RIMERSBURG — Dylan Hipple is quickly making a name for himself.

The Karns City quarterback was nearly flawless on a damp Friday evening at Union, throwing for 187 yards and three scores to lead the Gremlins to a 39-2 win over the Golden Knights.

"He's exceeded our expectations," said Karns City coach Ed Conto. "I think he's going to be a premiere quarterback if he keeps developing."

Hipple, a 5-foot-10, 156-pound junior, hooked up on a pair of first-half scoring strikes to Brandon Collier as Karns City (2-0, 2-0) shook off a slow start to take a 26-2 lead into halftime.

Hipple hit Collier for a 47-yard score midway through the second quarter to turn a narrow 6-2 lead into a 14-2 advantage.

The backbreaker came with four seconds remaining in the half when Hipple hooked up with Collier on a 17-yard score.

Hipple completed 7-of-12 passes. What pleased Conto more, though, were the decisions Hipple made while passing the ball and running the option.

"He threw one bad pass into coverage, but most of the time he is seeing the right things," Conto said.

There were a lot of good things for Hipple to see once Karns City got things rolling.

Early on, though, it was Union that was taking the initiative.

The Golden Knights found out Wednesday that they had a win instead of a loss against Brookville. The Raiders used an ineligible player in their 54-34 win over Union last week and were forced to forfeit the victory.

Union was trying to pull off an upset this week.

After Golden Knights quarterback Trent Corle tossed an interception on a fourth down play at the Karns City 1, the swarming Union defense corralled Gremlins running back Jake Wagner in the end zone for a safety.

Following the free kick, Union marched to the Karns City 25, but the drive stalled.

"We had missed opportunities early," said Union coach Al Pryor. "I thought our kids played a lot harder for the whole game."

The Union defense hit and hit hard for most of the contest.

The problem was, the Gremlins hit back.

Aaron Markle churned out 56 yards on the ground and scored twice, and the Karns City defense picked off Corle three times.

Union (1-1, 1-1) mustered only 140 total yards.

Zach Traister rushed for 50 yards on 10 carries for the Golden Knights, who impressed Conto.

"Al did a nice job with his team," Conto said. "They are playing good, fundamental football now."

Conto is still ironing out some kinks with his own team.

Karns City committed 12 penalties for 95 yards, fumbled six times, but lost only one.

Conto is still searching for the right combinations on the field.

"We're playing a lot of kids, as usual," Conto said. "When you do that, you don't always get a lot of consistency right away. It always takes us a little longer the way we do things. It will work itself out."

On the other sideline, Pryor was encouraged by what he saw.

Traister was close to breaking a few long runs and the weather caused treacherous footing that affected the passing game at times.

"It was just one of those days," Pryor said. "I thought we improved tremendously over where we were the week before. If we keep doing that, we'll be exciting."