’Hounds fall to Grove City in final seconds
Wilmington (13) vs. Grove City (17)
Written: Sep 07, 2013
 By Corey Corbin
CNHI News Service
Jeff Bell has seen some doozies in 17 years as football coach at Grove City High School.
Perhaps none fit that description more than the Eagles’ thrilling 17-13 road victory over District 10, Region 3-AA rival Wilmington last night.
Grove City (1-0, 2-0) was whistled for 10 penalties, was largely ineffective on offense and struggled to get the right players on the field for the offensive play called — yet managed to trail by no more than 3 points for large portions of the game.
“(Winning) ugly is better than losing and you can quote me on that one,” a humbled Bell said after the game. “We were disorganized. (The Grove City coaches) cost our kids. A couple of times we were caught with the wrong kids in, but you know what, the kids hung in there and made the plays when they had to. The bottom line is we as coaches have to do better. I take full blame. It’s been years since we’ve coached a game like that. I’ll be the first to tell you I didn’t do a very good job tonight, but luckily the kids bailed me out.”
The Eagles didn’t secure the victory until junior quarterback Jared Graham found a wide-open Foster Reznor streaking through the middle of the Wilmington defense for a 53-yard touchdown on a second-and-10 with just 61 seconds left in the game.
“Thank God we were able to make a big play, “ Bell said. “At that point, I think Wilmington realized we were struggling throwing the ball and struggling in pass protection, so they probably figured we were going to try to run it down and kick a field goal to tie it.
“We were thinking about that, too. If we break one, great, but we faked the jet (sweep) and tried to get the ball to Foster. You know what? The safety bit on the fake, the line did a good job of protecting and Jared threw a nice ball. Foster caught it and did the rest. A lot can happen there ... overthrow or he could drop it. It’s not as easy as it looks. Thank goodness, it worked.”
Following the Reznor backbreaker, Wilmington (0-1, 1-1) managed to move the ball all the way to the Grove City 41, but a Donny Sevin sack of Cody Llewellyn and a subsequent incompletion ran out the clock.
“It was a tough loss,” veteran Wilmington coach Terry Verrelli said. “We played well enough to win it. I’m proud of the way the kids played.”
Grove City dented the scoreboard first when junior Cole Latimer concluded the Eagles’ first drive with a 30-yard field goal, but the ’Hounds took a 6-3 lead into the break on Josiah Bloise’s 1-yard burst with just over three minutes left in the half.
After Reznor made a nice diving interception along the Wilmington sideline, the Eagles — aided by a Wilmington defensive holding penalty on fourth down — scored six plays later on a Graham 12-yard score, but the Greyhounds answered with a Dwight Scott 90-yard kickoff return for a 13-10 lead.
“It was a great football game. We hung right with them,” Verrelli said. “We could have won the game very easily. This is a very young team and I like how they’re starting to play together.
“That was a great kickoff return and we needed it at that time. It was just an exciting game from start to finish.”
Grove City managed 217 yards of total offense with Graham leading the way with 72 yards rushing on 17 carries.
“All night, we were battling 9, 10 or 11 guys in the box,” Bell said. “We’ve got to come up with some kind of passing game. It’s just the bottom line, because it’s too hard to run the ball with that many people in the box.”
Meanwhile, the Hounds were actually worse, gaining a paltry 125 yards against a Grove City defense that was put in bad position after bad position by its offense.
“We learning and we’re getting there,” Verrelli said. “Grove City is a good football team. You can’t expect to run right over them. I haven’t had a team this young in quite some time. You never know week to week what to expect from them. Sometimes, you need to get in there and experience things to learn.
“You hope that can happen without losing a game,” he added. “I’m happy with how they’re coming along and playing the game.”
(Corey Corbin writes for the Sharon Herald. He will join The News sports staff next week)
GROVE CITY WILMINGTON
11 First downs 6
164 Net Rushing 40
2 Passes Attempted 13
1 Passes Completed 4
0 Passes Intercepted 2
53 Yards Passing 85
217 Total Yards 125
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
10-45 Penalties-Yards 6-35
GROVE CITY 3 0 7 7 — 17
WILMINGTON 0 6 7 0 — 13
Scoring plays
GROVE CITY — Cole Latimer, 30 field goal.
WILMINGTON — Josiah Bloise, 1-yard run (kick failed).
GROVE CITY — Jared Graham, 12 run (Latimer kick).
WILMINGTON — Scott, 90-yard kickoff return (Kyler Lum kick).
GROVE CITY — Foster Reznor, 53-yard pass from Graham (Latimer kick).
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