SLIPPERY ROCK - Five years. Five losses.

Grove City High School football coach Jeff Bell was waiting for a game like this against rival Slippery Rock for half a decade.

"This was a big monkey off my back, I'll tell you that," Bell said.

The Eagles dominated the Rockets up front and on the scoreboard, registering a 24-0 win over their rivals Friday night at Slippery Rock.

It was the second straight resounding win for Grove City, which blanked Reynolds 41-0 last week.

"The kids are starting to get confidence," Bell said.

It didn't take Grove City long to get a lead.

After Slippery Rock punter Trevor Gallo's knee touched the ground while fielding a low snap at his own 10, Grove City took just two plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Jim Jaskowak.

Gallo fumbled on Slippery Rock's next offensive play and Grove City added a 21-yard field goal from Andy Hay to take a quick 10-0 lead.

Slippery Rock (2-2, 1-2) had a chance to cut into the lead early in the second quarter, but Grove City linebacker Jack Vallely stopped Gallo on two straight toss plays at the Eagles' 3.

The goal-line stand led to a 17-play drive by Grove City that stalled with no points, but took more than eight minutes off the clock.

"That was kind of big," said Slippery Rock coach Clyde Conti. "To be honest, we probably would have tried the same stuff again."

Grove City (2-2, 2-1) broke the game open in the third quarter as running back Jesse Alfreno sprinted to the right, then cut back to the middle of the field for a 35-yard touchdown run to make it 17-0.

That put Slippery Rock into comeback mode - a position it rarely has been the last two seasons.

"They just physically dominated us the entire night," Conti said.

That can be seen in the statistics.

A week after giving up just nine total yards to Reynolds, Grove City held Slippery Rock to just 109 yards - 58 on the ground.

Sean Ray and Gallo, who combined for more than 400 yards last week against Sharon, were held to 11 on 16 carries against the Eagles.

Gallo, who rushed eight times for minus-2 yards, didn't play in the second half because of a leg injury.

"The last couple of years we've had some good defensive teams," Bell said. "But the way we started out this season, we were giving up 27 points per game. I told the kids, 'That's not what we're about. We have to get that number to under 10 if we want to go anywhere.'"

Grove City was able to do the bulk of its damage on the ground.

Alfreno finished with 100 yards on 11 carries and also caught a pass for 24 yards to keep his consecutive reception streak alive at 23 games.

Dan Wise carried 13 times for 77 yards and Vallely, who cracked 100 yards last week, added 60 yards on 15 carries.

The key, Bell said, was his team's ability to adapt to a different Slippery Rock defensive look on the fly.

"We've got some kids who can run the ball hard," Bell said. "But the kids are finally starting to understand schemes. Tonight, Slippery Rock came out in a different defense than we expected, and we were still able to block it. That's something we weren't able to do in the past."

The Rockets, though, could do little.

Ray, who is an explosive threat, was close to breaking several long runs, but Grove City was able to bottle him up before he could break loose. Ray had only 13 yards on eight carries.

"I'm happy with the kids I have," Conti said. "The effort was there. In too many elements of the game, they were better than us. It wasn't because of lack of effort on our part."

The game was a pivotal one for both teams. With the win, Grove City remains just one game behind in the region race. The loss drops Slippery Rock two games behind and puts them in a must-win situation the rest of the season.

To Conti, the reason for the loss was simple.

"Grove City is a better team," Conti said.