GROVE CITY — Dwayne Martin and Casey Shay were grinning from ear to ear as they stood among the fans and signed autographs at Forker Field last night.

Both had every right to be grinning.

Martin rushed for 110 yards and scored three touchdowns, and Shay rushed for 45 yards and two touchdowns to propel the Grove City football team (2-1) over Franklin (1-2), 40-14

The Eagles' ground game accumulated 270 yards and five touchdowns in the win.

"All of the blockers did a good job" said Martin. "It was pretty easy to just follow them right into the hole."

The Eagles made it look even easier on the field. Grove City struck first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Casey Shay to cap their five-play opening drive.

Franklin scored early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7 when Julian Wested scrambled into the end zone from 2 yards out.

Then the Eagles took control — specifically Martin, who rushed for two touchdowns in the second quarter, his first from 13 yards out and the second from 4 yards out, to give Grove City a 20-7 advantage going into the half.

Grove City didn't stop there. At the start of the second half, the Eagles took possession at their own 44 yard line and marched 54 yards on 12 plays to punch the ball into the end zone again. This time it was a 4-yard TD run, courtesy of Casey Shay, to give the Eagles a 26-7 lead.

Martin added a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 33-7 lead at the end of the third quarter, putting the game out of reach.

Grove City's defense was dominating on the ground, allowing Franklin only 77 yards rushing.

While the Eagles did give up 141 yards through the air to dynamic quarterback Wested and his main target, wide receiver Tyler Bittner, the Eagles managed to hold the Knights' offense to one touchdown.

"Defensively, we've been working hard" said Grove City coach Jeff Bell. "We changed our scheme a little bit and we're more aggressive, and it's paying off. They couldn't run the ball on us."

The Eagles did all of this without senior quarterback, Michael Burk, who was inactive with a foot injury.

"When you lose your senior starting quarterback, everyone has to step it up" Shay said. "But this makes it feel a lot better when you can play games like this."