KARNS CITY — Needing to win its final two games of the season to reach the District 9 playoffs, the Karns City football team had its back against the wall.

The Gremlins had lost three straight games and entered Friday’s contest against Bradford with a bevy of injured players, including quarterback Cole Johnston, who left last week’s game at Brookville with an undisclosed injury.

But KC banked on its offensive line winning the line of scrimmage, which it did, and its running backs ran wild through the Owls’ defense all night long.

The results were startling — 41 carries for 601 yards and 10 touchdowns in a 70-21 romp at Diehl Stadium that keeps the team’s playoff hopes alive.

Twelve different players carried the ball for the Gremlins (4-5, 3-4), who did not attempt a pass the entire game. Most of the time, the player taking the snap was the ground-gainer.

“We knew coming out of the Brookville game last week that Cole wasn’t going to be playing tonight,” said KC coach Joe Sherwin. “Our guys worked hard all week on this and our linemen and backs did a great job.”

When told of the game plan earlier in the week, senior running back Luke Cramer began thinking big.

“You can imagine, I was smiling from ear to ear,” he said.

Cramer had rushed for 508 yards in the first eight games of the season. On Friday, he tallied 183 yards and five touchdowns on just eight carries. His first score came from 19 yards out just 75 seconds into the game.

“It was fun to see our hard work pay off,” said Cramer. “I have to credit our offensive line because most of the time, I wasn’t even touched getting into the secondary.”

Starters up front for the Gremlins were C.J. Emrick, Cam Ealy, Sean Slaughenhoupt, Kolby Blair, Jake Taylor and Shane Peters.

An early special teams play helped KC build its lead. On their first drive of the game, the Owls (3-6, 1-6) went three-and-out and lined up to punt from their 24-yard line. Blair blocked the boot, Peters scooped up the prize and returned it to Bradford’s 10. Cramer scored his second touchdown on the very next play.

The Owls managed an impressive drive to cut KC’s lead to 13-7, but they could not stop the big chunks of yardage being gained by the Gremlins, who led 49-7 at halftime.

Braden Slater had 85 yards and a TD on just four attempts, Owen Heginbotham 82 yards and a score on six attempts, Zach Kelly five for 78 yards and Hunter Scherer 56 yards on four carries.

KC’s season comes down to a home game next Friday against Mount Union, a District 6 team that is 8-1 on the season.

“We’ve faced a lot of adversity this year,” said Sherwin, who would not comment on Johnston’s status for next week. “Mason Martin’s situation ... tonight we had 17 players out with injury, but our guys have kept battling all season and I’m proud of their effort.”

Bradford 7 0 14 0 — 21

Karns City 27 22 7 14 — 70

First Quarter

KC — Luke Cramer 19 run (Zach Kelly kick), 10:45

KC — Cramer 10 run (kick failed), 9:05

B — Talan Reese 7 run (Jake Franz kick), 4:22

KC — Cramer 33 run (Cramer run), 2:56

KC — Owen Heginbotham 30 run (kick failed), 1:38

Second Quarter

KC — Cramer 52 run (Heginbotham run), 10:17

KC — Hunter Scherer 38 run (Z. Kelly kick), 8:38

KC — Cramer 1 run (Braden Slater kick), 3:36

Third Quarter

B — Matthew Perry 47 pass from Reese (Franz kick) 9:33

KC — Slater 74 run (Z. Kelly kick), 4:07

B — Franz 2 pass from Reese (Paige Smith kick), 1:33

Fourth Quarter

KC — Billy Kelly 7 run (Z. Kelly kick), 8:16

KC — Owen Kaufman 39 run (Z. Kelly kick), 3:21

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Bradford, Andrew Giordano 1-2, Nick Degolier 6-45, Talan Reese 4-12, Logan Kohler 1-(-1), Jordan Thompson 6-5. Karns City, Luke Cramer 8-183, Owen Heginbotham 6-82, Zach Kelly 5-78, Braden Slater 4-85, Hunter Scherer 4-56, Mason Bell 2-13, Ronald Szczygiel 1-12, Billy Kelly 2-15, Owen Kaufman 2-47, Tyson Frazer 1-14, Shane Emrick 2-4, Bryce Galan 4-12.

Passing: Bradford, Talan Reese 19-36-331-1. Karns City, No stats

Receiving: Bradford, Matthew Perry 8-107, Jake Franz 4-146, Arick Himes 4-32, Logan Kohler 1-26, Nick Degolier 1-4, Kaden Kicior 1-16. Karns City, No stats