Victory at last
GROVE CITY — As the final seconds ticked off the clock and the din from the crowd rose to a roar, Sam Henson searched for a word to describe the feeling.
“Surreal,” said the Seneca Valley graduate and junior inside linebacker for the Grove City College football team about the 24-14 home win over Saint Vincent College Saturday night. “That's exactly the word I'd use.”
It was surreal for many reasons:
It came on Grove City College's annual night game.
It came on “White Out” night.
There was a fireworks show following the game.
And, oh, it broke a 33-game losing streak.
“It was definitely special to get that win, especially in that environment,” said Grove City College coach Andrew DiDonato. It was also DiDonato's first win as the head football coach in his second season after a standout career with the Wolverines as a quarterback. “That atmosphere Saturday night was what small college football is all about.”
It has been a long road to victory for the Wolverines, who had last left the field with a win on Nov. 16, 2013.
During the losing streak, Grove City College had lost eight games by a touchdown or less.
The Wolverines trailed Saint Vincent 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter, but a pair of 2-yard touchdown runs by Wesley Schools in the final 3:07 of the game handed Grove City its long-awaited win.
“As far as winning the game, we expected to win,” said Karns City graduate and junior safety/linebacker Ethan Conto.
Even though he expected it, Conto said the feeling was unlike anything he's ever experienced on the football field before.
“I remember running out onto the field after the offense took the last knee and running up to my buddies,” Conto said. “Then to see all the fans rush onto the field — it was an amazing atmosphere.”
Conto is back into a hybrid safety/linebacker position after playing both, as well as corner back, last season.
The defense has been tweaked a bit and it excelled against Saint Vincent, holding the Bearcats to just 29 yards on their final 24 plays.
“It's slightly different than it was last year,” Conto said. “We changed our defense up a little bit and I'm more of an outside backer. It's kind of all come back around, but it's been an easy transition.”
With the streak over, the Wolverines are hoping to start another.
A winning streak.
They play at Waynesburg Saturday afternoon.
“The message remains the same,” DiDonato said. “When I took over more than a year ago, we talked about our vision and building brick by brick. We laid a big brick Saturday night for our guys.”
