KARNS CITY — As Wilmington running back Sutton Whiting cut to the outside on his team's second play, the junior saw nothing but green in front of him.

The Greyhounds turned this scene into a familiar sight Friday night at Karns City.

In a football game expected to be close, Wilmington blew out Karns City 55-9.

During the final regular season tuneup for both squads, the Gremlins were pushed around on their own field. Wilmington dominated the game from their first possession and dominated the offensive and defensive line play.

On the Greyhounds' second play from scrimmage, Whiting busted a 77-yard touchdown run behind blocking that created a huge hole along the left side of the line. Whiting wasn't touched and flew past the Gremlins' secondary on his way to the end zone.

Karns City (8-2) bounced back with a 30-yard field goal behind three receptions by Brandon Collier, but it was its only scoring drive of the game.

Wilmington (9-1) took its following possession 69 yards on three plays, finished by another untouched touchdown from 55 yards out by Derrick Burns.

"We came out and played very well tonight," Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. "Offensively, it's pretty obvious, Whiting and Burns — those guys are back, and they showed it tonight. Things went well, but we've got to go back and still get better."

The onslaught continued on the first play of the second quarter as Whiting took his second run of the night for another touchdown, this one from 20 yards. Again, the offensive line of the Greyhounds opened a large hole on the left and Whiting was barely touched.

Up 28-3 to start the second half, Wilmington decided to seal the deal through the air. On the second play of the half, quarterback Jake DeMedal hit a wide-open Whiting behind the secondary for a 55-yard touchdown.

The Gremlins' offense wasn't able to get much going, as Wilmington's Sean Christofferson and Ryan Martin were staples in the KC backfield. Martin had an interception, a sack and a tackle for loss in the backfield on a fourth-and-one attempt by Karns City.

Christofferson forced quarterback Dylan Hipple to scramble on a number of occasions and clogged the center of the line the entire night.

The only highlight for the Gremlins came late in the fourth quarter when senior Jesse Garing returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown, ending the scoring.

Despite winning a share of its conference title and heading to the playoffs next week, the Gremlins were left scratching their heads and looking for answers after a thorough beating by a quality football team.

"A lot of little things we didn't do right and they took advantage of everything we did wrong," Karns City coach Ed Conto said. "It's pretty simple. We took a good butt beating tonight.

"I can go through a whole list of things we can get away with when we play some weaker teams, but not against a quality team," he added. "We've got to go back and work on those things."