Grove City drops second straight PAC game, 37-14, to W & amp;J

W & amp;J's Gabe McKee had his fourth interception in as many games.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GROVE CITY -- For the Grove City College football team, playing host to Washington & amp; Jefferson Saturday was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Two Saturdays ago, the Wolverines were blanked, 30-0, by Presidents' Athletic Conference leader Thiel in the Mercer County Cup game, after putting together a modest two-game win streak over Muhlenberg and Bethany.
Then Saturday, Grove City battled defending PAC champ W & amp;J tooth-and-nail before falling, 37-14.
"The kids just did a great job today," said Grove City coach Chris Smith. "They have played hard all year and after out disappointing loss last week, I think our effort today shows the real character of these kids."
The Presidents got off to a fast start, needing took 76 seconds to take the lead.
Krepps scores on punt return
After holding Grove City on its first possession, Aaron Krepps hauled in a punt at his own 45 and raced the distance.
"That was my moment of greatest concern today," said Smith. "Their offense hadn't even been on the field and we were behind 7-0. At that point, all I could think was, 'Hey, this isn't going the way I want it to.' "
The Wolverines came back, scoring a pair of touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead and they did it on both sides of the ball.
Grove City tied the score on their third possession, marching 67 yards on 14 plays. Clark went in from 2 yards out and Brandon McCall's PAT made it 7-7.
On W & amp;J's next possession, the Wolverines' Clay Piper picked off Chris Edwards' pass and ran 96 yards for the score. McCall's kick made it 14-7 three minutes into the second period.
"Once we got things going, we moved the football down and got it into the end zone," said Smith. "If we could have held on and gone in at halftime up 14-7, it would have been great. I just told the kids that we have three more left to win and that is what we are aiming for."
W & amp;J put together a drive that resulted in the tying touchdown on a 1-yard run by tailback R.J. Zitzelsberger that made it 14-all at halftime.
McKee intercepts pass
Gabe McKee (Hubbard) had an interception for the Presidents, his fourth in as many games.
"That one was just a lucky one," said McKee. "The guy [Grove City quarterback Bradford Clark] just overthrew his receiver and I happened to be right there and was able to make a lucky catch."
As for the slow start, McKee thought that the Presidents might have been somewhat flat after the overtime loss to Thiel, followed by a 45-20 win over Westminster.
"They came out with a lot of emotion and that is going to happen in a game like this one," McKee said. "But honestly, I did think we came out a little flat. Sometimes that happens after an enthusiastic win like we had last week after our loss to Thiel. Fortunately for us today, we were good enough to respond in the second half."
The Presidents, utilizing short passes over the middle, put together a 98-yard, 15-play drive for the go-ahead touchdown, the first of three in the second half as W & amp;J outscored the Wolverines, 23-0.
Edwards to McCafferty
During the march, Edwards was 11-for-11, including the 15-yard TD toss to Tom McCafferty for the score. At one point in the game, Edwards completed 20 straight passes and finished 36-of-44 for 335 yards and a pair of scores.
"They were taking away a lot of our stuff to the outside," said Edwards. "They were showing us some differences than we had practiced for all week. The middle was open for most of the game so we came out at halftime and started taking advantage of it."
Following a three-and-out by Grove City, the Presidents took advantage of a short field as they marched 42 yards for the score. Ryan Church scored on the first play of the fourth period from 4 yards out to make it 28-14.