Tartans Outlasted by Grove City, 13-6

(GROVE CITY, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team traveled to Grove City College on Saturday for the 61st meeting between the Tartans and Wolverines and dropped a 13-6 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest. The Tartans are now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in PAC play while the Wolverines stay perfect at 3-0, 2-0.

Grove City held the edge in total offense 325-242. Sophomore quarterback Ben Mills (The Woodland, Taxes/Woodlands) completed 14-of-32 for 254 yards. Sophomore wideouts Kaveh Wojtowich (Irvine Calif./Portola) and Ethan Reifer (Ijamsville, Md./Oakdale) each turned in career days. Reifer had six receptions for 106 yards while Wojtowich ended with five catches for 102 yards.

It marked the third time in school history that two Tartan receivers recorded 100 yards in a game. In 2017, John Prather had 123 and Tommy Mansfield had 108 against Geneva and then in 1993 when Aaron Neal recorded 141 yards and Jarrod Siket totaled 135 at Rochester.

Sophomore Robert Coury (Phillipsburg N.J./Phillipsburg) led the Tartan defense with a career-high 13 tackles, five solo. He also recorded two quarterback hurries, 1.5 tackles for a loss, forced a fumble and had a pass breakup. Sophomore Thomas Coury (Phillipsburg N.J./Phillipsburg) ended the day with nine tackles, three solo, a pass break up and one tackle for a loss.

Senior Sean Knight (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) recorded his 10th career interception to move into a tie for sixth all-time in program history for a career. In addition, Knight recorded seven solo tackles while sophomore Alex Nelson (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints Episcopal School) had a career-high seven tackles. Junior Kevin Arcia (Doral, Fla./Doral Academy Charter) finished the game with a fumble recovery, an interception and three tackles.

Grove City took a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard run by quarterback Josh Ehst with two minutes to play in the first quarter. The score capped off a 12-play, 52-yard drive that took 5:18 of the clock.

Early in the second quarter the Tartans had a chance to tie the score, but on third-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Patrick Mark intercepted Mills in the end zone. Later in the second, a forced fumble by Robert Coury that was recovered by Arcia and returned to the Wolverines 22-yard line led to a field goal attempt. The 37-yard attempt by junior placekicker Hayden Hairston (Milton, Ga./Milton) sailed left, as the score stayed 7-0 heading into halftime.

Grove City extended its lead to 10-0 on the opening driving of the second half. Nick Morrow capped off a 10-play, 44-yard dive with a 37-yard field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Hairston finished off a nine-play, 63-yard drive with a 30-yard field goal that made the score 10-3 with 6:00 showing on the clock in the third quarter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Morrow pushed the lead back to 10 at 13-3 when he connected on a 20-yard field goal. Grove City put together another double-digit play drive, as the Wolverines marched 79 yards on 12 plays for the field goal.

With 7:03 to play in the game, Hairston converted his second field goal of the game. The juniors 35-yarder made the score 13-6.

The Tartans will open their home schedule on Saturday, September 25 with a 7:00 p.m. kick against Waynesburg University at Gesling Stadium.