Conto

KARNS CITY — The Karns City football team has met every challenge it has faced this season, but the biggest one is yet to come.

With the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference title possibly hanging in the balance, the Gremlins will travel to Moniteau for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday.

Karns City (6-0, 4-0) already has beaten such top-tier teams as Redbank Valley and Keystone, and a win against the Warriors could send the team on its way.

However, Karns City coach Ed Conto knows a win will not come easily.

Moniteau (5-1, 4-0) has continued to thrive under first-year coach Jeff Campbell, with its lone loss a 49-29 defeat to nonconference St. Marys in Week 2.

"I thought Moniteau would be pretty good," said Conto. "CoachCampbell has been there a few years and worked on their defense."

Moniteau has one of the top quarterbacks in District 9 in junior Tyler Armagost, who's completed 48 of 110 passes for 881 yards, 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

He's also the Warriors' No. 2 rusher with 222 yards on 48 carries and four touchdowns.

"Overall, he's a strong quarterback," said Conto. "He throws deep, throws short and can run with it. If you try to sack him or if you get a hold of him, he can shake it off.

"Anyone would like to have him on their team,"Conto added.

Among Armagost's top targets are Josh Loos (11 catches, 238 yards, six TDs), John McFadden (9-169-1), Mitch Czech (8-123-1), Dakota Campbell (6-126-4) and Clay Casper (5-101-2).

"They all seem to be very productive all season," said Conto. "I look at Loos as their top guy. He's probably that go-to guy, but all the other guys have done well."

While Armagost is the No. 2 rusher, sophomore James Shope has emerged as a big-time threat in the backfield after taking advantage of playing time because of injuries to Ricky Best and Clayton Drnek.

Shope has rushed for 731 yards on 83 carries, an 8.8 yards-per-carry average, and nine touchdowns.

"They've had more of a traditional two-back offense in the past," said Conto, in reference to players such as Steve Saul, Matt Schandelmeier, Ryan Rumbaugh and Adam Cousins.

"They seemed to share the load. Now, either (Shope) or Armagost gets it about 90 percent of the time. (Shope's) perfect for that offense. He hits the cutback very well. He's a young guy and looks to have a bright future,"Conto added.

With the Warriors offense averaging 370 yards per game, the defense has done its share as well, limiting opponents to 190 total yards per game.

"Once you get a system in high school football, you just have to replace the players," said Conto. "If someone has a good system, and coach Campbell does, you just replace them with new kids. You just plug them in and they keep going."

The Gremlins are coming off a pair of impressive victories: a 23-0 shutout of Redbank Valley (5-1, 3-1) Sept. 28 and Clarion last week. Karns City allowed the Bobcats just 34 yards of total offense.

Still, Conto seeks improvement each time out.

"The first half against Clarion, I was really pleased. Clarion played physical, smash-mouth football and they tried to play power football. We took what they gave us."