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Grove City High’s football team traveled to Tiger Stadium on a mission in its 2012 regular-season finale: Prepare for the postseason.
And led by Harold Price’s game-high 164-yard performance, Grove City’s ground game garnered 424 yards as the Eagles eased to a 49-21 Region 3-AA win over Sharon Friday night.
“Thank goodness we don’t have a game next week,” Grove City head coach Jeff Bell admitted after assessing his team’s performance with a less-than-impressed demeanor. “We have two weeks to get ready for a playoff game, and we will correct those things and we’ll be ready to play.”
Bell was not pleased with his team’s early focus — though the Eagles soared to a 20-0 margin at intermission — its special teams play, its pass defense, and the fact it was penalized 9 times for 81 yards in losses.
But the bottom line is Grove City (6-1 Region 3-AA, 8-1 overall) extended its win skein to 5 straight via an aggregate 199-70 differential since its lone loss at Hermitage.
Grove City’s Jared Graham tossed touchdowns of 75 and 29 yards to Kyle Trinch and Price, respectively, and also ran 7 yards for a score; Foster Reznor raced for 20- and 9-yard scoring sprints, while Chad Williams went for 98 yards rushing, including a 4-yard score.
Conversely, Sharon (1-6, 1-8) struggled running the ball. However the Tigers tossed a trio of TDs, as quarterback Jesse Rodgers rifled 11- and 14-yard scores to Carnell Hawkins and Dustin Austin, respectively. In the 4th frame an Austin aerial on the back end of a double-pass found Nate Jacoway for a 53-yard touchdown.
Rodgers recorded a 13-for-28, 169-yard passing performance.
This season, Grove City got by Wilmington (19-7) ... which won over Hickory (35-28) ... which handled Grove City (41-12) — all of which will make for an interesting District 10 committee meeting to seed the upcoming Class AA playoff tournament.
“This is a great region and there’s great teams in the region, and every week it’s a battle,” Bell began. “I think our region is as strong as any region in the state. And you saw Reynolds this year, they can play with anybody. And this team (Sharon) has a lot of skill, and I think they can ... score on anyone.
“But we’ve got three teams (Hickory, Grove City, Wilmington), who are ranked in the state — or near being ranked in the state — right here in our region, and I don’t think there’s too many regions like that,” Bell continued, “so I think it prepares you for the postseason.
“And whomever comes out of this dogfight, I think, has a great chance of making a run,” Bell concluded.
It’s been a different story for Sharon, however. Two years removed from the District 10 Class AA crown the Tigers tumbled to their 7th straight setback, with state-rated Class A Sharpsville on the slate next weekend.
“The way the season’s played out, we’ve been talking about playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played — playing hard for all four quarters,” Tigers’ taskmaster Bob Fromm began. “And I think, definitely in the second half, they came out and showed that. They showed some grit, and I was proud of them for that.”
Fromm feels he will continue coaching his alma mater beyond next week’s regular-season finale.
“I’ll be back, as long as they’ll have me back. At this place, standards are high,” Fromm acknowledged, “and we have two years like this in-a-row, it’s not easy for anybody.
“But I keep my focus on the kids. Sometimes you want it so badly for them,” Fromm continued, specifically citing seniors Rodgers, Wanya Smith-Austin, Jarrell Lampkins and Leo Reardon. “You want so hard for the dam to break for those guys, and we’ve been working hard in practice. They’ve been showing up, having good attitudes for the most part, but we’re just not getting it done.
“We knew the front end of our schedule was where we had to win some games, and we were in some close, tight ballgames, but we didn’t get it done,” Fromm continued. “We knew the back end (of the schedule) was a meat-grinder.
“We told them we have to get ourselves together, and be ready to come and play a good football game, at home, next week on Senior Night. Hopefully we can do that,” Fromm forecasted.
“They’re good boys, they’re trying hard. We’re just not getting it done on Friday nights.”
Fromm insisted, despite the disappointing season, he’s holding up well, “ ... because of the boys in the room. They listen to you, they work hard. Because of them, it’s not difficult coming to work every day.
“I just hope (the community) knows we’re showing up and we’re treating it the same way we were treating it five years ago ... four years ago. I mean, we’re trying to win football games.”
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GROVE CITY 14 6 8 21 49
SHARON 0 0 7 14 21
Scoring plays
GC — Williams, 4 run (Motta kick)
GC — Trinch, 75 pass from Graham (Motta kick)
GC — Graham, 7 run (kick failed)
GC — Reznor, 20 run (Reznor run)
S — Hawkins, 11 pass from Rodgers (Gill kick)
GC — Price, 29 pass from Graham (Motta kick)
S — Austin, 14 pass from Rodgers (Smith-Austin pass from Rodgers)
GC — Sample, 6 run (Motta kick)
S — Jacoway, 53 pass from Austin (pass failed)
Team stats
GROVE CITY SHARON
20 First downs 11
423 Rushing yards 6
132 Passing yards 224
9-4-1 Att-comp-int 29-14-0
555 Total yards 230
1-1 Fumbles-lost 4-2
9-81 Penalties-yards lost 7-44
Individual stats
Rushing: GROVE CITY — Price 12-164, Williams 8-98, Reznor 10-67, Lucido 4-47, Sample 4-25, Graham 3-13, Kostick 3-10, Dennis 3-(-1); SHARON — Rodgers 10-13, Smith-Austin 1-7, Austin 1-6, Hawkins 4-3, Lampkins 5-(-4), Team 2-(-19).
Passing: GROVE CITY — Graham 9-4-1, 132; SHARON — Rodgers 28-13-0, 169; Austin 1-1-0, 53.
Receiving: GROVE CITY — Reznor 2-28, Trinch 1-75, Price 1-29; SHARON — Hawkins 6-30, Jacoway 3-81, Buchanan 2-96, Austin 1-14, Smith-Austin 1-3.
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Grove City quarterback Jared Graham fakes a handoff to Chad Williams during Friday's Region 3-AA clash against Sharon at Tiger Stadium.
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