NEW WILMINGTON — Chris Clark likes running around tackles.

He doesn't mind running right through them, either.

The Grove City High School junior running back did a lot of both against Seneca Saturday afternoon in the first round of the District 10 Class AA playoffs.

When the final horn sounded,Clark had rolled up 226 yards, 29 carries, three touchdowns and a lot of bruises as the Eagles advanced with a 24-13 win at Wilmington HighSchool.

"Clark's always trucking people," said sophomore Dwayne Martin, referring to the "truck stick" that is used to plow over defenders in the duo's favorite football video game. "I got a few today."

"However we can get the yards," Clark added, "is good enough for me."

And there were a lot of yards to get for Grove City (7-3), which rushed for 321 of them on 55 attempts.

Clark had 99 yards on 17 carries in the second half alone. A bulk of that work was done on a 14-play, 60-yard touchdown drive that chewed up more than seven minutes off the clock after Seneca had closed the gap to 10-7 midway through the third quarter.

Clark capped the march with a 3-yard run on fourth-and-2.

"He's a tough, tough kid," said Grove City coach Jeff Bell. "I tell ya, if you gotta go for it on fourth down, I don't care if they know it or not, we're putting it in his hand."

Clark surpassed 1,000 yards on the season with his effort against Seneca. He's the first Grove City back to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark since 1998.

Martin also had his share of tough runs.

The sophomore gained 77 yards on 12 carries — most coming on bruising runs in the first half.

It was the most physical running Bell has seenMartin do all season.

"He ran extremely hard," Bell said. "He has speed, but he also lowered his shoulder and put the hammer down a few times and picked up some key yards."

Grove City jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on Clark's first TD of the game, a 9-yard run that capped an 11-play, 77-yard drive.

After a bad snap on a Seneca punt, the Eagles took over at the Bulldogs' 26-yard line, but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by senior Gordon Craig.

Penalties haunted Grove City, especially in the first half.

The Eagles were penalized 10 times for 75 yards in the game.

Grove City, which didn't play last week, also fumbled three times, losing two of them, butSeneca failed to capitalize on many of the miscues.

"We had a lot of silly mistakes," Bell said. "We cut them down in the second half, but I think that was from having a week off."

Seneca's only two sustained drives of the contest yielded points.

The Bulldogs' first score came on a 10-play, 78-yard drive to open the third quarter, capped by a 4-yard run by quarterback Jim Stalford. The second touchdown came on a 1-yard plunge by Shane Cyphert late in the fourth quarter to finish off a 9-play, 57-yard drive.

But Clark put the finishing touches on the win with a 31-yard run with 1:56 remaining in the game.

He cut to the outside to his left and outran the Seneca defense, untouched into the end zone.

Grove City will get a chance for a measure of revenge when it plays Fairview at 7 p.m. Saturday at McDowell High School in Erie.

Fairview, which pounded Greenville 41-7 Saturday, beat Grove City earlier in the season.

Grove City 24, Seneca 13

Seneca 0 0 7 6—13Grove City 10 0 0 14—24S GC12 First Downs 1838-158 Rushes-Yards 55-32139 Passing Yards 404-15-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 4-6-1197 Total Yards 3611-0 Fumbles/Lost 3-25-35 Penalties-Yards 10-70

First QuarterGC — Chris Clark 9 run (Gordon Craig kick), 7:44GC — Craig 22 field goal, 1:32

Third QuarterS — Jim Stalford 4 run (Dan Miller kick), 7:31

Fourth QuarterGC — Clark 3 run (Craig Kick), 8:01S — Shane Cyphert 1 run (run failed), 4:26GC — Clark 31 run (Craig kick), 1:56

Individual Statistics

Passing: Seneca, Jim Stalford 4-15-39-1. Grove City, Justin Haugh 4-6-40-1.

Rushing: Seneca, Shane Cyphert 20-88, Jim Stalford 9-0, Kyle Beebe 1-2, TimGriffin 3-37, Rich Widdowson 3-17, Dan Miller 1-13, Team 1-1. Grove City, Chris Clark 29-226, Dwayne Martin 12-77, Cody Redfoot 3-9, Justin Haugh 5-(-8).

Receiving: Seneca, C.J. Conroe 2-27, Tim Griffin 1-18, Shane Cyphert 1-(-6). Grove City, Dwayne Martin, 2-29, Justin Burk 1-11, Destin DeMarion 1-0.