KARNS CITY — Forget about that 3-5 record.

Bradford coach Jeff Puglio isn't buying it.

“Karns City has great tradition and a great program,” Puglio said. “When you face a program like theirs, the won-loss record doesn't matter.

“We're going to be in a tough, physical football game. That's pretty much a given.”

The Owls (5-3) will carry a three-game winning streak into Karns City for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday against the Gremlins (3-5) at Diehl Stadium.

Karns City needs a win to extend its District 9 playoff hopes.

“Our school policy has always been you have to be .500 to go,” KC coach Joe Sherwin said. “We have to win this game. That's all there is to it.”

While Karns City is coming off a 28-6 loss at undefeated Ridgway, Bradford is coming off a 34-14 victory over once-beaten Clarion.

“We've gotten people in the right places now and we're playing a more aggressive brand of football,” Puglio said. “We only graduated four seniors last year and a lot of our kids have been starting since they were freshmen.

“Two of the seniors we graduated last year were two-way starting linemen, so it took us a while to get that figured out. Now we've got a solid unit there.”

The Owls run the Wing-T and have a productive running back to go with it. Donny Pattison, at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, has rushed for 1,132 yards and 15 touchdowns. He's also caught 10 passes for 119 yards and a score.

“He's a big kid and we have to collectively get to the football to bring him down,” Sherwin said. “Bradford has been getting four, five, six yards a pop running the ball. They've been tough to stop.

“That's what they've been doing to opponents — chewing up a large part of the time.”

Jaron Ambrose has run for 553 yards and eight TDs, Derek Sunafrank 363 yards and three scores. Bradford has only thrown the ball 40 times all season, good for 350 yards.

“We'll mix in a pass every now and then to keep a defense honest, but until they start giving you more points for passing the ball than running it, we prefer to run it,” Puglio said.

“We can control the clock and the tempo of the game by running the ball effectively.”

KC's top defensive players in terms of tackles are outside linebacker Trey Albert with 44 and inside linebacker Nathan Waltman with 41.

“Both of those kids have had outstanding seasons. They'll roam sideline to sideline and make tackles,” Sherwin said.

Karns City operates by a similar theory to Bradford offensively. Hunter Jones leads the Gremlins with 825 yards and 10 TDs on the ground. Anthony Kamenski has thrown for 526 yards, but was picked off three times last week.

Madden McMillen and Erik Pfeifer lead KC's receiving corps with 104 and 100 yards, respectively, on a handful of catches.

“Bradford will hit you with a pass out of nowhere at times and try to catch you by surprise,” Sherwin said. “We want to do the same thing as them ... run, run, run,. then a surprise pass, though we want to throw a little more often than they do.”

Defensively, senior inside linebacker Kevin Ackerman has been an anchor for Bradford. Ambrose has a team-leading 68 tackles from his safety position and tackle Nate Gehm has 56 tackles and four quarterback sacks.

Karns City and Bradford have met only once before, the Owls taking a 49-10 victory in 2004.

“That was after my time as a player and before my time as a coach,” Puglio said. “I do know we had some pretty good teams during those years.

“Our goal this year is to qualify for the playoffs and play deep into November. If it's Thanksgiving Day and we're still practicing, that's where we want to be.”