SLIPPERY ROCK — Dwayne Martin played scout team quarterback this week for the Grove City High football team, trying to simulate Erie Cathedral Prep's speed at the position.

The Eagles needed someone like Usain Bolt.

Cathedral Prep quarterback Shyquawn Pullium gashed Grove City on the ground and through the air, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing for three more as the Ramblers routed the Eagles 45-21 in the first round of the District 10 Class AAA playoffs atSlippery Rock University Friday night.

Not bad for a guy who didn't take over at quarterback in Cathedral Prep's spread offense until midseason.

"He's talented," said Ramblers coach DonHall. "When we made the move, it was just a matter of how much, how soon. He brings the whole package. It took a couple of weeks to get his feet wet, but he stayed after it."

Pullium juked, spun, stiff-armed and flat out outran Grove City (7-3) much of the night on the way to 157 yards.

When he wasn't breaking tackles, the junior was breaking the game open by completing 12-of-15 passes for 136 yards.

His two short TD passes to tight end JonRoot helped to clinch the victory.

"The kids had a heck of a game," said Grove City coach Jeff Bell. "I thought if we laid some licks on him a few times, we could slow him down. It didn't slow him down."

Instead, Pullium popped back up to gash the Eagles again.

Still, Grove City put together an impressive drive after the Ramblers' first touchdown to tie the score at 7.

Freshman quarterback Tyler Dagres found Joe Kochemba down the left hashmarks for a 33-yard score.

Cathedral Prep (7-4), though, took a 24-7 lead into the locker room.

Grove City took advantage of a bad punt of minus-4 yards to score on a 3-yard burst by Casey Shay. That score cut the lead to 24-14 with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter.

As poorly as the Eagles were able to contain Pullium, they found themselves just 10 points down.

"I thought at that point right there if we could have stopped them and got the ball back, we could have made a game out of it," Bell said. "Unfortunately, we didn't."

Instead, the Ramblers scored three touchdowns in a six-minute span. Suddenly a 10-point game was a decided rout.

All was not lost for Grove City.

Shay, a senior fullback, went over 1,000 yards for the season. He gained 109 yards on 17 carries against a fast defense.

Shay is just one of a core group of Grove City seniors who played nearly every down on both offense and defense this year.

"I wouldn't trade these kids for anything," Bell said, choking back tears.

Erie Cathedral Prep 45, Grove City 21Cathedral Prep 14 10 14 7—45Grove City 7 0 7 7—21GC CP10 First Downs 1641-158 Rushes-Yards 36-26875 Passing Yards 1362-3-0 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 12-15-0233 Total Yards 4044-2 Fumbles/Lost 2-12-20 Penalties-Yards 8-60

First QuarterCP — Rasean Thrower 7 pass from Shyquawn Pullium (Ray Blanks kick), 7:15GC — Joe Kochemba 33 pass from Tyler Dagres (Bobby Kowalsky kick), 5:00CP — Pullium 15 run (Blanks kick), 2:13

Second QuarterCP — Blanks 31 field goal, 7:18GC — Pullium 15 run (Blanks kick), 3:04

Third QuarterGC — Casey Shay 3 run (Kowalsky kick), 4:44CP — Pullium 34 run (Blanks kick), 2:08CP — JonRoot 8 pass from Pullium (Blanks kick), :27

Fourth QuarterCP — Root 3 pass fromPullium (Blanks kick), 9:30GC — Phil Schneider 31 run (Kowalsky kick), 4:50

Individual Statistics

Passing: Cathedral Prep, Shyquawn Pullium 12-15-136-0. Grove City, Tyler Dagres 2-3-75-0.

Rushing: Cathedral Prep, Shyquawn Pullium 19-157, Eric Green 10-58, Dearis Williams 1-29, Austin Smith 5-25, Team 1-(-1). Grove City, CaseyShay 17-109, PhilSchneider 6-34, Dwayne Martin 9-26, Tyler Dagres 8-(-7), Team 1-(-4).

Receiving: Cathedral Prep, JonRoot 5-67, Rasean Thrower 4-54, Eric Green 2-10, Noel Oduho 1-5. Grove City, Dwayne Martin 1-42, Joe Kochemba 1-33.