GROVE CITY — The Rockets fizzled in the second half of Friday night's high school football game at Forker Field.

Slippery Rock (1-1) went into the second half tied with Grove City (1-1), before the Eagles separated themselves in the second half with a quick-paced, no-huddle offense for a 34-21 victory.

“I think their tempo got to us,” said Slippery Rock coach Larry Wendereusz. “That's on us as coaches. Tonight (Grove City coach Sam Mowery) went fast, and we didn't prepare for that.”

Grove City moved the ball consistently on offense throughout the game, but it was in the second half that running backs Curtis Hovis and Anthony Nemec did most of their damage en route to a combined 259 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Grove City quarterback Logan Breese also threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns to give the Eagles their 459 yards of offensive production.

Mowery said his players have bought into the fast-pace offense.

“That's just something the kids feel very comfortable with,” Mowery said. “When we're not playing like that, that sort of throws us out of rhythm.”

But Mowery said it took time to wear the Rockets down over four quarters, and he was unsurprised about their competitiveness.

“We knew this game was going to be our own version of the backyard brawl,” he said. “Any time we play Slippery Rock, we know it's going to be four quarters of physical football.”

Slippery Rock had its bright spots.

The running back tandem of Shane Thompson, Ryan Montgomery and Brett Galcik combined for 125 rushing yards, and Slippery Rock quarterback William Mokel completed 17 of 30 passes for 165 yards.

“We're going to continue to show off Zip (Mokel's nickname) a little bit,” Wendereusz said.

Most of Mokel's passes, especially when he was scrambling, found the hands of receiver Ethan Plesakov, who caught nine passes for 88 yards.

Plesakov only had one catch in the first week.

“I think offensively we can do some things on offense with the athletes we have,” Wendereusz said. “We have young kids out there trying to make plays, and we have to put them in good positions to do that.”

While Wendereusz said Slippery Rock's offense was competitive, there were points left on the field that never made it to the board. He said missing key opportunities and their defensive strategy cost them the game.

“We weren't as crisp in making those plays as they were,” he said. “I'll take the blame on that. I didn't do a good job preparing us defensively.”

Slippery Rock 7 7 0 7 — 21

Grove City 7 7 14 6 — 34

First Quarter

SR — Shane Thompson 8 run (Alex Duffalo kick), 7:47

GC — Anthony Nemec 1 run (John Hake kick), 4:12

Second Quarter

SR — William Mokel 1 run (Duffalo kick), 11:07

GC — Gavin Lutz 12 pass from Logan Breese (Hake kick), 4:03

Third Quarter

GC — Curtis Hovis 23 run (Hake kick), 8:14

GC — Anthony Pereira 27 pass from Breese (Hake kick), 1:34

Fourth Quarter

SR — Ethan Plesakov 6 pass from Mokel (Duffalo kick), 10:55

GC — Hovis 17 run (kick failed), 5:28

Individual Statistics

Rushing:Slippery Rock, Shane Thompson 14-54, Ryan Montgomery 10-51, Brett Galcik 9-20, William Mokel 3-(-15). Grove City, Curtis Hovis 29-183, Anthony Nemec 18-76, Logan Breese 3-(-16).

Passing:Slippery Rock, William Mokel 17-30-165-1. Grove City, Logan Breese 15-20-200-0.

Receiving:Slippery Rock, Ethan Plesakov 9-88, John Sabo 4-30, Brendan Earl 1-18, Ryan Montgomery 1-17. Grove City, Anthony Pereira 4-82, Gavin Lutz 5-62, Zack Martin 2-21, Hayden McCreaduie 2-21, Zach Rodgers 1-4.