Grove City falls to Central Martinsburg in PIAA 3A quarterfinals

Nov. 26—GROVE CITY — The final whistle had sounded. The Grove City football team met at the 28-yard line on the far end of the field. Head coach Sam Mowrey told his guys to look up. And that they had put together another strong season.

The Eagles' season came to an end on Friday night at Forker Field. They lost 35-7 to Central Martinsburg in a PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal.

"This group of seniors is a special group," Mowrey said. "They did a great job leading this team throughout the season and gave the underclassmen a lot of great examples of what it takes to be successful — through good times, through bad times.

"Tonight we lost a football game. But this year, I think we accomplished a lot in terms of building young men of character and developing leaders. Those kids have a lot to be proud of."

The Eagles moved the ball throughout the game. The issue was sustaining drives. They went for it on fourth down five times but failed to convert any of their chances.

"We just needed to finish off a couple of those drives. That was the message at halftime," Mowrey said. "Offensively, we just didn't quite get that done. By no means was it a lack of effort. We're so proud of how the boys played tonight and sometimes that happens."

Grove City quarterback Hunter Hohman completed 18-of-30 passes for 190 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for 27 yards on 11 carries.

Senior running back Anthony Nemec finished his final high school game with six carries for 35 yards rushing. He added four receptions for 15 yards to his stats.

Nathan Greer was the leading receiver for the Eagles. He caught eight passes for 130 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown. Gavin Lutz had 45 yards receiving on six receptions.

Grove City (9-4) couldn't completely shut down the Dragons' passing attack. Central quarterback Jeffrey Hoenstine completed 25-of-32 passes for 315 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.

Elijah Lingenfelter was Hoenstine's go-to target. He caught 12 passes for 173 yards and three scores. Rylan Daughter also caught five passes for 64 yards, and Hunter Smith had four receptions for 26 yards with a touchdown.

The Dragons struck first after a scoreless first quarter. Hoenstine found Smith for a 7-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second period.

Following a Grove City interception on its next possession, Central capped a eight-play, 59-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run by Kade Rhule off the left side.

The score gave the Dragons a 14-0 lead, an advantage that they took into the locker room at halftime.

Central struck again on their first possession of the second half. Hoenstine connected with Lingenfelter for a 20-yard touchdown pass.

The Dragons pushed the game out of reach with another 20-yard connection from Hoenstine to Lingenfelter for a 28-0 lead. After a second Grove City interception on the next drive, the Lingenfelter-Hoenstine pattern continued with a 24-yard jump ball at the goal line for their third passing touchdown of the game.

Grove City got on the board when Greer took a bubble screen from Hohman 53 yards late in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles will retain many of their key playmakers next season from a group that won back-to-back District 10 titles. There were only nine seniors that suited up this season, but Friday night was not about looking ahead.

Mowrey told his underclassman to talk to each of the seniors and give them a hug before leaving. Afterall, those seniors were the leaders for this year's team and continued the standard of success for Grove City football.

"These seniors have learned from guys who came before them, and guys who came before them," Mowrey said. "Our upperclassmen do a great job of setting an example of how to do things the right way, and the underclassmen get to see that day in and day out. They develop their own styles of leadership and I think they have some great things to come."

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PIAA CLASS 3A QUARTERFINALS

CENTRAL 0 14 7 14 35

GROVE CITY 0 0 0 7 7

Scoring plays

CM — H. Smith, 7 pass from Hoenstine (H. Smith kick)

CM — Rhule, 4 run (H. Smith kick)

CM — E. Lingenfelter, 20 pass from Hoenstine (H. Smith kick)

CM — E. Lingenfelter, 20 pass from Hoenstine (H. Smith kick)

CM — E. Lingenfelter, 24 pass from Hoenstine (H. Smith kick)

GC — Greer, 53 pass from Hohman (Stucchio kick)

Team stats

CENTRAL GROVE CITY

19 First downs 13

135 Rushing yards 63

315 Passing yards 190

32-25-1 Att-comp-int 30-18-2

450 Total yards 253

0-0 Fumbles-lost 1-0

6-61 Penalties-yards lost 5-55

Individual stats

Rushing: CENTRAL MARTINSBURG — Hoenstine 13-68, Rhule 12-35, H. Smith 5-20, Max Baker 1-8, Beach 1-3, Fisher 1-0, Team 1-1; GROVE CITY — Nemec 6-35, Hohman 11-27, Greer 1-6, Lutz 1-0, Team 1-(-5).

Passing: CENTRAL MARTINSBURG — Hoenstine 32-25-1-315; GROVE CITY — Hohman 30-18-2-190.

Receiving: CENTRAL MARTINSBURG — E. Lingenfelter 12-173, Daugherty 5-64, H. Smith 4-26, Metzger 1-21, Yingling 1-16, Dunn 1-10, Clark 1-5; GROVE CITY — Greer 8-130, Lutz 6-45, Nemec 4-15.