GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Stout defense and a balanced offensive attack helped carry the Grove City College football team to a 56-7 Homecoming victory Saturday afternoon over visiting Geneva in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at Robert E. Thorn Field.
Grove City (5-1, 4-1 PAC) held Geneva's triple-option offense to 26 rushing yards on 35 attempts. Geneva entered the game averaging 288.4 rushing yards per game, the No. 7 figure in NCAA Division III. The Wolverines forced four turnovers, did not allow an offensive touchdown and limited Geneva to a 1-for-10 performance on third down.
Sophomore safety Trevor Beck (Port Matilda, Pa./State College) intercepted a pass and forced two fumbles. Sophomore cornerback Gabe Dunlap (Harrison City, Pa./Penn Trafford) also intercepted a pass while senior linebacker Nik Grabiec (Newport, Pa./Newport) and junior linebacker Ryan Fleming (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) each recovered fumbles.
Offensively, Grove City amassed 537 total yards on 73 offensive plays. The Wolverines finished with 28 first downs and went 8 for 12 on third down. Grove City converted Geneva's four turnovers into 21 points.
Freshman running back Nico Flati (Aliquippa, Pa./West Allegheny) charged through the Geneva defense for a career-high 182 yards on 26 carries. Senior Zach Trusky (Carnegie, Pa./Bishop Canevin) ran for 62 yards on 16 attempts and junior Clayton Parrish (Mercer, Pa./West Middlesex) added 37 yards. Parrish and Trusky both ran for two scores while Flati added a touchdown run.
Senior wide receiver Cody Gustafson (Newburg, Pa./Shippensburg) hauled in five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Senior quarterback Josh Ehst (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) completed 9 of 17 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Grove City finished with 251 passing yards and 286 rushing yards.
Fleming's fumble recovery with 4:49 left in the first quarter gave Grove City possession at the Geneva 37. Five seconds later, Ehst fired a 37-yard touchdown pass to Gustafson. Senior kicker Nick Morrow (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) added the first of his eight conversions to give Grove City a 7-0 lead.
Grove City pushed the lead to 14-0 with 6:56 left in the first half as Ehst tossed a nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Scott Fraser (Butler, Pa./Knoch).
Geneva's Hilton McClain, Jr., returned the subsequent kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, cutting the lead in half. But Grove City answered with a six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive. Parrish capped the drive by slamming in from two yards out with 3:59 left in the half.
Geneva had the ball at the Grove City 7 in the closing moments of the first half. But on third-and-2, freshman defensive end Bryce Spolnik (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) buried Geneva quarterback Amos Luptak for a five-yard loss. Time expired as Geneva had used its three timeouts.
Grove City then broke open the game with three touchdowns in the third quarter. Gustafson caught a 32-yard strike from Ehst two minutes into the third quarter, extending the lead to 28-7. Parrish scored on a three-yard run at the 4:46 mark and then Flati closed out the third quarter with an 11-yard touchdown sprint with 12 seconds left.
Trusky scored on a pair of two-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.
Grabiec led the defense with 12 tackles. Beck, Spolnik and senior safety Patrick Mark (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Welllington) all had seven tackles. Spolnik had 1.5 sacks. Junior nose tackle James Parenti (Hilliards, Pa./Moniteau), who anchored Grove City's three-man front, added a half sack.
Grove City owned a 37:34-22:26 edge in time of possession, including a 22:11-7:49 margin in the second half. Fraser finished with four catches for 49 yards and sophomore wide receiver Ryan Heckathorn (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) finished with 74 receiving yards on his two catches. Heckathorn has 359 receiving yards on his 10 catches this year.
Freshman quarterback Logan Pfeuffer (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) played the fourth quarter for the Wolverines and went 3 of 4 for 46 yards.
Luptak completed 8 of 11 passes for 119 yards. Peyton Schell had three catches for 48 yards. Luptak led Geneva with 19 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Saturday marked the first time since 1978 that Grove City had hosted Geneva for Homecoming. Grove City's 56 points are the most in a home regular season game since a 68-20 win September 6, 2003 over Hiram. The Wolverines also scored 56 points in a 56-48 win over Morrisville State in the 2018 ECAC James Lynah Bowl at Thorn Field.
It's Grove City's highest Homecoming point total since October 6, 1962, when the Wolverines blanked Carnegie Tech, 62-0, on Homecoming.
Grove City will visit conference foe Saint Vincent next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Latrobe.