KARNS CITY — The Karns City senior football players have no intentions of matching last year’s feat of a District 9 championship and state quarterfinal appearance.

They want to surpass it.

“(Assistant) coach (Brian) Markle’s dream is to win a state championship and we want to give it to him this year,” said senior tailback Zach Moore. “That’s our goal.”

It might seem lofty, but this group of Gremlins is no stranger to exceeding expectations.

The Gremlins quickly heard doubts last year after senior standout running back Glenn Toy tore his ACL in the preseason.

“Most people were like, ‘They’re not big enough, they’re not strong enough. They’re not fast enough. They don’t have the arsenal of seniors most teams do,’” said running back Wyatt Everetts, who went on to lead the team in rushing.

“Especially after Glenn went down with his knee injury, everybody thought, ‘This season is a wash, rebuild for next year,’” quarterback Tyler Kepple agreed. “Then we came out, everybody gave it their all and we made a good run.”

Toy’s injury was the first of many Karns City was forced to deal with last season and the Gremlins dropped three games in the regular season while adjusting to the adversity. However, KC still managed to win the KSAC Large with a 4-0 record and advanced to the District 9 title game against Kane.

The Gremlins faced an early 14-0 deficit to the Wolves, but didn’t give up — a microcosm of the season — and won the D-9 championship with a 14-play, 65-yard drive over the final three minutes. This year’s seniors played instrumental roles.

Adam Whited converted two fourth downs during the decisive march, Mike Olkowski paced the offensive line and Kepple connected with Dakota Mohney for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining for a 33-27 triumph.

“It was a dream. The D-9 game was unreal,” said Olkowski. “You grow up thinking about the game-winning drive in the championship game and that’s what we had the chance to do in the final minutes of that D-9 game.

“Once Mohney caught that pass, everyone just went crazy.”

Karns City went on to beat Chestnut-Ridge in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, before a lopsided loss to WPIAL champion Aliquippa in the quarterfinals. Despite a successful season, the Gremlins entered the offseason with a bitter taste in their mouths.

“It was a disappointing loss to Aliquippa last year,” said Olkowski. “We’ve been pushing ourselves to go beyond what we’ve already done.”

Dan Filges was one of the many Gremlins bitten by the injury bug. He suffered a season-ending injury during the third game of the year and is itching for opening kickoff after watching the 2012 campaign unfold from the sidelines.

“It’s going to feel good,” said Filges. “It was hard watching my team last year. I was proud of them, but it was hard seeing that Aliquippa game. I’m just excited to come back and be with them this year.”

Armed with valuable experience, the senior class wants to leave Karns City in style.

“It all comes down to this and we’re working to make another story like we did last year,” said Mohney. “This is our final goodbye, so we’re hoping to go back to D-9 and make it further than we did last year.”

The class includes Kepple, Everetts, Mohney, Whited, Olkowski, Moore, Filges, Jake Laughery, Cory Ritzert, Jeremy Codispot and Ed Craig.

“We have a lot of seniors this year that are strong in different spots,” said Kepple. “We’re just going to give it our all.”

Karns City head coach Ed Conto is grateful to have them.

“They’re a good group of fun kids,” said Karns City coach Ed Conto. “There’s solid leadership and those guys go hard. It’s what you expect out of Gremlin football. It’s what you want.”

Time is running out on their high school football careers, though, and they intend soaking in every moment.

But it’s not over yet and these Gremlins hope to leave a lasting legacy.

“We’re not just some small town around here,” Everetts said. “We can go in with the Pittsburgh big boys and show them what’s up.”