KARNS CITY — Leading by seven at halftime, Karns City wasn't satisfied.

“We felt like they were right there with us,” KC acting head coach Joe Schumacher said.

So the Gremlins resorted to what they do best — pound the ball right at people — and grinded their way to a 35-14 football victory over DuBois Area Friday night at Diehl Stadium.

Karns City (8-1, 9-1) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half. The first used 14 plays to march 89 yards and eat 7:10 off the clock. The second used 11 plays, chewing up 61 yards and eating another 6:18 off the clock.

A 14-7 halftime lead grew to 28-14 with only 4:48 left in the contest. The Gremlins tacked on another score with 1:11 left after the Beavers (5-4, 5-5) turned the ball over on downs at their own 29.

“They executed in the second half,” DuBois coach TJ Wingard said. “They are very good at what they do. They came out that half serious, focused and they took it to us.

“I tip my hat to them.”

Karns City rushed for 300 yards on its senior night with a pair of seniors leading the way. Jayce Anderson had 19 carries for 173 yards while Luke Garing rushed for 73 yards and four touchdowns.

“That's what we do,” Anderson said. “We use our strong line and run the football. Just grind it out.”

Garing said he enjoys that type of game.

“We don't disguise anything or try to hide it,” he said. “We're confident that if we execute the plays, we'll move the ball.”

But DuBois traded punches with KC early.

After a 16-yard Garing touchdown run gave the Gremlins a 7-0 lead, the Beavers answered with a 50-yard kickoff return by Eric Benjamin. Starting from the KC 37-yard line, the Beavers topped a seven-play drive with a 2-yard Austin Henery scoring run.

Garing's second touchdown put Karns City up by seven, but an interception by the Beavers' Dalton Yale with three seconds left gave DuBois one last shot at getting even before halftime.

Cam-Ron Hays lofted a Hail Mary pass into the end zone that deflected off a few hands — and off Brycen Dinkfelt's fingertips as time expired.

“Karns City has a great football tradition with tough kids,” Wingard said. “I felt like we answered that toughness tonight. They just made more plays at critical times than we did.

“We left a couple of plays on the field tonight.”

Of the 25 combined plays in Karns City's first two scoring drives of the second half, the Gremlins threw only one pass. But it was a back-breaker.

The Beavers pulled within 21-14 on a 6-yard Derraick Burkett touchdown catch — capping an 11-play, 67-yard march — early in the fourth period.

Karns City drove down the field again, but faced a fourth-and-8 at the DuBois 21 with 6:18 to play. Quarterback Eric Booher used play-action and tossed a pass to Cooper Coyle in the left flat. Coyle made two defenders miss and rambled 15 yards to the 6, setting up the game-clinching touchdown.

“We felt like play-action would work there,” Schumacher said. “Their safeties had to pinch way in to stop the run and that's exactly what they did.”

Karns City head coach Joe Sherwin was ill and missed the game. The Gremlins will advance to the District 9 playoffs.

DuBois will play University Prep in a first-round District 9 Class 4A playoff game next week.

“We figured Karns City would try to take away our big-play guys, so we took what they gave us,” Wingard said. “Once we fell behind by a couple of scores, we had to go for some big plays.”

The Beavers were limited to 190 offensive yards — 99 rushing and 91 passing.

DuBois Area 7 0 0 7 — 14

Karns City 7 7 7 14 — 35

First Quarter

KC — Luke Garing 16 run (Zach Kelly kick), 5:06

D — Austin Henery 2 run (Charlie Harman kick), 1:51

Second Quarter

KC — Garing 5 run (Kelly kick), 6:56

Third Quarter

KC — Garing 8 run (Kelly kick), 3:15

Fourth Quarter

D — Derraick Burkett 6 pass from Cam-Ron Hays (Harman kick), 11:06

KC — Nate Garing 5 run (Kelly kick), 4:48

KC — Luke Garing 7 run (Kelly kick), 1:11

Individual Statistics

Rushing: DuBois Area, Cam-Ron Hays 5-14, Austin Henery 11-26, Braxton Adams 5-25, Dalton Yale 5-28, Eric Benjamin 2-6. Karns City, Eric Booher 8-18, Luke Garing 16-73, Jayce Anderson 19-173, Luke Cramer 2-19, Cooper Coyle 3-9, Nate Garing 5-16, TEAM 1-(-8).

Passing: DuBois Area, Cam-Ron Hays 10-23-91-0. Karns City, Eric Booher 3-8-43-1.

Receiving: DuBois Area, Derraick Burkett 3-40, Braxton Adams 4-11, Kaden Clark 1-9, Austin Mitchell 1-11, Brycen Dinkfelt 1-30. Karns City, Micah Rupp 1-27, Cooper Coyle 2-16.