Grove City blanks Wilmington
Wilmington (0) vs. Grove City (17)
Written: Oct 08, 2011
By Patrick Connelly
Allied News Sports Editor
The Grove City High football team breezed through the first five weeks of the seaon.
Last night was the Eagles’ toughest test of the season to this point.
Grove City, matching up with another unblemished squad in the Greyhounds, took to the ground and tallied 336 rushing yards while pitching a 17-0 shutout of Wilmington in the District 10 nonregion tilt.
Erik Record of the Eagles (6-0) broke loose for Grove City’s two longest plays from scrimmage, both ending in touchdowns.
“The holes just really opened up for me,” Record said after finishing the night with 157 yards of total offense.
Record’s first score broke a stalemate between the teams at the 2:55 mark of the opening quarter as he found a hole in the right side of the Wilmington defense and punched it in from 30 yards out.
The TD capped off a six-play, 71-yard drive and began after the Eagles forced the ’Hounds to punt.
Brian Murone of the Eagles chipped in the extra point.
Grove City marched 58 yards into Wilmington territory after another ’Hounds punt on a second-quarter drive, but a fumble by Eagles’ quarterback Tyler Dagres turned the ball over.
The ’Hounds then put together their longest series of the night, a seven-play drive that went to the Grove City 40-yard line before in incompletion by Wilmington quarterback Josh Tekac on second down set up a third down play where Josiah Bloise was brought down in the backfield by the Eagles on a reverse.
Murone tacked on a field goal for the Eagles with two seconds remaining in the first half to give head coach Jeff Bell’s Class AAA team a 10-0 edge on their Class AA adversaries heading into the half.
Head coach Terry Verrelli’s ’Hounds had just a trio of first downs in the opening half and were only able to move the sticks twice in the third frame as Grove City shut down any semblance of a Wilmington rush.
Record scored his second TD of the evening with 5:31 to go in the third frame on a 32-yard run. Murone again connected on the point-after to put the Eagles up 17-0.
The drive, which wound up going for 10 plays before the TD, almost came to a halt on a fourth down play at the Eagles’ 37-yard line. Grove City lined up to punt, put instead the snap went to tailback Harold Price and the junior ran for 14 yards to extend the possession.
Wilmington had four tries in the game’s remaining minutes to get on the board, but turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth quarter. The team later fumbled on a punt return and, in the final moments, saw a Tekac pass pilfered by Record.
“They’re a tough team,” Verrelli said. “There’s no question about that. We just couldn’t finish anything.
“(We) moved the ball a little bit and then we would stall.”
Verrelli said, despite the loss that knocked his team back to 5-1, the ’Hounds know they still have a lot to play for.
“It’s nice to be undefeated, but that’s not really our goal,” Verrelli said. “Our goal is to get into the playoffs and go down the road.”
(E-mail: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com).
GROVE CITY WILMINGTON
15 First downs 9
292 Net Rushing 123
9 Passes Attempted 12
3 Passes Completed 5
0 Passes Intercepted 1
44 Yards Passing 33
336 Total Yards 156
3-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
5-45 Penalties-Yards 0-0
GROVE CITY 7 3 7 0 — 17
WILMINGTON 0 0 0 0 —0
Scoring plays
GROVE CITY — Erik Record, 30-yard run (Brian Murone kick).
GROVE CITY — Murone, 23-yard field goal.
GROVE CITY — Record, 32-yard run (Murone kick).
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