CHERRY TWP — It's easy for Anthony Stimac to get lost in the shuffle.

The Karns City quarterback has been just another tile in the Gremlins' intricate jigsaw puzzle this season.

But against rival Moniteau Friday night, the junior was the most important piece, throwing for 202 yards and rushing for another 75 in Karns City's 39-19 win.

Everything is fitting together and the picture is starting to become clear for the Gremlins as they seized control of the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference.

"We said all year long that Anthony was going to be a good quarterback before it was all said and done," said Karns City coach Ed Conto.

Stimac was particularly sharp in the first half, hitting 6-of-10 passes for 166 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown to a wide-open Matt McConnell. He also rushed for a 23-yard score to put the Gremlins up 32-7 at halftime.

Stimac's job was made easier by the Gremlins' defense, which harassed Moniteau quarterback Tyler Armagost at every opportunity.

The blitz packages also limited the Warriors' ground game, which gained just one yard.

In the second half, Moniteau (5-2, 4-1) was resigned to throwing the ball almost exclusively from its spread formation. The Warriors attempted only two designed running plays in the final two quarters.

Mistakes also hurt Moniteau.

Armagost lost two fumbles and wasn't ready for a snap that sailed by him before Karns City defensive end Cameron Turner recovered it at the Moniteau 1.

Those three turnovers led to 22 points for Karns City.

And the Gremlins (7-0, 6-0) didn't waste any time taking advantage of those miscues, scoring on the first play after the first two turnovers and on two plays following the final lost fumble.

"When you shoot yourself in the foot that many times, it hurts," said Moniteau coach Jeff Campbell. "They don't make mistakes.We can't make mistakes against them and we did."

Armagost was sacked five times and hit after almost every one of his 36 pass attempts.

"I believe that's the key to the spread: put pressure on the quarterback," Conto said. "You can't give him time to throw and you can't give the receivers any room, or they'll burn you."

With Karns City nursing a 39-7 lead after Markus LaVan plunged into the end zone from the 1 following the snap blunder, the Gremlins' defense played more loose in the secondary.

That also let Josh Loos get loose.

The Moniteau receiver caught 11 passes for 175 yards and a 24-yard touchdown that closed the lead to 39-13 midway through the fourth quarter.

Moniteau recovered an onside kick and scored again when Armagost found Mitch Czech, who made a sliding reception in the end zone.

Armagost threw for 200 of his 315 yards in the second half.

But the Warriors ran out of time. The early hole was too deep to climb out of.

"We have to protect our quarterback better than that," Campbell said. "Either that, or make them pay. We didn't make them pay early. If we make them pay early, they can't blitz.

"We didn't do anything different in the second half than we did in the first half. We just executed."

Karns City held Moniteau running back James Shope to 31 yards on 11 carries. Shope came into the game averaging 8.8 yards per attempt.

LaVan added 66 yards rushing for Karns City, which once again took the running-back-by-committee philosophy to a whole new level with 12 different players carrying the ball at least once.

Even wide receiver and punter Mike McConnell got in on the fun. He took a reverse 20 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring and then ran 24 yards on a fake punt.

It was all working for Karns City, which now has the inside track on the KSAC title.

All that is left to do for Moniteau is to move on.

"You cannot play one half of football and expect to beat a good football team," Campbell said. "Right now, we just have to forget about this and go on and play Redbank."

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