Gateway cruised to an 85-0 high school football victory over Norwin a couple of weeks ago.

Earlier this season, Grove City rolled to a 77-0 triumph over Corry.

The Eagles pounded Franklin by a 91-12 count last season.

Running up the score? Guilty or not guilty?

When a high school team gets up by so many points and the “mercy clock” starts running (when a team is ahead by 35 or more points in the second half), the junior varsity kids usually take the field. A lot of these kids rarely get a chance to play.

Does a coach call plays and allow them to play football or does he instruct them to simply run up the middle three times and punt the ball?

Interesting dilemma.

Gateway was ahead of Norwin 42-0 in the first quarter and Gators coach Terry Smith began putting his JV unit in the game during the first half.

Smith insisted he wasn’t running up the score late, but also said he would never put any kid into a game and tell him not to play hard. A fifth-string tailback scored Gateway’s final touchdown.

All of that makes sense — except for the fact Gateway was going for two-point conversions after those late scores.

Smith said his JV unit has no placekicker. Uhh, that might have been a good time to break one in.

In Grove City’s 77-0 win over Corry, the Eagles attempted only five passes. There were few pass attempts in the 91-point effort against Franklin as well.

As long as the JV unit is in the game, it’s hard to fault a dominant team for scoring. You can’t start taking a knee in the third quarter, after all. That would be making a bigger mockery of the game.

Youngstown State took a knee three straight plays before punting with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of a blowout win over Slippery Rock University a few years back — a move that incensed SRU coach George Mihalik.

Mihalik said he’d rather lose by 80 points than to be “shown up” like that. He said the premature kneel-downs were embarrassing.

Indeed, teams shouldn’t take a knee unless they can kill the rest of the remaining time while doing so.

North Hills coach Jack McCurry had his offense kneel down at Butler’s 1-yard line to kill the final minute of play, his team holding a 38-0 lead.

Class move.

If he does that same thing with five minutes left, it’s questionable.

There are no rules of etiquette etched in stone here. Just use common sense.

If you’re putting your first-string defense back in a blowout game late to try to preserve a shutout streak, you’re being selfish. If you’re going for two points with a 60-point lead, you’re wrong.

High school and college games should always be conducted with true sportsmanship. After all ... Kids are watching.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle