NEW WILMINGTON — Anthony Stimac dressed up as Jake Pyle for Halloween.

With his No. 13 road jersey lost in the mail after being sent to the cleaners, the Karns City quarterback had to slip on No. 34 — a number that once belonged to Pyle.

Despite the identity crisis, Stimac played like, well, Stimac to lead the Gremlins to a stunning 22-21 upset of Wilmington Friday night.

"Hey, it worked," Stimac said of his impromptu number change. "I'll probably keep it."

Even without his lucky No. 13, Stimac found plenty of good fortune against the Greyhounds — particularly on the game-winning drive.

Trailing 21-15 and facing a fourth-and-2 at the Wilmington 15, Stimac was strung out on an option play.

Stimac tried to pitch the football to Markus LaVan as he was getting hit by three Wilmington defenders, but the pitch was errant.

LaVan, though, managed to pick up the loose ball and gained four yards to the Wilmington 11 for a first down.

The fumblerooski kept the drive alive and led to an 11-yard screen pass fromStimac to LaVan on a fourth-and-10 play for what turned out to be the game-winning score.

"It got stretched out, and I made a bad read," Stimac said. "I pitched it at the wrong time. Luckily, Markus picked it up and got a first down out of it."

JoshCallender preserved the win with an interception at midfield with a minute remaining in the game.

For KarnsCity, the victory means more than just a notch in the win column.

All season, Gremlins coach Ed Conto longed for a litmus test. Playing in the weak Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference offered Conto and Karns City few opportunities to test their mettle.

Wilmington (9-1), which came into the game ranked No. 3 in the state inClass AA, offered Karns City a true challenge.

"This is what we needed," Conto said. "This is the problem in my league. When you play sloppy teams, you don't get better and you don't know what you are capable of."

Karns City (9-1) is apparently capable of a great deal.

Wilmington had an impressive resume. It had won by mercy rule in eight of its nine games, was averaging a gaudy 9 yards per carry rushing, and had never trailed.

Until Friday.

The Greyhounds averaged just 2.8 yards per rush against the Gremlins, and, when Stimac hit CodyWilliams in the deep post for a 27-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to give the Gremlins a 6-0 lead, Wilmington found itself behind for this first time in 445 minutes of game time this season.

Wilmington responded, though, with a 20-play, 91-yard march that consumed more than eight minutes to lead 7-6 at halftime.

The Greyhounds appeared poised to blow Karns City away in the second half, scoring two quick touchdowns.

The first came on a pass from quarterback Shane Wagner that glanced off the hands of Wilmington running back SuttonWhiting and into the hands of tight end Dallas Hartman for a 49-yard score.

Following a Karns City fumble — its fourth turnover of the game — Wagner found his cousin MattWagner in the end zone for an 8-yard scoring pass and the Greyhounds were up 21-6 midway through the third quarter.

"I think our conditioning helped us in this game," Conto said. "Again, we had stupid turnovers. That cost us against Moniteau (in a 35-34 loss two weeks ago) and they should have cost us today. But great compliment to our kids. They were able to come back."

Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said the loss may be a wake-up call for his team.

"It could be a good thing," Verrelli said. "We can look at what we did wrong and straighten it out because from now on if this happens, you go home."

Karns City will begin the District 9 playoffs next week against Kane on a high.

Conto just hopes his team doesn't get too high.

"It will only give us momentum as long as it doesn't go to their heads," Conto said. "That was our problem all year. We're winning games and blowing people out, but we're not playing good football.

"We have to take another step and not sit back on our butts."

Karns City 22, Wilmington 21

Karns City 0 6 6 10—22 Wilmington 0 7 14 0—21KC W12 First Downs 1241-108 Rushes-Yards 35-80121 Passing Yards 1578-13-2 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 9-19-1229 Total Yards 2374-2 Fumbles/Lost 3-21-5 Penalties-Yards 3-40

Second QuarterKC — Cody Williams 27 pass fromAnthony Stimac (kick failed), 11:03W — Jake DeMedal 1 run (Bryce Wilson kick), 1:18

Third QuarterW — Dallas Hartman 49 pass fromShane Wagner (Wilson kick), 11:03W — Matt Wagner 8 pass fromShane Wagner (Wilson kick), 7:07

Fourth QuarterKC — J.J. Grenninger 28 field goal, 6:39KC — Markus LaVan 11 pass from Anthony Stimac (Grenninger kick), 2:11

Individual Statistics

Passing: Karns City, AnthonyStimac 8-12-121-1, Josh Stimac 0-1-0-1. Wilmington, Shane Wagner 9-19-157-1.

Rushing: Karns City, Anthony Stimac 13-49, Markus LaVan 14-40, Levi Buck 4-11, Josh Callender 4-10, AaronMarkle 3-3, Team 3-(-5). Wilmington, Sutton Whiting 8-50, Jake DeMedal 7-23, Derrick Burns 8-15, MattWagner 1-9, Luke Yohman 1-4, Chad Palladino 1-2, Shane Wagner 9-(-23).

Receiving: Karns City, Markus LaVan 2-37, Josh Callender 2-26, CodyWilliams 1-27, Cory Lakin 1-22, Chris Price 1-6, AaronMarkle 1-3. Wilmington, Jake DeMedal 3-46, Dallas Hartman 1-49, Sutton Whiting 1-28, Carson Sharbaugh 2-13, Derrick Burns 1-13, MattWagner 1-8.