WASHINGTON, Pa. – The No. 20/19 Washington & Jefferson football team rolled to a 55-7 victory over Grove City on Homecoming 2015 at Cameron Stadium.
The Presidents improve to 4-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference while the Wolverines drop to 0-5 this year and 0-3 within the PAC.
W&J rolled up a season-high 652 yards on 87 plays, while holding Grove City to just 139 yards on 62 plays. The Presidents totaled 273 yards on the ground, while holding the Wolverines to negative rushing yards at -11, the second-lowest rushing yardage total allowed amongst PAC teams this season. Through the air, W&J passed for 379 and Grove City tossed for 150.
Between quarterbacks Pete Coughlin and Alex Rowse, the home team connected on 29-of-32 passes for 379 yards and four touchdowns as Coughlin hit on 20-of-22 for 257 yards and two scores, before giving way to Rowse who completed 9-of-10 tosses for a career-best 122 yards and two TDs.
Nine receivers recorded at least one reception, with Jesse Zubik's six catches matching the game high, while his 86 yards through the air led all players. Daniel Lis hauled in five catches for 59 yards and a score, while Asa Costelnock matched his career high with three catches while establishing new benchmarks at 64 yards and two touchdowns. Cody Hearst pulled in four passes for 31 yards and Eric Scott and Colin Jones each nabbed three passes. Nicolas Greavescaught two passes for 48 yards and a score.
Ryan Ruffing led the way on the ground with 102 yards and two TDs on 19 carries, with Coughlin scampering for 50 yards on seven carries with a score. David Kincaid, Justin Vickless, Trevor Morrow and Austin Kemp combined for 23 rushes and 121 yards.
The first five offensive possessions for W&J led to touchdowns, as the scoring opened when Coughlin found Lis from 16 yards out 3:03 into the game after the W&J defense forced a three-and-out on Grove City's opening drive, 7-0. After a missed field goal by the Wolverines, W&J marched 80 yards in eight plays, capped with an eight-yard strike from Coughlin to Costelnock, 13-0. The first play from scrimmage for GCC was intercepted by O'Shea Anderson, the first of his career, and started a seven-play, 56-yard scoring drive that was capped by a three-yard jaunt by Coughlin, who then found Michael Giampole for the two-point conversion, leading to a 21-0 W&J lead through 15 minutes.
In the second period, Zach Walker blocked a 38-yard field goal try by Grove City to set up a nine-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Ruffing going in from three-yards out to make it 28-0. The next drive ended in similar fashion as Ruffing capped a four-play drive with a 16-yard scoring run as the Presidents went up, 35-0, midway through the second quarter.
Lis put an exclamation point on the half when he fielded a punt at W&J's 32 yard-line and raced 68 yards for his second punt-return touchdown of the season as the first half neared its close.
Two 30-plus yard, third-quarter scoring strikes by Rowse, the first to Costelnock from 35 yards out and the second to Greaves from 34 yards, pushed the margin to 55-0 after 45 minutes.
The red & black possessed the ball for 12:03 in the fourth quarter and ended the game with a 55-7 victory.
Defensively, 16 players made at least two tackles as Tom Marra led the way with seven stops, 2.5 TFL (for 18 lost yards) and 1.5 sacks. Bryce Merrill, Anderson and Jalen Morris each notched six tackles, with Morris accounting for 2.0 TFL. Two of Justin Bauer's four tackles were sacks andRyan Snedeker added one as well. In total, W&J made 10.0 tackles for loss on the afternoon and posted 5.0 sacks.
W&J will remain home next weekend when it hosts Bethany at Cameron Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff in the final home night game of 2015.
No. 20/19 W&J rolls to 55-7 Homecoming win against Grove City
/seasons/2015/boxscores/20151010_t6bk.xml
2015
Grove City
7
Washington and Jefferson
55
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grove City (0-5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Washington and Jefferson (4-1) | 21 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 55 |
Oct 10, 2015