KARNS CITY — Ed Conto summed up his team in one word.

“Goofy,” the Karns City football coach said.

It was a goofy game for the Goofy Gremlins, who built a 21-0 lead against Redbank Valley only to watch the Bulldogs score 28 unanswered points.

Karns City, though, responded to the adversity with 21 unanswered points itself in the fourth quarter to pull out a 42-28 home win Friday night to avoid the first 0-3 start since 1995 and its first three-game losing streak since 2010.

It was good to get back into the win column for Conto and the Gremlins.

“Yeah,” Conto said, snickering. “I didn't know there for awhile if we would be.”

Things started out OK for Karns City (1-2), which marched 74 yards in nine plays — all on the ground — for a 7-0 lead.

Dalton Beham capped the drive with the first of his four rushing touchdowns.

A blocked punt set up Beham's second score and Sebastian Troutman plunged in from the 2 late in the second quarter for a 21-0 Gremlin lead.

That's when things started to unravel.

Redbank Valley quarterback Keaton Kahle directed a scoring drive late in the second half and capped it with a 4-yard TD pass to Chase Wiles to send the Bulldogs into halftime down 21-7.

On Redbank Valley's first play of the second half, Clint Thurston burst up the middle for a 63-yard touchdown run, and it was suddenly 21-14.

Thurston didn't have a rushing yard in the first half on seven carries.

Thurston wasn't done. He rushed for two more touchdowns in the third quarter as Redbank Valley took a 28-21 lead.

“It was a tale of two games,” said Bulldog coach Ed Wasilowski. “They had the first half and we had the third quarter.”

But Karns City had the fourth.

Beham scored two more times, from 5 and 23 yards out and Caleb Garing capped the barrage of points with a 16-yard run to avert a catastrophe for Karns City.

“We were just kind of being selfish there — late in the second quarter and the third quarter we were just being lazy,” Beham said. “But we turned it around in the fourth. We knew we could get them.”

Beham was the undoubted star for the Gremlins, rushing for 130 yards on 16 carries and the four touchdowns.

He also had a few big stops on defense.

“He's not a fast kid, but he has a wee-little shifty step that makes people miss,” Conto said.

Garing finished with 94 yards on 11 carries and Troutman added 89 yards on 14 carries for Karns City, which rushed for 347 yards as a team.

Kahle finished with 142 yards passing and a touchdown. Thurston had all 124 yards on the ground on his night in the second half.

Conto was pleased with the way his team responded to losing a 21-point lead.

“They play hard, but they're mental,” Conto said. “Tonight the big growing thing was we got them back on track.

“Like I asked them on the sideline, 'Are you going to give up again? What are you going to do?” Conto added. “They went out and made a play. I think we can be a good power football team, but we have to execute. That was a microcosm of the first few games.”

[naviga:h3]Redbank Valley 0 7 21 0 — 28

Karns City 14 7 0 21 — 42[/naviga:h3]

First Quarter

KC — Dalton Beham 7 run (Clay Garing kick), 7:30

KC — Beham 9 run (Garing kick), 4:20

Second Quarter

KC — Sebastian Troutman 2 run (Garing kick), 2:31

RV — Chase Wiles 4 pass from Keaton Kahle (Clint Thurston kick), :29

Third Quarter

RV — Thurston 63 run (Thurston kick), 11:44

RV — Thurston 1 run (kick failed), 6:31

RV — Thurston 33 run (Wiles pass from Kahle) 2:50

Fourth Quarter

KC — Beham 5 run (Garing kick), 10:09

KC — Beham 23 run (Garing kick), 6:53

KC — Garing 16 run (Garing kick), 4:19

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Redbank Valley, Clint Thurston 18-124, Keaton Kahle 3-13, Chris Wiles 1-9, Brock Barrett 1-6; Karns City, Dalton Beham 16-130, Clay Garing 11-94, Sebastian Troutman 14-89, Noah Kepple 4-24, Mitchell Kelsea 3-22, Josh Wimer 1-4, Anthony Kamenski 1-(-3), TEAM 4-(-13)

Passing: Redbank Valley, Keaton Kahle 14-31-142-1; Karns City, Anthony Kamenski 4-13-35-0

Receiving: Redbank Valley, Brock Barrett 6-83, Chase Wiles 5-51, Tanner Kerle 1-7, Hunter Martz 1-6, Clint Thurston 1-5; Karns City, Sebastian Troutman 2-17, Nick Schill 1-17, Noah Kepple 1-1