KARNS CITY — Call it the Karns City twofer.

Grappling a Mount Union team that had averaged 307.4 rushing yards on its way into Diehl Stadium, the Gremlins played an impromptu game of keep-away — staking themselves to a two-possession gap in a 34-19 Friday night gridiron win.

Senior Luke Cramer book-ended an unintentional onside kick with two second-quarter ground scores, giving Karns City (5-5) a 12-0 lead that it would carry into halftime. The boot thwacked off the shoulder of a Trojans (8-2) up man and was pounced on by a pair of Gremlins.

“That was not a planned kick, but I like the way it worked out,” Karns City coach Joe Sherwin said. “It gave us a lot of confidence, and I think it also kind of took them out of their game plan. They were more of a running team, then they went more of a spread, throwing the ball a little bit more. I don’t think that’s their natural thing.

“It kind of put them out of their comfort zone a little bit. I think that was huge.”

The sequence rattled Mount Union, which totaled just 67 yards on the ground in the loss.

“I think it was a combination, because of the type of football they’re playing — they’re powering the football at you — and we sputtered there on offense,” Trojans coach Jamie Brumbaugh said. “I think when you put them together with an onside kick, it definitely affected us.”

Quarterback Bryce Danish — the team’s leading rusher who’d been good for 101.8 rushing yards per game — finished with nine.

“That’s just grit,” Cramer said. “We fired off the ball as hard as we could and filled our gaps as hard as we could. By the third quarter, they were worn down.”

Mount Union had just two first-half possessions, both of which concluded on downs. The first of which was a 15-play march hampered at the end by penalties. The next was halted at the Gremlins’ 21-yard line when Nasir Collins was wrangled by Troy Nagel on 4th-and-1 with about a minute before the midway point.

“We had some different alignments,” Sherwin said. “Sometimes, we put an extra linebacker up on the line of scrimmage to kind of stop their run. ... This week, we kind of took a DB out, put a linebacker in, and that was our plan to be able to stop their run.”

Four plays after a 70-yard punt by Danish in the third frame, Collins returned a Karns City punt 38 yards for a score. The Gremlins replied with a four-play, 80-yard drive punctuated by junior Braden Slater’s 51-yard romp on a read option play.

The Trojans’ other two touchdowns were thanks to off-script passing plays on air-based series in the fourth.

“We struggle with adversity,” Brumbaugh said. “We didn’t respond well tonight to adversity. It was two things — the physicality and not dealing well with adversity. It definitely affected us. ... That was a great power running game, and we just couldn’t stop it.”

Sophomores Hunter Scherer and Owen Heginbotham both punched the ball into the end zone in the fourth quarter. The win propels Karns City into the postseason — well, the actual dance.

“Our playoffs were last week, actually,” Sherwin said. “This was our second week of playoffs, because we had to have victories these last two games. We’ll be moving into our third week of playoffs.”

Following the game, the Gremlins players, coaches, cheerleaders, band, and crowd joined in prayer for injured quarterback Mason Martin.

“We know he’s in that hospital bed wanting us to play every down as hard as we possibly can,” Cramer said. “Every single play, we have him in the back our mind.”

The emotion the group competed with was evident.

“I’m sure that this has brought them together as a team,” Brumbaugh said. “You see the unity here. You see the unity on the field, in the community, in the stands — and you can tell by the way that they’re playing. They’re playing as a team.”

Mount Union 0 0 7 12 — 19

Karns City 0 12 8 14 — 34

Second Quarter

KC — Luke Cramer 7 run (Zack Kelly kick missed), 7:58

KC — Luke Cramer 29 run (Cramer run failed), 3:28

Third Quarter

MU — Nasir Collins 38 punt return (Bryce Danish kick), 7:48

KC — Braden Slater 51 run (Hunter Scherer run), 6:20

Fourth Quarter

KC — Scherer 2 run (Kelly kick), 9:49

MU — Jesaun Robinson 33 pass from Danish (Danish kick missed), 7:25

KC — Owen Heginbotham 4 run (Kelly kick), 1:57

MU — Collins 13 pass from Danish (Danish kick missed), 0:51

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Mount Union, Josh Ryan 8-47, Nasir Collins 4-13, Bryce Danish 13-9, Jesaun Robinson 1-5, TEAM 1-(-7). Karns City, Luke Cramer 17-122, Hunter Scherer 19-106, Braden Slater 6-71, Owen Heginbotham 4-31, Mason Bell 1-3, Zach Kelly 1-(-1), TEAM 3-(-7).

Passing: Mount Union, Bryce Danish 10-16-207-0. Karns City, Luke Cramer 1-4-12-0.

Receiving: Mount Union, Nasir Collins 3-64, Jesaun Robinson 2-59, Josh Ryan 2-32, Georgie Bilger 1-27, Naiym Francis 1-15, Quartey Williams 1-10. Karns City, Zach Kelly 1-12.