In front of a large crowd on Homecoming Day, the Saint Vincent Bearcats defeated visiting Grove City College by a score of 31-14 at Chuck Noll Field.
Shavonta Craft ran for 199 yards on 22 carries to lead the offense, while Darrell Burrell intercepted two passes and Renny LaRue-Holloman had an interception and also returned a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown to pace the defense, as the Bearcats improved to 2-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
The early portion of the game was a defensive struggle, with neither team able to move the ball on offense. Near the midway point of the first quarter, it was the Saint Vincent special teams unit that broke the scoreless tie, as Devin Anderson blocked a Grove City punt. Dwayne Brown picked up the loose ball and carried it 25 yards into the end zone, putting SVC in front. Morgan Porter added the extra point and the Bearcats led, 7-0.
After Anderson intercepted a Josh Peach pass on the next Wolverine drive, SVC quarterback Matt Deakins hit Matt Duffey for a 40-yard pass that moved the ball to the Grove City 6-yard-line. However, the defense held and Porter came on to hit a 24-yard field goal to make the score 10-0 with 2:01 left in the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, the visitors got on the board, putting together a 10-play, 55-yard drive that culminated in a touchdown pass from Aaron Lundmark to David Folkmire from 11 yards out, cutting the margin to 10-7. The score would remain that way through the end of the first half.
After Grove City was forced to punt on its first possession of the third quarter, Craft then took command of the game, breaking a 39-yard run on the first play from scrimmage for the Bearcats. Three plays later, he ran the final 21 yards to the end zone, giving the hosts a 17-7 advantage.
Grove City responded later in the quarter, with Peach hitting Sam Ivan for a 32-yard scoring strike through the air, making it a 17-14 game with 7:14 left in the third, and neither team was able to score for the remainder of the 3rd.
Early in the fourth, the Bearcats were stopped on a drive, forcing Mark McCracken into his own end zone to punt for SVC. He sent a 40-yard punt near midfield, where GCC's Folkmire attempted a return, but LaRue-Holloman stripped the ball, picked it up and scampered 51 yards for a Bearcat touchdown, the second special teams score of the day. Porter's extra point made the score 24-14.
Later in the fourth, Lundmark was intercepted by Burrell, his second pick of the day, at the Grove City 36. On the first play of the drive, Andy Borgen hit Dustin Lowman in the end zone for a touchdown to complete the scoring for the day.
For the afternoon, SVC had 361 yards of offense compared to 343 for Grove City, with GCC holding a 20-14 edge in first downs.
Borgen was 11-for-16 for 99 yards through the air, while Deakins was 12-17 for 86 yards. Duffey and DJ Oceant-Kelly each had 7 catches. Lowman, Dalton Dietrich and Craft each had three receptions.
Defensively, Nick Revis had 10 tackles, including a sack. Andrew Geisler had a pair of sacks,while Tom Mackowick added one. The secondary recorded four interceptions, two by Burrell and one each by LaRue-Holloman and Anderson.
Saint Vincent is now 2-2 overall, 2-0 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. The team will travel to Thiel College on Saturday, October 4 for a 3PM kickoff.
NOTES: With his third reception of the afternoon, Duffey surpassed Ricky Douglas as the modern SVC leader in career receptions (93). Duffey is now at 97 catches....At halftime, Carly Meholic was named 2014 Homecoming Queen, while Bo Tokarski was named King...Craft was stopped for a one-yard loss on a carry late in the fourth quarter, leaving him one yard shy of 200 for the afternoon....This is the first time in school history that the Bearcats have opened the PAC schedule with a 2-0 record.
Bearcats win Homecoming game over Grove City, 31-14
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20140927_ze1b.xml
2014
Grove City
14
St. Vincent
31
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grove City (0-3) | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| St. Vincent (2-2) | 10 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 31 |
Sep 27, 2014