HERMITAGE — Karns City head football coach Ed Conto may be able to get a second job as a motivational speaker.

In a nonconference game with Hickory, the Gremlins led by three points after a sluggish first half.

But Conto said all the right things and pushed all the right buttons during halftime to get his team motivated as Karns City (2-0) routed Hickory 35-11 on Friday evening.

"We weren't hustling in the first half," Conto said. "We told the kids they were waiting for one guy to make a play. Everyone was moping. We just need to execute, get off the football. In the first half, we looked lethargic. We need 11 guys running instead of two."

His speech worked as Karns City scored on its first three second-half possessions to break open a three-point game.

In the first half, Karns City had 111 yards of offense and busted through with 193 total yards in the second half.

"We did a lot better in the second half," Conto said. "We have to get more consistent."

"There were a lot of events that occurred there," Hickory head coach Frank Antuono said.

The opening kickoff of the second half was a disaster for Hickory as the return man watched the ball bounce and Karns City nearly recovered the kick. Hickory recovered at its own 5-yard line.

Two plays later, the Gremlins' Brett Green scooped up a fumble at Hickory's 9-yard line. Markus LaVan rumbled through from nine yards out on the ensuing play to begin the rout.

"On that kickoff, I don't know what our guy was doing there," Antuono said. "They took our fullback Justin Scott out of the game and we didn't block real well. We fell apart in the second half."

Hickory wasn't able to stop any one of the 13 running backs as Karns City rushed for a total of 251 yards.

Karns City struck again 2:53 later on a Green 3-yard score. Stephon Conto, who finished with a game-high 89 yards on three carries, added the final score of the third quarter on a 43-yard run.

Karns City's defense was strong all evening. It held Scott to 28 yards on 11 carries and Hickory to 131 total yards, all on the ground.