KARNS CITY — Butler gave Karns City an opportunity to close the door.

And the Gremlins slammed it shut.

After falling behind 14-13 in the third quarter, Karns City scored three successive touchdowns to open a 19-point lead before settling for a 33-21 football victory over mistake-plagued Butler Friday night at Karns City’s Diehl Stadium.

The game — played in a steady and at times heavy rain — marked the first-ever meeting between the Butler County schools on the gridiron.

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“The rain didn’t hurt the atmosphere at all tonight,” Karns City head coach Joe Sherwin said. “Playing against a neighboring school district, this was great for the community.

“Not necessarily Karns City vs. Butler, but I wish we could have more local games like this. Everyone gets excited about it.”

Butler (4-4) was penalized 11 times for 131 yards — including six personal fouls — and threw four interceptions.

“The fouls after the whistle were unacceptable, we can’t have them,” Butler head coach Eric Christy said. “We’ve been trying to clean that stuff up. Those penalties really hurt us tonight.”

Karns City (7-1) had a 13-0 lead in the first half, largely on the work of Cole Johnston. The quarterback/safety intercepted a pass, tossed a 47-yard strike to Owen Kaufman, then found Kaufman in the end zone for the game’s first score.

A second Johnston theft resulted in a 43-yard Bryce Galan TD run with 5:36 left in the first half.

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The Golden Tornado got on the board late in the first half as Will Dunaway’s 10-yard touchdown toss to Chase Boden capped a 63-yard drive. Butler took the lead on the first possession of the third quarter as Nicco Baggetta’s 6-yard run ended a 13-play drive that ate 6:22 off the clock.

Then the mistakes caught up to Butler.

Kaufman intercepted a Dunaway pass at the Butler 14. Johnston scored on a 1-yard run four plays later. A two-point conversion try failed, but the Tornado were flagged for a pair of personal fouls that were enforced on the ensuing kickoff and placed the ball at the Butler 30.

“They were hitting after some plays, doing a lot of trash talking,” Galan said. “We just stayed disciplined, walked away, let the officials do their job.”

The Gremlins executed an onsides kick and got possession. Johnston capped a 20-yard drive with a 6-yard TD run, and KC’s lead was 26-14.

“Huge momentum swing. No doubt about that,” Johnston said. “That gave us some separation (on the scoreboard).”

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Butler drove inside the KC 25, but Brock Dittman intercepted a fourth-down pass to quell that threat. KC then drove 83 yards in 11 plays, Galan scoring on a 23-yard run with 20 seconds left for a 33-14 lead.

The Tornado’s Kevin Shriver scored on a 69-yard run with one second remaining.

“To beat a 6A team on our field ... nobody thought we could do this,” Johnston said. “We were hearing talk in our own school about how we couldn’t win. This feels awesome.

“Our linemen were a bunch of hungry dogs tonight. They wanted this more than anybody.”

Galan said the win “was for our community. I’m not surprised we were able to run the ball as well as we did.”

Galan had 122 yards on the ground and KC had 223 overall.

“I’m a little surprised we ran it that well,” Sherwin said. “This weather was not conducive to throwing the football.”

Baggetta had 26 carries for 149 yards for the Tornado.

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“I thought the officials did a good job tonight, but I don’t think that onsides kick went 10 yards,” Christy said. “They threw a flag, then picked it up. That was a big play in this game.”

Butler 0 7 7 7 — 21

Karns City 0 13 6 14 — 33

2nd Quarter

KC — Owen Kaufman 10 pass from Cole Johnston (Trevor Rumbaugh kick), 7:58

KC — Bryce Galan 43 run (kick failed), 5:36

B — Chase Boden 10 pass from Will Dunaway (A.J. Morris kick), :11

3rd Quarter

B — Nicco Baggetta 6 run (Morris kick), 5:38

KC — Johnston 1 run (run failed), 1:29

4th Quarter

KC — Johnston 1 run (Rumbaugh kick), 11:27

KC — Galan 23 run (Rumbaugh kick), :20

B — Kevin Shriver 69 run (Morris kick), :01

Individual Statistics

Passing: Butler, Will Dunaway 9-22-60-4, Karns City, Cole Johnston 4-7-65-0.

Rushing: Butler, Will Dunaway 2-2, Nicco Baggetta 26-149, Jacob Kollinger 2-(-3), Kevin Shriver 4-74, Deacon Simko 1-10. Karns City, Cole Johnston 11-52, Bryce Galan 14-122, Tyson Frazer 11-37, Owen Kaufman 3-11, Bodey Anderson 1-3.

Receiving: Butler, Nicco Baggetta 1-1, Pat Kisoma 3-14, Jacob Kollinger 2-25, Chase Boden 2-18, Kevin Shriver 1-2. Karns City, Owen Kaufman 3-61, Bryce Galan 1-4.