KARNS CITY — All of the momentum was with Punxsutawney.

Three plays stole it away — and protected a 15-13 Karns City football victory Friday night at Diehl Stadium.

“This wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it,” Gremlins coach Joe Sherwin said.

Trailing 15-0 midway through the third quarter, the visiting Chucks (3-4) scored a pair of touchdowns to pull within two points. They would have tied the game with 40 seconds left in the quarter, but Evan Wright stopped Justin Miller short of the goal line on an attempted two-point conversion run.

But Punxsutawney wasn’t done yet.

The Chucks drove from their own 41 to Karns City’s 19 with just over five minutes remaining. On second-and-12 from the 21, quarterback Seth Moore lofted a pass toward the right corner of the end zone. Nate Garing picked it off for the Gremlins (4-3), returning the theft out to the 26-yard line.

That was Play No. 1.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Garing said. “Micah (Rupp) covers the flank on that play and I saw them sending two receivers toward that corner, so I went over to help.”

“People are going to wonder why we didn’t play for a field goal there, but this isn’t the NFL,” Punxsutawney coach Alan Nichol said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty kicking the ball in high school football. We were trying to score and they made a play against us.”

Play No. 2 occurred on 3rd-and-18 from the KC 18 on the Gremlins’ ensuing possession, when quarterback Eric Booher found Rupp down the left sideline for 23 yards.

“Huge play,” Sherwin said. “Otherwise, we’re punting from deep in our own end and they get good field position.”

Play No. 3 was on 2nd-and-6 from the KC 45, when Garing got free up the middle for a 28-yard run. By the time the Chucks regained possession on a fourth-down interception at their own 8-yard line, only 49 seconds remained and they were out of timeouts.

Karns City’s defense did not allow a first down and secured the victory.

“We basically came down here and played them even,“ Nichol said. ” They stopped us on the two-point try and made some big plays at the end to put the game away. I thought we stifled their running game, but they dropped some big passes in on us.“

One of those was a 42-yard bomb to Rupp late in the first quarter, setting up a 23-yard Colson Ritzert field goal and a 3-0 KC lead. Zach Kelly then recovered an onsides kick for the Gremlins. A 24-yard Garing catch set up Booher’s 7-yard TD run and a 9-0 lead.

Rupp’s 9-yard TD catch with 7:39 left in the third upped the KC lead to 15-0. That’s when Punxsutawney began its comeback.

Zeke Bennett’s 1-yard run capped a 61-yard drive, the PAT pulling the Chucks within 15-7. On their next possession, Bennett — who rushed for 169 yards on 23 carries — broke free for a 57-yard run to the KC 2-yard line. A diving tackle by Braden Slater prevented the touchdown.

Bennett suffered a lower leg injury on the play and did not return. Miller scored on a 2-yard run to pull the Chucks within two.

“They scored anyway, but Braden catching that guy, that showed heart,” Garing said.

“Every time that kid (Bennett) touched the ball, I got nervous,” Sherwin said. “He runs so hard.”

Rupp had 102 yards on four receptions for the Gremlins, who were limited to 156 yards rushing on 38 carries. Booher threw for 171 yards.

“Our line has been stout all year,” Nuicol said.

“We knew how good their defense was. They limited DuBois to 90 total yards,” Sherwin said.

The Gremlins had four takeaways on the night. Levi Hawk, Rupp and Mason Martin recovered fumbles to go with Garing’s interception.

Punxsutawney 0 0 13 0 — 13

Karns City 9 0 6 0 — 15

First Quarter

KC — Colson Ritzert 23 field goal, 1:51

KC — Eric Booher 7 run (kick failed), :52

Third Quarter

KC — Micah Rupp 9 pass from Booher (pass failed), 7:39

P — Zeke Bennett 1 run (Peyton Hetrick kick), 5:10

P — Justin Miller 2 run (run failed), :40

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Punxsutawney, Seth Moore 3-6, Zeke Bennett 23-169, Landon Martz 2-3, Justin Miller 2-(-2), Griffin White 3-2. Karns City, Eric Booher 7-10, Levi Hawk 9-33, Nathan Hess 8-40, Cooper Coyle 2-(-7), Nate Garing 7-52, Mason Martin 4-21, Hunter Scherer 1-7.

Passing: Punxsutawney, Seth Moore 11-21-142-1. Karns City, Eric Booher 14-24-171-2.

Receiving: Punxsutawney, Noah Weaver 2-6, Zach Presloid 1-39, Landon Petetrson 3-49, Zeke Bennett 1-6, Justin Miller 4-42. Karns City, Zach Kelly 1-7, Mason Martin 1-5, Micah Rupp 4-102, Nate Garing 4-43, Nathan Hess 1-7, Levi Hawk 2-21, Braden Slater 1-0.