WEXFORD — Jeff Bell wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to speak, but had trouble finding the words.

“It's real hard, especially the way they came out ... ” the Grove City football coach said, his voice trailing away into frigid night air at North Allegheny High School following a 25-21 loss to Montour in the PIAA Class AAA quarterfinals Friday night. “It's hard for me to even talk about it, what these kids meant to this program.”

Early on, it looked like Bell and his team would have much different postgame emotions, as the Eagles stormed out to a 21-0 lead on the WPIAL champions midway through the second quarter.

But Montour settled down, Grove City failed to muster the same kind of offense it did early, and the Spartans had just enough time — and gumption — to rally for the victory.

The Eagles were haunted by turnovers — three costly ones — and by penalties in the loss.

“That killed us,” Bell said. “That's something that hasn't happened to us all year. I think we had more turnovers tonight than we had all season combined.”

Grove City's defense was game. The Eagles held Montour running back Julian Durden to 89 yards on 20 carries.

But Spartans' quarterback Dillon Buechel picked Grove City's zone coverage apart, whether the Eagles blitzed or sat back in coverage.

Buechel was 20-of-34 passing for 226 yards and three touchdowns. He also scrambled 4 yards for the decisive score with 1:58 remaining in the game to help his team overcome a huge first-half hole.

“It shows how much heart we have,” said Montour coach Lou Cerro about the comeback. “Hats off to everyone on this team for being able to do that.”

The comeback was necessary because Grove City came out like it had against its other 11 opponents this season: with a smash-mouth style.

After forcing Montour to go three-and-out on its first possession, Grove City drove 77 yards in 12 plays, capped by a 4-yard run by Foster Reznor to take a 7-0 lead.

Montour's ensuing drive stalled and a punt pinned the Eagles back at their own 7. But Grove City drove 93 yards in 11 plays, keyed by a 53-yard run by Wes Phipps and culminated with a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Tyler Dagres for a 14-0 lead.

Grove City got a break when a pooch kick on the kickoff was recovered by the Eagles, who turned that into a 30-yard TD pass from Dagres to Reznor.

The Eagles were up 21-0 with 5:49 remaining in the half.

“I think we let up off the gas after that,” Bell said.

On Montour's nest play, Buechel hit Darren Massey on a short pass and Massey turned it into a 56-yard catch and run for a score.

The biggest blow came on the final play of the first half.

Montour drove to the Grove City 5 with 4 seconds remaining. Instead of kicking a short field goal, Cerro chose to go for a touchdown.

Buechel hit tight end Aaron Reed on a quick slant and Reed stretched into the end zone for the score as time expired.

The extra point snap was botched and Grove City led 21-13 at the half.

“We're going to win the game or lose the game here,” Cerro said. “It was huge.”

Buechel tossed his third TD pass of the game early in the third quarter, hooking up with Massey on a 7-yard fade. The two-point conversion attempt failed and the Eagles clung to a 21-19 lead.

Meanwhile, Grove City's offense sputtered.

“They made some adjustments,” Bell said. “They started stunting up front and blitzing (the run). They did a nice job.”

Phipps still finished with 160 yards on 21 carries, but gained 109 yards in the first half.

Dagres also struggled in the second half. After hitting his first two passes for 52 yards and a touchdown, Dagres was 0-for-4 with an interception in the final three quarters. He also was sacked three times and lost 6 yards when his quick pass to the flat was ruled a lateral and bounded out of bounds.

On his third sack on a fourth-and-15 from the Montour 49 late in the game, he lost a fumble.

It was moot, however.

“We made some plays early,” Bell said. “But we needed to make more plays in the second half.”

Junior defensive back Chad Williams nearly made one of those plays, and it most likely would have sealed the win for the Eagles.

He jumped a screen pass, but couldn't quite reach up to make an interception on Montour's game-winning drive. Had he been able to pull in the interception, he had nothing but green turf in front of him for what likely would have put the game out of reach.

“All week when we threw that in practice, he jumped that,” Bell said. “He just missed it.”

And thus one of the most successful seasons in Grove City football history ended.

“This is the best senior class we've ever had come through Grove City High School,” Bell said, fighting back tears again. “I'm proud to be their coach. They're a great group of kids.”

Montour 25, Grove City 21

Grove City 7 14 0 0 — 21Montour 0 13 6 6 — 25GC M14 First Downs 1653-232 Rushes-Yards 24-10352 Passing Yards 2262-6-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 20-34-0284 Total Yards 3293-2 Fumbles-Lost 1-16-80 Penalties-Yards 4-30

First QuarterGC — Foster Reznor 4 run (Brian Murone kick), 4:20

Second QuarterGC — Tyler Dagres 1 run (Murone kick), 7:14GC — Reznor 30 pass from Dagres (Murone kick), 5:49M — Darren Massey 56 pass from Dillon Buechel (Nathan Dearth kick), 5:34M — Aaron Reed 5 pass from Buechel (kick failed), :00

Third QuarterM — Massey 7 pass from Buechel (pass failed), 8:50

Fourth QuarterM — Buechel 4 run (run failed), 1:58

Individual StatisticsPassing: Grove City, Tyler Dagres 2-6-52-1. Montour, Dillon Buechel 20-34-226-0.

Rushing: Grove City, Wes Phipps 21-160, Foster Reznor 12-58, Harold Price 13-35, Tyler Dagres 7-(-21). Montour, Julian Durden 20-89, Dillon Buechel 2-10, Darren Massey 1-2, Aaron Reed 1-2.

Receiving: Grove City, Foster Reznor 2-52. Montour, Devin Wilson 8-76, Darren Massey 4-82, Aaron Reed 4-30, Julian Durden 2-20, Sherrod Naylor 2-18