NEW WILMINGTON — Karns City football coach Ed Conto wasn't happy that his team lost to Wilmington 50-7 Friday, but said that he saw some real improvement.

"I know it's hard to say after a game like this, but this is the first time these guys have played hard for all four quarters this season," Conto said. "I don't think we're going to see another team like this all season. They have three guys in the backfield with speed."

Sutton Whiting, Anthony Derrick and Jake DeVido found a lot of running room through the Gremlins defense. Whiting finished with 169 yards (113 rushing, 56 receiving) of total offense and scored a touchdown.

DeVido, who scored on a 35-yard run in the first quarter to make the score 9-0, finished with 66 yards rushing, and Derrick scored twice and finished with 34 yards rushing.

"We're learning and we played better," Conto said. "But any time we gave these guys a crease, they took advantage of it."

The Gremlins did stop the Greyhounds early in the contest. Twice in the first quarter, the Gremlins forced the Greyhounds to turn the ball over deep in Gremlins territory.

But the Karns City couldn't capitalize, and the Greyhounds turned the momentum when they tackled Glenn Toy for a safety with 2:35 left in the first quarter. The Gremlins had to kick it away and it led to DeVido's touchdown.

The Greyhounds used that momentum to score 34 unanswered points. The running game was a big part of their dominance as they rushed for 296 yards.

"Our running game is ahead of the team and doing the best right now," Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. "The line is coming along, I think they've gotten better every week."

The Gremlins avoided the shutout when quarterback Dylan Hipple hooked up with Luke Gordon on a 20-yard score with 3:18 remaining in the game.

The 43-point loss is one Conto hopes to forget, but he said there were many positives from the game.

"For the first time all season we didn't have a problem with a quarterback-center exchange," Conto said. "It's the small tings we need to adjust. But I thought the offensive line played better and we didn't back down from this team."