When is it OK to run up the score?

Two powerful Butler County teams have been faced with answering that question of late.

Karns City’s girls soccer team was undefeated through the regular season and District 9 playoffs, rarely involved in a close game along the way.

The Gremlins outscored the opposition 27-0 in their three district playoff games, as an example.

As a result, KC coach Lisa Castiglione pulled her starting lineup early on a regular basis during the year. Knowing full well her team would be facing stellar competition in the state tournament, the coach had to get her starters conditioned to play hard for a full 80 minutes.

So do you leave your starters in and have them go all-out over the final few regular season and playoff games to prep for the state tourney, at the risk of running up the scores of those games?

Slippery Rock University’s football team entered this weekend’s game at winless Seton Hill ranked No. 4 in its region. The top six teams in the region at the end of the regular season — which is next week — earn NCAA Division II playoff berths.

The top two teams earn first-round byes.

While the winning margin of a game does not affect the region rankings — at least, they shouldn’t — they can affect the Division II national rankings, which can affect the national attention a program gets, which can affect a school’s notoriety and potential recruiting.

So if The Rock gets a big lead early against a Seton Hill team that is starting 10 freshmen, does it call off the dogs and begin resting people for next week’s state championship game?

Or does it pour it on in hopes of impressing the national pollsters with another lopsided victory?

This is one man’s opinion, but the Karns City situation seems more suited to go crazy on the scoreboard than the SRU dilemma.

A coach owes it to the team to give it its best shot at success in postseason play. If you continually pull your front-line unit early because of a dominating regular season, those players will not be ready to go full throttle for an entire game when needed.

KC drew the defending state champion in the first round of state play and lost a competitive game, 6-3.

The team was in condition to play that game. Credit Castiglione for that.

If The Rock is penalized in the national polls for being classy in its defeat of a young, winless opponent, there’s something wrong with the national poll system.

Just because a system is bad doesn’t mean you have to be.

Build a sizable lead, get the game well in hand, then run your reserves out there and grind the clock. There’s no need to embarrass anybody.

A team shouldn’t be penalized for being too strong for an opponent.

But it can be sportsmanlike at the same time.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle