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Big Third Quarter Carries Grove City Over Slippery Rock

Tagged under: District 10, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 14, 2024

Grove City – Jaxyn Wilson rushed for 158 yards and five touchdowns to lead Grove City past Slippery Rock 42-7 Saturday afternoon at Forker Field.

In the annual backyard brawl, Grove City scored 21 straight third-quarter points to down crosstown rival Slippery Rock.

“I’m proud of the guys and coaches,” said Grove City head coach Sam Mowrey. “We talked about the first half and how there were many things we could clean up. Now the boys know they can do it. They came out and played a great second half.”

The two schools traded turnovers on their opening possessions and played to a scoreless opening 12 minutes.

The Eagles put together the game’s first scoring drive when they marched 70 yards in 12 plays, scoring on Jaxyn Wilson’s 11-yard run at the 9:02 mark of the second quarter.

On the next play from scrimmage, Slippery Rock quarterback Fred Campagna was sacked, with the Eagle’s DeLathian Boanes recovering the fumble at the Rocket’s 17-yard line.

Four plays later, Wilson scored from seven yards out.

Slippery Rock responded on their ensuing drive, scoring on Campagna’s 7-yard touchdown to Cooper Glass. Fred Campagna was 8-of-9 passing for 94 yards on the drive and 12-for-13 for 111 yards and a touchdown in the first half. But he completed only 3-of-8 passes in the second half for 15 yards.

The Rockets appeared to have the momentum going into the locker room as they stopped Grove City on four straight plays from the 4-yard line to close half after Nathan Greer’s 45-yard kickoff return to the Rocket’s 42-yard line.

“Anytime you lose, it’s disappointing,” said Slippery Rock head coach Larry Wendereusz. “We fought like hell in the second quarter. You make that stand to keep it a 14-7 game. I thought that was an emotional lift. Being a young football team, our kids didn’t get the emotional lift. That’s on us, as coaches, to feed that emotional lift. We just didn’t come out with it in the third quarter.”

Despite failing to score on the goal line, Grove City put the game away in the third quarter with three consecutive touchdowns.

“We were able to establish the run game, and our offensive line did a great job,” Mowrey said. “We went from two consecutive weather delays to an 83-degree day. Our line and tight ends dug in, opening up some holes for Jaxyn to go through.”

They began with the football and drove 55 yards in eight plays, with Wilson scoring his third touchdown on a 1-yard run.

Following a 4-yard punt by the Rockets, the Eagles extended their lead to 28-7 when Lucas McCreadie connected with Clayton Martin on a 24-yard scoring pass on the ensuing snap.

“In any phase of football, from midgets to the NFL, that’s the name of the game defensively,” Mowrey. “Get some stops and force turnovers to create short fields. Then be able to convert those drives with touchdowns.”

Another 3-and-out and short punt by Slippery Rock gave the Eagles the ball at their 40-yard line. Wilson scored his fourth of the night two plays later with a 29-yard run.

Grove City put the mercy clock into effect when they recovered a fumble at the Rockets’ 12-yard – leading to Wilson’s final touchdown of the afternoon with a 12-yard run.

Jaxyn Wilson now has 522 yards and eight touchdowns on the season.

“It’s awesome, against Titusville, we didn’t give it our all, and it was a tough loss,” Wilson said. “We had a great week of practice. Those guys were awesome up front today. They worked hard, and we pulled off the win against our rival. That’s the most touchdowns I’ve scored in a game, but all worked and did it together.”

Grove City avenges a 36-7 loss to Titusville next week and will prepare for a 3-1 Fort LeBoeuf team next Friday night at Forker Field.

“We were proud of our kids all week after last week’s result,” Mowrey concluded. “They had a great attitude and realized that there’s a lot of room for coaches and players to improve. They had a great mentality all week.”

Slippery Rock will attempt to bounce back when they host Sharpsville at Troy Allan Stadium next Friday.”

Game Highlights

Stats By Ryan Briggs

Grove City 42 Slippery Rock 7

Score by Quarters

Slippery Rock – 0 7 0 0 – 7

Grove City – 0 14 21 7 – 0

Second Quarter

GC – Jaxyn Wilson 11 yd run, (kick failed), 5:12 – 12-70

GC – Wilson 7 yd run, (Clayton Martin from Drake Moore), 7:55 – 4-17

SR – Cooper Glass 7 yd pass from Fred Campagna, (Zach Lasko), 3:01 – 10-80

Third Quarter

GC – Wilson 1 yd run, (Jonah Stucchio pat), 8:31 – 8-55

GC – Clayton Martin 24 yd pass from Lucas McCreadie, (Stucchio pat), 8:02 – 1-24

GC – Wilson 29 yd run, (Stucchio pat), 6:29 – 2-40

Fourth Quarter

GC – Wilson 12 yd run, (Stucchio pat), 11:42 – 1-12

Individual Stats

Rushing: SR – Kolbie Magill 2-10, Owen Long 8-6, Peyton Reich 1-(-2), Kaine Humphrey 1-(-4), Alex Cornelius 3-(-4), Campagna 6-(-30). Totals: 21-(-24). GC – Wilson 23-158, Jonah Stucchio 10-55, Jimmy Cooper 1-24, Nathan Greer 3-24, Keith Vandergrift 3-3, Lucas McCreadie 4-(-11), Team 3-(-2), Martin 0-3. Totals: 47-254.

Receiving: SR – Glass 5-30, Doug Popovec 6-66, Cornelius 2-22, Long 2-8. GC – McCreadie 1-for-4, 41 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, Moore 0-for-1.

Passing: SR – Campagna 15-for-21, 126 yards, 1 TD. GC – Greer 2-17, Martin 1-24.

Interceptions: SR – Doug Popovec.

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