GROVE CITY — Grove City High senior linebacker Travis Wanner sprang up from the turf and flexed his muscles at the home crowd after recovering an onside kick that put a punctuation mark on the Eagles 35-17 win over Oil City.

Wanner's recovery wrapped up the victory in a wild game in which gutsy play calling won it for the Eagles.

With nearly 3:30 remaining in the game and leading 21-17, the Eagles faced a fourth-and-11 at the Oil City 32.

Grove City coach Jeff Bell elected to pass, despite quarterback Tyler Dagres' failing to complete a pass all game.

"We had confidence in our defense," Bell said. "With the ball down that deep in their territory, we figured we could stop them."

But Dagres found Erik Record all alone down the sideline for a 20-yard gain. That set up a touchdown run by Wesley Phipps.

The Eagles pulled away in the second half because of their strong defense and rushing attack. They finished with 310 yards rushing on 58 carries and were led by Harold Price, who had 101 yards on 10 carries, including a 57-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds remaining.

Phipps scored four touchdowns and gained 86 yards. His two touchdowns in the fourth quarter helped put the game out of reach.

"I think we played an all-around solid game," Phipps said. "It was big how we stopped their running game and we widened our backers to help stop their passing game."

Mark Kulinski and the Oilers' offense moved the ball easily in the first half, scoring on three of their four possessions. The Oilers scored first on a 1-yard run by Mark Hutchinson and extended their lead to 10-7 with a 26-yard field goal by Luke Klena.

Kulinski found Ben Koyak on a 19-yard touchdown pass with 20 seconds left in the half to give the Oilers a 17-14 lead.

Phipps, who scored both the Eagles' touchdowns in the first half, said there was no sense of panic in the locker room.

"We were all quiet and listened to what the coaches had to say," Phipps said. "We made some adjustments and played better in the second half."

The Oilers didn't score again and Kulinski completed only two passes in the second half after completing 14 in the first half.

The win put the Eagles (7-0) in command of the region race ahead of the Oilers (6-1), who were ranked No. 10 in the state coming into the game.