BROOKVILLE — It was Senior Night for Brookville on Friday, but Karns City coach Ed Conto was pleased how his counterparts came to play.

With the KSAC-Large title on the line, the Gremlins came out clicking, running on 18 of their first 19 plays with two touchdowns in the first quarter, then using two second-quarter interceptions to key two more scores for a 29-0 halftime lead en route to a 45-20 victory.

A win by Brookville would have given the Raiders (6-3, 2-2) a tie for first place with the Gremlins (6-3, 4-0), but the Raiders would have held the tiebreaker for playoff seeding.

“Our seniors showed up,” Conto said. “They showed their leadership and I appreciate that.”

The rest of the team made its contributions as well.

“This says we have a lot of talented young guys,” Conto continued. “I’ve been pleased with the effort all year, but I told them before the game that you’ll have a story to tell later in life if you win this game, that you had 12 people out and you still won it.”

The Gremlins came out swinging, going on a 13-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 3-yard run by Zach Moore and Zach Kepple adding the conversion run.

The Gremlins rushed on all 13 plays and chewed up 5 minutes, 26 seconds.

Brookville fumbled on the fifth play of its next possession, which set up Karns City on the Raiders’ 27-yard line.

Six plays later, Dakota Mohney ran in from six yards out to help make it a 15-0 lead with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, Brookville moved to the KC 33, when on a third-and-18, quarterback Cameron Yard was intercepted by Christian Turner, who returned the pick 47 yards for a touchdown with 3:05 before the break.

On the ensuing possession, running back Zach Vroman underthrew a pass, which was intercepted by Matt Conto.

Conto had been bobbling the ball on his way down, but while on his back, the ball landed right onto his stomach.

Karns City needed just three plays — a 17-yard pass from Kepple to Wyatt Everetts, a 3-yard run by Moore and a 40-yard screen pass play to Tristan Rhoades — to score once more and enjoy a 29-0 advantage at halftime.

“I’m happy the way we played defense,” Conto said.

“They were fast, we were not and they executed,” Brookville coach Chris Dworek said. “I didn’t expect (this), but it didn’t surprise me.”

Brookville tried to inch back into the game in the second half, when on the first play from scrimmage, Brodie Zacherl broke free up the middle for a 70-yard touchdown run.

Cecil Grubbs pulled in a Vroman pass on the conversion to make it a 29-8 score.

The teams would exchange possessions before Karns City answered the score when Kepple broke loose for a 49-yard touchdown run with 5:03 left in the third quarter.

Brookville came out gunning in the fourth quarter when Yard connected with Nathan St. Laurent on a pair of touchdown passes — a 23-yarder on the first play of the quarter, then a 31-yard strike with 10:10 left.

The two scores sandwiched a 46-yard Kepple score, which kept the Raiders from gaining much fourth-quarter momentum.

“The most disappointing thing was how we reacted to bad plays and getting scored on,” Dworek said. “That shouldn’t happen, the way reacted to that.

“If we executed and been more physical early, that would’ve changed our attitude,” Dworek added.

Still, the play of the second half concerns Conto.

“We have young guys and this year, they’d make a couple of great plays, then give up something,” Conto said. “We didn’t do that in the first half, but the second half we did. That first half, we put it together.”

Notes: Kepple finished with 101 yards rushing on nine carries and also completed five of eight passes for 116 yards. ... Zacherl finished with a game-high 138 yards on 15 carries. ... Karns City rushed for 318 yards on 48 carries.