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GROVE CITY -- Reggie Corner caught a touchdown pass and two-point conversion pass from Ben Palumbo for the lead, and Shalamar Gilmer's long run late in the fourth quarter helped the Canton McKinley Bulldogs shake off the host Grove City Greyhounds 27-15 Friday at Grove City Stadium. McKinley (4-0), the No. 7 team in the most recent Associated Press Division I football poll, survived 10 penalties for 100 yards and three turnovers for the win, but forced four Grove City (4-1), the No. 12 team in Division I, into four turnovers and stopped two drives deep inside Bulldog territory late in the fourth quarter. The Pups also controlled the clock all game long, holding the ball for better than 28 minutes while the Greyhounds had possession for just under 20 minutes. McKinley's Tyler Everett started the scoring with an eight-yard touchdown run five seconds into the second quarter -- one in which both teams combined for 28 points, but Grove City's Justin Riley hauled in a 79-yard pass from Josh Worthington just over a minute later to close within a point, 7-6. Five minutes later, the Greyhounds would take the first lead of the game when Worthington pitched to Riley, who then threw a halfback pass back to Worthington on the left side for another touchdown. But McKinley's Corner caught a 55-yard strike from backup quarterback Mark Huddleston to give the Pups a 13-12 lead. Grove City, though, drove into McKinley territory in the final minute, setting up Brock Mackellar's 27-yard field goal that gave the hosts a 15-13 halftime lead. The Bulldogs, however, would chew up most of the third quarter on the go-ahead touchdown drive. McKinley trekked 63 yards in 13 plays and used 7:14 of clock before Palumbo hit Corner on a 15-yard touchdown strike, then hit him again on a timing pattern in the right corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion. Grove City's failure to score on their two deep drives in the fourth killed their chances, and Gilmer drove the final nail in Grove City's coffin with a spectacular run of 82 yards for a touchdown, a run in which Gilmer broke five Grove City tackles -- the final two on a hurdle over one potential tackler and a sprint past the final one. Gilmer topped all rushers, but had a so-so night until his game-clinching run. Gilmer finished with 116 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown, while Everett added 27 yards and Huddleston 26. Palumbo was 7-of-11 through the air for 114 yards and one touchdown while Huddleston was 2-for-5 for 119 yards with another TD and one interception. Corner had four receptions for 96 yards and his two scores while Yusef Abdul-Zahir caught two passes for 76 yards. Worthington threw for 267 yards for the Greyhounds, completing 9-of-21 passes with one touchdown and two interceptions. Riley caught four of those passes for 125 yards and a score, led the Greyhound rushers with 49 yards on 17 carries and threw the touchdown pass to Worthington in the second quarter. Both teams host games Friday night, with McKinley welcoming Washington D.C.'s Theodore Roosevelt High School to Fawcett Stadium. Grove City, meanwhile, opens Ohio Capital Conference Central Division action against the Groveport Cruisers. SCORE BY QUARTERS Canton McKinley.................0...13....8....6.........27 Grove City...........................0...15....0....0.........15 SCORING SUMMARY SECOND QUARTER CM-Tyler Everett 8 run (Matt Campbell kick), 11:55. (7 plays, 59 yards, TOP 3:10) GC-Justin Riley 79 pass from Josh Worthington (kick failed), 10:46 (2 plays, 77 yards, TOP 1:09) GC-Josh Worthington 27 pass from Justin Riley (run failed), 5:37. (3 plays 28 yards, TOP 0:49) CM-Reggie Corner 55 pass from Marc Huddleston (pass failed), 1:50. (3 plays, 44 yards, TOP 1:10) GC-FG Brock Mackellar 27, 0:18. (8 plays, 62 yards, TOP 1:32) THIRD QUARTER CM-Reggie Corner 15 pass from Ben Palumbo (Reggie Corner pass from Ben Palumbo), 2:43. (13 plays, 63 yards, TOP 7:14) FOURTH QUARTER CM-Shalamar Gilmer 83 run (pass failed), 2:34. (2 plays, 83 yards, TOP 0:59) TEAM STATISTICS...................CM..................GC First Downs....................................16...................14 Rushes-Yards..........................39-186.............31-68 Passing Yards...............................233.................294 Comp-Att-Int...........................9-16-1.........10-22-2 Total Offense................................419.................362 Punts-Avg................................4-34.0............3-29.7 Fumbles-Lost................................4-2.................3-2 Penalties-Yards.......................12-100...............3-31 Time of Possession.....................28:21..............19:39 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Canton McKinley-Shalamar Gilmer 18-116, Tyler Everett 7-27, Marc Huddleston 4-26, Yusef Abdul-Zahir 2-13, Ben Palumbo 6-3, Reggie Corner 2-1. Grove City-Justin Riley 17-49, Justin Theriault 8-22, Brock Mackellar 3-8, Josh Worthington 3-(-11). PASSING: Canton McKinley-Ben Palumbo 7-11-0-114, Marc Huddleston 2-5-1-119. Grove City-Josh Worthington 9-21-2-267, Justin Riley 1-1-0-27. RECEIVING: Canton McKinley-Reggie Corner 4-98, Yusef Abdul-Zahir 2-76, Mark Green 1-26, Marcus Geiselman 1-23, Dorian Chenault 1-10. Grove City-Justin Riley 4-125; Josh Goody 3-83; Brock Mackellar 2-59; Josh Worthington 1-27. INTERCEPTIONS: Canton McKinley-Yusef Abdul-Zahir 1-0; Tremaine Suggs 1-0. Grove City-Shawn Burton 1-40. clecinosu |