Karns City Repeats as District 9 Champs in Class 2A

Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

Phil Myers | November 7, 2026

The Karns City Gremlins are your 2A District Nine titlists for the second year in a row, as they avenge their only loss of the season by beating Central Clarion 28-7 at Brookville’s High School Stadium Friday night.  Probably the stars of the game were the Gremlin defense as they held Central Clarion to 235 total yards, forced six turnovers, and blocked a punt.  The offense was led by quarterback Cole Johnston who accounted for three of the four touchdowns.

The Karns City defense (purple uniforms) stuffed the Central Clarion quarterback far right. Number 56 is Trevor Geibel.

The Gremlins appeared to be fired up the whole game as it was Central Clarion’s Wildcats who dealt Karns City their only loss of the season 43-14 back on October 2nd.  “It’s win or go home,” said Johnston, “and it felt awesome to beat them.  The hard work really paid off.  We wanted to get them back the best we could and we executed very well tonight.”

Both teams were hitting hard and both defenses refused to yield especially in the first half.  After Central Clarion forced a Karns City three and out to start the game, the Gremlin secondary intercepted a Carter Hindman pass on Clarion’s second play from scrimmage.  But KC got no further than the Clarion 32 as the Wildcat ‘D’ stopped them two yards short of a first down at the Central Clarion 32.

The Wildcats proceeded to put together a drive, aided by 25 yards in penalties against the Gremlins, that ended up at the Karns City 8.  But that was as far as Clarion got as they came up a yard short of a fresh set of downs at the Gremlin 8-yard line.

Karns City then set out from their eight and traversed down field on a 92-yard scoring drive which saw them actually gain 122 yards offensively.  How does that happen one might ask?  The answer is because the Gremlins were called for three penalties amounting to 30 yards.  Karns City was called for over 100 yards in penalties for the game.  The drive took 16 plays and 7:18 off the clock.  Johnston scored his first of two rushing touchdowns when he broke through the line for a 4-yard TD at the 8:37 mark of the second quarter.  Trevor Rumbaugh’s PAT put Karns City on top 7-0.

Again the Karns City secondary picked off a Hindman throw and the offense was in good position at the Clarion 35.  But the Gremlins fumbled the opportunity by turning the ball over to Central Clarion when they couldn’t hold on to the ball.  Coach Joe Sherwin of Karns City said, “That’s a good defense over there.  We’d have liked to take more advantage of the turnovers but they’re a good team.”

The result was a four minute drive by the Wildcats that got them as far as the Gremlin seven before Central Clarion fumbled the ball and Johnston pounced on it for KC.  The Gremlins ran the clock out and led 7-0 heading into the intermission. 

The second half for Central Clarion was a disaster.  Hindman threw an interception on the first four Wildcat possessions of the second half.  The third and fourth ones resulted in points for the Gremlins as the Central Clarion defense really played well and kept them in the game.  But those drives were only 32 and 29 yards respectively.  

Karns City scored 21 points in the final quarter of play.  After an Owen Kaufman pick and KC’s third interception of the third quarter, the Gremlins scored their second touchdown on Johnston’s 3-yard sweep.  That was a play that Clarion’s defense had a bit of trouble stopping in the second half as Johnston gained 103 of his 127 rushing yards in half number two.  Brock Dittman’s PAT was true and Karns City led 14-0 at the 10:31 mark of the fourth quarter.  “That second touchdown was huge,” stated Johnston.  Coach Sherwin had this to say about Johnston, “He basically took the team on his back and we just rode him to this championship.”

Cole Johnston on left (#7) on the QB Sweep led by Shane Emrick (#50) whom Johnston feels is the best pulling guard he’s ever seen.

On the very next offensive play, Karns City picked off Hindman again.  That set up Johnston’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Owen Kaufman to all of a sudden give KC a 21-0 advantage and some breathing room with 8:38 left.  

The Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard but put together a 65-yard drive that culminated in Hindman’s 17-yard TD toss to Jackson Mravintz.  Martin Ormeno’s extra point cut the Gremlin lead to 21-7 and gave Central Clarion a small ray of hope.

But that hope was dashed when Tyson Frazer scooped up the subsequent onside kick and raced 50 yards to the house.  That put Karns City up 28-7 which ended up being the final score after Clarion turned the ball over on downs and Karns City ran out the rest of the clock.  “Tyson is an unsung hero,” stated Coach Sherwin, “He gets those short yards for us when we need it and that was a big play on the kickoff return.”

Johnston (#7) celebrates with teammates after one of his scores. Tyson Frazer is #8 on the right.

Johnston not only had a good game offensively, he also recovered a fumble as mentioned and intercepted a pass.  “All the D-Backs were ball hawking tonight,” he said, “But that was a result of the D-Line getting in there and getting pressure on the quarterback.  The defense showed up huge tonight.”

Sherwin said, “We have an experienced secondary and they did a great job.  They executed the game plan to perfection.  The D-Line put pressure on Hindman and the linebackers did their job and that helped our secondary as well.”

Central Clarion finishes the 2026 campaign with a 6-5 record.  Karns City moves to 10-1 on the year and advances to play state ranked Westinghouse, a member of the Pittsburgh City League, next week at Cupples Stadium in Pittsburgh.

KC kneeling for an injured Gremlin.