-stream. Each Saturday, Miller watches college football all day and all night.

He has miniature college football helmets on shelves along the walls surrounding his room. His No. 55 Karns City football jerseys are framed and hanging on those walls. All of the trophies from his playing days are on display as well.

“I love it,” Miller said of football. “Penn State is my college team, but I watch all of the games. I don’t watch the NFL ... that’s too much about ‘me’ attitudes and individualism ... I like football because of the teamwork aspect of it.

“I used to go watch my uncle (Jeff Kusick) play when I was a kid. That’s what made me want to play football. I wanted to be like him.”

Miller won Karns City’s Kusick Spirit Award — named after his uncle — in 1997. He said he’s most proud of that trophy and displays it on the shelf in front of his bed.

“They needed a coach at the youth level in East Brady, so I did that the summer before I went off to college,” Miller said. “I came home on weekends so I could coach the games on Saturdays. From there, I moved up in the (coaching) system and eventually helped with varsity.

“I played a bunch of different positions in high school. I even played fullback and got to carry the ball once. I told our players that years later and they never believed me,” he added, cracking a wide smile. “I’ve always been a rather hefty guy.”

As ALS weakened his body, Miller continued to coach, even when he was restricted to a wheelchair. As Karns City players he coached went on to college, he made it a point to travel to see them play.

“I was proud of them, still supported them. I wanted them to know that,” Miller said.

Also an elementary school teacher in the Karns City Area School District, Miller continued to teach classes from his wheelchair until less than two years ago.

“He would drop things in the classroom and his students would clean up for him,” Jeff Miller said. “They loved Brad as a teacher. They wanted to be taught by him, and he did it as long as he could.”

Conto took Miller to Karns City games every Friday night until the latter was physically unable to continue attending. That’s when Conto decided to watch the games with him from the Miller household.

“Brad still has that coaching eye,” Conto said. “We’ll watch a play, and he’ll recognize when a kid turned the wrong way, missed a gap, anything like that. He knows football inside and out.

“Brad would have coached football beyond his retirement had (ALS) not gotten in the way.”

Miller has some words of advice for all those who can still coach or play the game.

“Value it. Treasure it,” he said. “You never know what can happen. Anything can stop your career on a dime. Still, you keep fighting.”

As he’s doing.

“I know I appreciate what I have a whole lot more,” Jeff Miller said. “You better understand what a disabled person deals with when you see it up close every day. It’s given me a whole new perspective. Nobody knows what life holds moving forward.”

Jeff Miller works from home during the day, so he can care for his brother while their parents work.

Miller gets few visitors to his home. He welcomes more. He wants to stay in touch with former teammates and players he’s coached.

“People think they’re not allowed to go see him. They are,” Conto said. “Brad’s been fighting this disease for six or seven years now. He’ll always fight it.

“That’s how he was raised. That’s who he is.”