Defense scores twice as No. 7 Grove City rolls

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GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College defense intercepted five passes and scored a pair of defensive touchdowns Saturday night to help lead the No. 7 Wolverines to a 58-7 win over visiting Allegheny in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at Robert E. Thorn Field.

Senior safety Shay Aitken (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) and junior linebacker Caleb Brubaker (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) both returned interceptions for touchdowns. Senior cornerback Trenten Rupp (New Bethlehem, Pa./Redbank Valley)  intercepted two passes while sophomore cornerback Levi Teets (Morgantown, W.Va./Trinity Christian) thwarted an Allegheny scoring opportunity by intercepting a pass at the goal line. 

Offensively, the Wolverines piled up 500 total yards, including 313 passing yards from three different quarterbacks. Senior Logan Pfeuffer (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns while sophomore Sutton Ellis (Brunswick, Ga./Frederica Academy) threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Darviae Gray (Buffalo, N.Y./Amherst Central). Junior Ethan Wiley (Mercer, Pa./Mercer) threw for 53 yards on 2 of 4 passing.

Senior wide receiver Scott Fraser (Butler, Pa./Knoch) caught two touchdown passes while sophomore Daniel Sullivan (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) pulled in a 33-yard strike from Pfeuffer in the third quarter. Fraser finished with 117 yards on three receptions.

Senior running back Nico Flati (Aliquippa, Pa./West Allegheny) ran for 105 yards on 10 carries, including a season-long 65-yard sprint in the second quarter. Juniors Ian Demeri (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) and Alec Raffa (Ashtabula, Ohio/Lakeside) both ran for touchdowns. 

Demeri's one-yard touchdown run with 7:41 left in the first quarter gave Grove City a 7-0 lead. The lead quickly grew to 14-0 a dozen seconds later as Brubaker returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown. 

Sullivan's career-best 41-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter pushed the lead to 17-0. Allegheny used a six-minute drive to move to the Grove City 40 but Aitken intercepted a pass at the Grove City 30 and returned the pick 70 yards for his first career defensive touchdown. 

Fraser caught respective touchdown passes of 18 and 65 yards in the final five minutes of the half as Grove City led 37-0 at halftime. Sullivan scored with 4:30 left in the third quarter while Raffa and Gray closed Grove City's scoring in the fourth quarter. 

Grove City limited Allegheny to 177 yards on 65 offensive plays. Junior linebacker Ben Bladel (Coraopolis, Pa./Moon) recorded two sacks and four tackles for loss while senior defensive end Bryce Spolnik (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) added a sack. Junior linebacker Jack Jollie (Jeannette, Pa./Penn-Trafford) had a team-leading seven tackles while Brubaker had six stops.

The Wolverines will visit Bethany next Saturday at 1 p.m. in conference action.