North East Wins First Playoff Game In 16 Years
Tagged under: District 10, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs
Shane Lux | November 1, 2025
Franklin – 16 years in the making,
It hadn’t been since a 24-14 victory over Oil City on November 14th, 2009, that the North East Grape Pickers won a playoff football game.
On Friday night, they let out 16 years of frustration, dominating Grove City 35-7 to earn their spot in the District 10 AAA semifinals.
“It’s exciting, we got some good football going on right now at North East, and we’re going to keep it rolling, said head coach Chris Grychowski.
It is believed to be only the third playoff win in school history, with the first coming in 2001. They also snapped a 7-game playoff losing streak and won their first playoff game against Grove City after dropping the first three postseason meetings between the schools.
The game also marked the second time this season that the Grape Pickers had knocked off the Eagles, as they won a high-scoring affair 36-34 to begin the season on August 22nd down at Forker Field.
“We really gelled after the Corry game we lost,” Grychowski said. “Over the last three weeks, we’ve been peaking at the right time. We’ve been showing improvement each game over the previous four. We’ve been playing complete games on offense, defense, and special teams. ”
Unlike the sunny August evening, Friday night was cold with a steady rain for most of the game.
But that didn’t dampen the spirits on the field, as North East used a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to take the lead and never look back.
“It was the seniors that really stepped up,” said Grychowski. “You could see guys were starting to get down a little bit, but our seniors jumped on them and said No, we’re not going to let this happen. We have three more quarters of football left.”
Trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, the Grape Pickers recovered a Gavin Purdy fumble at the Eagles’ 41-yard line and pulled to within a point when Ethen Ringer scored on a 2-yard run five plays later.
Purdy had given Grove City a 7-0 lead when he scored on a 39-yard run late in the first quarter. He led the Eagles with 60 yards on six carries.
North East took a 12-7 lead into the locker room when senior leader Logan Lattimore caught a 30-yard pass, followed by a 23-yard touchdown from Bryson Galloway with 2:47 to play in the half.
“This means everything,” said Lattimore. “We had a good week of practice, and the team came together this week. We knew it was a close game back in week one, and that we had to be better—no mistakes, nothing like that. We did what we needed to do, and it showed.”
Lattimore finished the game with three receptions for 63 yards, while Galloway completed 10 for 15 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown.
“We just need to keep the momentum up, and not let this get to our heads,” Lattimore said. “We’ll celebrate tonight, but be ready to go tomorrow.”
Taking the football to begin the second half, the Grape Pickers ate up nearly eight minutes of game clock, driving 56 yards in 14 plays, capped with Ringer scoring his second touchdown of the night from two yards out.
“I challenged the guys at halftime,” Grychowski said. “I told them we get the ball and I want to score and put one on them. Put them to bed, we have to play our game, be smart, and don’t do anything stupid.”
On the next play from scrimmage, Carter Crozier intercepted Heath Hohman and returned it 37 yards to the Grove City 15-yard line.
That led to Josh Banaag’s 26-yard field goal, extending the lead to 21-7 after three quarters.
After holding on downs, North East put the game on ice when Ringer ran a fake punt 5o yards for a touchdown.
Ethen Ringer then recovered a Peyton Miller fumble on the ensuing kickoff, leading to Pascal Laporte’s 8-yard touchdown run with 11:11 to play.
The Grape Pickers’ defense limited the Eagles to 164 yards of offense.
North East will now advance to the semifinals, where they’ll take on Sharon, a 52-0 winner over Conneaut.
“It used to coach at Cathedral Prep, so I’m used to playing anybody,” concluded Grychowski. “This team is at the point right now mentally where they’ll play anybody they put against us. We’ll get ready and be ready to go.”
Game Highlights:
North East 35 Grove City 7
Score by Quarters
North East – 0 12 9 14 – 35
Grove City – 7 0 0 0 – 7
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
GC – Gavin Purdy 39 yd run, (Lucas Kelly pat), 1:41 – 4-85
Second Quarter
NE – Ethen Ringer 2 yd run, (kick blocked), 9:04 – 5-41
NE – Logan Lattimore 23 yd pass from Bryson Galloway, (rush failed), 2:47 – 2-53
Third Quarter
NE – Ringer 2 yd run, (pass failed), 4:09 – 14-56
NE – Josh Banaag 26 field goal, 3:29 – 4-6
Fourth Quarter
NE – Ringer 50 yd run, (Banaag pat), 11:47 – 4-51
NE – Pascal Laporte 8 yd run, (Banaag pat), 11:11 – 2-13
Individual Stats
Rushing: NE – Ringer 16-101, Laporte 5-32, Galloway 18-23, Carter Crozier 4-4, Team 2-(-9). Totals: 45-151. GC – Purdy 6-60, Jonah Stucchio 17-59, Team 2-(-6), Heath Hohman 1-(-10). Totals: 26-103.
Receiving: NE – Crozier 5-56, Lattimore 3-63, Colton Owens 1-20, Dylan Rogers 1-4. GC – Charlie Miller 2-36, Peyton Miller 1-14, Austin Gothe 1-10, Purdy 1-1.
Passing: NE – Galloway 10 for 15, 143 yards, 1 TD. GC – Hohman 5-for-19, 61 yards, 2 INT.
Interceptions: NE – Kyler See, Crozier.
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