KARNS CITY — If Karns City was looking for a tune-up for the upcoming District 9 football playoffs, it wasn't necessary.

The Gremlins' engine is running just fine.

Karns City (9-1) scored on its first eight possessions Friday night in cruising to a 52-14 victory over Marion Center (2-8) to close the regular season at Diehl Stadium.

“We looked pretty sharp tonight,” KC coach Ed Conto said. “Nobody got hurt and the junior varsity got on the field quite a bit. We did some hitting tonight. I'm happy.”

The competitive phase of this game ended quickly.

After the Stingers went three-and-out on their first possession, KC drove 53 yards in six plays. Tyler Kepple's 32-yard pass to Logan Moroney set up Adam Whited's 2-yard scoring run less than four minutes into the contest.

Tyler Dunn intercepted a Marion Center pass at the Stingers' 35-yard line moments later. Kepple found Moroney for a 35-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

Zach Moore caught a 21-yard TD pass from Kepple on the Gremlins' next possession and it was 21-0 with 4:15 still left in the opening quarter. Moore caught a touchdown pass, scored on a 42-yard run and booted a 36-yard field goal during the first half.

The field goal occurred with 11 seconds left before intermission and boosted the KC lead to 45-0.

“You try everything you can because you don't know when it's going to come into play,” Conto said. “We wanted to run all of our plays a couple of times tonight.”

KC had a 326-32 advantage in total yards by halftime. Kepple threw for 99 yards and did not play in the second half.

KC rushed for 308 yards on the night despite playing without leading rusher Tristan Rhoades, who is nursing an injury.

“There were mismatches out there when we were against their first team and we knew that,” Marion Center coach Dave Malicky said. “We're a young team and we're dealing with some injuries, but that's certainly not an excuse.

“That team is good. We haven't played a team with that kind of speed on both sides of the ball.”

Collin Dunmyre recovered a fumble in the game for the Gremlins, who never punted. Moore rushed for 75 yards and Wyatt Everetts ran for 65 yards and a touchdown.

In all, 14 different players had a rush from scrimmage for Karns City.

“They ran a lot of kids in there. ... They are very classy and I appreciate that,” Malicky said.

Marion Center threatened to score once in the first half. Noah Hoover returned the kickoff 41 yards and a personal foul penalty moments later gave the Stingers a first down at the KC 40.

Cody Deal stopped quarterback Blake Orr for a 4-yard loss on third-and-3 and Christian Turner knocked away a fourth-down pass.

Both of Marion Center's scores came against KC's reserves.

“Those guys have to do scout team and help prepare us, so they need to get reps, too,” Conto said.

Karns City scored at least 42 points for the eighth consecutive game and will host a first-round District 9 Class AA playoff game next Friday night.

The Gremlins are battling Kane for the No. 1 seed in the district.

“It will probably come down to Gardner points,” Conto said. “A lot of things will figure in. We'll see how it plays out.”