By Patrick Connelly
Allied News Sports Editor
Records are tossed by the wayside when Thiel and Grove City College square off for the coveted Mercer County Cup and Saturday’s thriller at Alumni Stadium in Greenville was no exception as the Wolverines held onto the trophy after a 31-24 win in double overtime.
The Tomcats (3-7, 1-5) churned 3 Wolverine turnovers into a 17-0 lead at the break, but Grove City (5-5, 4-2) rallied for 17 2nd half points before a missed field goal by Thiel’s Mike Danko with seconds left in the 4th sent the game into OT.
Thiel linebacker Bobby Shew picked off Grove City quarterback Andrew DiDonato twice in the opening quarter. To Thiel and head coach Kurt Reiser’s credit, DiDonato said the turnovers came from studying what the Tomcats got beat on in last year’s 20-14 Grove City win.
“Last year I completed 15 curls on them … those interceptions in that 1st quarter were on curl routes,” said DiDonato, a senior. “They (the Tomcats) weren’t going to get beat on the same thing 2 years in a row.”
DiDonato had found A.J. Tapper and Blaine Miller on back-to-back passes on the opening drive for gains of 8 yards. After a 2-yard Miller run gave the Wolverines a 1st down, a DiDonato scramble for a gain of 7 and another short pickup by Tapper had Grove City moving at Thiel’s 35 yard line.
A false start pushed the Wolverines back 5 yards and then Shew stepped in front of DiDonato’s throw and returned the pick 34 yards.
The Wolverines then held Thiel out of the end zone at their own 16 yard line after and a sack of Tomcat signal-caller Willie Bova on 4th down gave the ball back to Grove City.
Three plays later, though, Luke O’Hara fumbled after pulling in a DiDonato pass and Thiel’s Sam Swartzfager recovered, setting the Tomcats up again with prime field position and a 1st-and-goal from the 9.
Thiel tailback Dan Hess punched it in 3 plays later and a PAT by John Madeline gave the Tomcats a 7-0 edge.
Shew picked off DiDonato the 2nd time on the 1st play after the Wolverines kick return.
A 10-play Tomcats drive ended with a 35-yard Madeline field goal.
The Tomcats took control of the game in the 2nd frame, holding onto the ball for nearly 12 minutes while picking up 8 1st downs. Another TD run by Hess — this time from 3 yards out — completed an 11-play Thiel drive and Madeline’s PAT had the Grove City faithful in shock with 9:15 left in the 2nd.
The 3rd quarter was a back-and-forth fight between the teams, as Bova and DiDonato combined to complete 12 of 16 passes. The accuracy of both QBs wasn’t enough though to get their teams in gear to score as Thiel was forced to punt twice and Grove City once after a 9-play drive.
The 4th quarter, though, belonged to Grove City. A 2-yard TD run by DiDonato and a PAT by Craig Bicehouse left the Wolverines down by just 10 with 12:30 left to play.
Ninety seconds later, Kurt Devlin picked off a Bova pass and returned it 62 yards to the Thiel 6 yard line. DiDonato found Zach Summy open in the end zone on the next play for the TD and another Bicehouse boot left Thiel clinging to a 17-14 lead.
After the Wolverines forced Thiel into a 3-and-out, Grove City took the ball down the field for a 6-minute, 15-play drive that ended with Bicehouse tieing the game on a 32-yard field goal.
Bova and the Tomcats teamed up for a 13-play, 73-yard drive to set the new kicker Danko up for a 19-yard game-winner. The kick, however, sailed to the right of the goal post as time expired.
The Wolverines won the coin toss before overtime and put the pressure back on the Tomcats and Bova’s offense.
Bova, also a senior, answered with a 15-yard run on 1st down and an 11-yard TD pass to Brendan Taylor 2 plays later.
Danko’s kick gave the Tomcats a temporary 24-17 lead as DiDonato scored on an 11-yard run during Grove City’s chance with the ball and another Bicehouse PAT tied the game again.
On the Wolverines 1st play of the 2nd OT, DiDonato found O’Hara open for a 25-yard TD. Bicehouse’s kick made it 31-24.
Bova took control once again for the Tomcats, rushing head first for 7 yards before finding Kennedy Catholic product Ross Gargano open on a 5-yard pass for the 1st down.
Another pass to Gargano for 7 yards had Thiel ready to tie again on the 6 yard line, but another scramble by Bova and a completion to Tyler DeJong still left the Tomcats short of the end zone.
A Bova pass on 4th down was swatted down by Grove City’s Mark Rossol to give the Wolverines the win.
“It doesn’t get much better than this,” DiDonato said of the nail-biting ending. “I kept saying ‘this is the last game I’ll ever play’ … I want the ball in my hands … I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The Wolverines have now won the cup each of the past 3 seasons and own a 58-35-5 edge in the all-time series.
Notes: Gargano caught 11 Bova passes for 89 yards, while Thiel’s K.J. Smith, a former Sharon High standout had 1 catch for 5 yards … Grove City’s Dan Van Dyke, a Lakeview High product, rushed the ball once for the Wolverines, picking up 7 yards.
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