Grove City, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College football team pulled away from Grove City in the second half to collect a 38-21 road victory in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at Robert. E Thorn Field on Saturday.
The Presidents put together a mistake free performance to beat the Wolverines for an eighth straight time. After suffering a setback last week at Carnegie Mellon, the W&J offense responded with a strong performance. The unit racked up 452 total yards, did not commit a turnover and did not allow a sack in the victory.
A strong ground game proved to be the recipe for success for the Presidents, as a trio of players combined to rush 46 times for 173 yards. Three different Presidents rushed for a touchdown and two different Presidents hauled in touchdown catches in the win.
W&J used a 20-yard field goal from freshman kicker Ian Phillips (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) to take an early 3-0 lead at the 6:50 mark of the first quarter. The lead was short-lived as the Wolverines quickly countered with a 66-yard touchdown pass from Josh Ehst to Cameron Drake that pushed the hosts in front by a 7-3 score with 5:57 to play in the opening quarter.
The Presidents regained the lead for good late in the first quarter when senior quarterback Jacob Adams (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) found junior receiver Payton Skalos (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) for a seven-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown pass and point after by Phillips gave W&J a 10-7 lead with 51 ticks left on the first quarter clock.
Midway through the second, junior running back EJ Thompson (La Plata, Md./Thomas Stone) plunged in from one-yard out for his first touchdown of the season. The Thompson run capped a 13-play, 64-yard scoring drive. Phillips tacked on the point after to extend the lead to 17-7.
Grove City responded with an 11-play, 66-yard drive to cut the deficit to 17-14 just before halftime. A nine-yard connection from Ehst to Cody Gustafson capped the drive for the Wolverines.
The visitors took control of the game in the third quarter. After forcing a three-and-out on the opening Grove City possession, W&J marched 62 yards on just four plays to find the end zone once again. This time it was sophomore running back/defensive back Joey Koroly (Washington, Pa./Trinity) finding the end zone on a 22-yard burst that gave the Red and Black a 24-14 lead.
After another defensive stop, the Presidents took advantage of a short field to score again. Junior running back Jack Ryan (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell) scored on a one-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 31-14 after the point after by Phillips.
Grove City used a seven play, 69-yard drive early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit back to 10 points (31-21) with 13:55 to play. However, W&J put the game away with a 11-play, 72-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass by Adams to junior receiver Josh Burns (Coraopolis, Pa./Moon) on a fourth down play with 9:46 left.
A tenacious W&J defense thwarted any hopes for a Grove City comeback down the stretch. A sack by junior linebacker Sean Doran (New Castle, Pa./Neshannock) and junior defensive lineman Keith Knowell (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) forced a turnover on downs with 7:30 to play.
The Presidents turned away the Wolverines once more with another turnover on downs at the 4:03 mark. Junior safety Max Garda (Lower Burrell, Pa./Lower Burrell) intercepted an Ehst pass with 1:40 to play, which allowed the Presidents to run the clock out.
Adams completed 23-of-34 passes for 279 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Burns finished with a career-high 126 receiving yards while Skalos added six catches for 76 yards. Koroly finished with a game-high 75 rushing yards, while Thompson added 50 yards and Ryan tallied 48 yards on the ground. W&J converted five-of-six red zone opportunities in Saturday's win.
Defensively, the Presidents were stout once again, as the unit limited Wesley Schools to just 56 yards on 18 carries. Schools, one of the top rushers in school history at Grove City, came into the game averaging 138.0 yards per game, which was 13th best in Division III. The W&J defense held Grove City to just 245 total yards on 61 plays.
Doran led W&J with nine tackles, 3.0 of which were for loss. Sophomore linebacker Mitch DeZort (Tarentum, Pa./Highlands) registered six tackles. Garda finished with a sack, an interception and a forced fumble for an opportunistic W&J defense.
The win improves W&J to 2-1 in the conference and 3-1 overall. Grove City suffers back-to-back defeats to drop to 1-2 in the PAC and 2-2 overall.
After three straight road games to open conference play, the Presidents return to Cameron Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 5. W&J will host Bethany College in a PAC matchup on Homecoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Strong second half helps W&J grab road win over Grove City, 38-21
/seasons/2019/boxscores/20190928_koqc.xml
2019
Washington and Jefferson
38
Grove City
21
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington and Jefferson (3-1) | 10 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 38 |
| Grove City (2-2) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
Sep 28, 2019