BROCKWAY — It took a while for Karns City's athleticism to assert itself.

But once it did, the team's bid for the first district title in the boys soccer program's history was in good hands.

The Gremlins playmakers overwhelmed Elk County Catholic in a 5-1 decision in the District 9 Class A title game at Brockway's Frank Varischetti Field.

Senior Mark Ferguson scored three goals and assisted on another while KC's defense had another solid outing in dashing the Crusaders' hopes of a district crown.

Karns City had made it to the title game twice before in 2002 and 2004, but fell short both times.

"We told the kids to remember that we were here last year," said KC coach Roy Parker. "We are the No. 1 seed, (Elk County Catholic) was the No. 8 seed. There was nothing to get nervous over. Let's just come up here and take care of business."

And that they did.

After 15 minutes of play, the vast majority of action was taking place in the Crusaders' end. But the Gremlins (17-3-1) couldn't threaten ECC goalkeeper Logan Haberberger consistently.

That changed when, with just under 15 minutes left in the first half, Dan Thuronyi's attempt to break the stalemate was stopped by Haberberger.

But Ferguson was there for the rebound and a 1-0 lead.

"Mark is the pulse of this team," said Parker. "As he goes, we go. He's deadly on picking up the garbage in front of the net. He's able to follow the play so naturally."

Nearly five minutes later, the Gremlins made it 2-0 on Aaron McGarvey's penalty kick. The two-goal advantage stood at halftime.

The Crusaders' scoring opportunities came in spurts.

ECC would go five or six minutes without mounting anything resembling an offensive push, but then the team created a handful of scoring threats.

"We took our chances as they came," said Crusaders coach Adam Bailey. "We figured, if Karns City is going to push all their players up field, we'd try and exploit that. That's how we got our scoring chances."

Four and a half minutes into the second half, Ferguson scored his second goal off of a corner kick by Andrew Harmon.

The Crusaders (13-9-1) retaliated just 39 seconds later when Tom Goetz lofted a ball toward KC keeper Zach Fleeger from 25 yards out to the right of the goal.

The ball kept carrying and floated just beyond Fleeger' outstretched hands for what proved to be ECC's lone score.

Andrew Harmon and Ferguson added goals down the stretch, but it was KC's defense, led by senior stopper Chad Zabicki, that capped the title-winning performance.

"Every time they tried to get something going, Chad was there to stop it," said Parker. "He does it all the time."

Fleeger came up with nine saves in the game.

"Zach came out several times to take their attack away," said Parker. "And he came up with some saves when we needed them most."

Haberberger also tallied nine saves in defeat.

With it being the first-ever district title for the Gremlins, the win was felt by more than just this year's players.

"I actually had alumni and former players calling me on my cell phone during the game to see what the score was," said Parker. "This means so much to a lot of people and they've been waiting for it to happen."

The Gremlins will begin their state-playoff run Tuesday against the loser of the WPIAL title game between Seton-LaSalle and Sewickley Academy at a site and time to be determined.