For the first time in recent memory, Grove City enters the 2024 football season as the hunter and not the hunted. After winning back-to-back District 10 titles in 2021 and 2022, the Eagles saw their bid for a three-peat fall short in the 2023 semifinals to rival Hickory. “To be honest with you, we’ve been fortunate that our program has been really good for a long time,” said Grove City coach Sam Mowrey, who has guided the Eagles to a 74-39 record in 10 seasons at the helm.
“But that’s not anything we talk about. Every team is out to beat everyone else, because that’s what this game is about, but it’s not anything we talk about. I think those types of things are things you can’t control.
“Our philosophy is why put any unnecessary stress on the kids? We’re trying to be the best we can be.” To that end, the Eagles will have to find ways to replace their all-time leading passer Hunter Hohman — who also ended his career behind only Sharon’s Lane Voytik in Mercer County in passing yards — and all-time leading pass catcher Gavin Lutz, while also losing both running backs and three starting offensive linemen. “In any sport and at any school, you’re going to go through cycles,” Mowrey said.
“You may remember back to Brady Callahan, Logan Lutz and Nick Murawski and their big senior class and the voids they left behind. Last year, we had a strong senior class and they’ve left behind holes that need to be filled. That’s providing a bunch of young kids opportunities to step up and fill roles that have been solidified in years past.
“This offseason, it’s been so fun to watch them compete for those roles. We try to talk about intentional character development and teaching leadership. Not everything is going to be focused on the result.
We’re focused on the process of developing character. A bunch of these kids had different roles in the past and now they have to step up into new roles and that’s just been so fun to watch. They’ve been around the program for two or three years and they understand the vision and the values.
“Yeah, we lost a lot of experience from last year, but it’s these kids’ time to shine and step into new roles. We’re going to try to take advantage of that.” After serving as the Robin to Lutz’s Batman the past two seasons, senior receiver Nathan Greer — who has caught 118 passes for 1,805 yards and 17 touchdowns through his first three years — is expected to step into the forefront of the Grove City offense.
“Nathan is another one who took a back seat to the seniors last year,” Mowrey said. “As talented as he is football wise, he’s an even better kid. I hate gushing about kids athletics wise, because it’s just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
What I like to gush about is the kind of kid they are and he’s just done a great job. And oh by the way, he’s just a spectacular athlete who is going to make the quarterback’s job easier. “One of our challenges as coaches is to be creative and find ways to get the ball into his hands, because he just can’t see the ball five times.
We have to manufacture ways to get him the ball an appropriate amount of times over the course of a game.” Senior Ta’Rel Richardson-Heasley will also see time at receiver after starting the season in a competition to replace Hohman at quarterback. “One night at 10 o’clock as I’m driving home from practice, Ta’Rel calls me and says ‘I just want you to know I’ll play wherever the team needs me,’” Mowrey said.
“We had a great conversation and that tells you all you need to know about him and the teammate he is. He’s going to help us out at receiver.” Senior Lucas McCreadie is expected to take over the starting quarterback job after seeing mop up duty a year ago.
“In eighth grade, Lucas was a 4.0 student and worked his tail off in the classroom,” Mowrey remembered. “I was bugging him every single day to play football, because he’d never played before and his brothers were in the program.
Going from a kid who had never played before and progress through to where he is, it has been great to see. He’s a great leader and leads by example. At the quarterback position, that’s what you want and need.
“A lot of kids look at playing JV as a demotion, but he didn’t. Last year, he’d start on a Friday night and go play JV quarterback for the first quarter on Saturday, because he wanted to learn the position.” At running back, junior Jaxyn Wilson is expected to be the starter with junior Jonah Stucchio and sophomore Keith Vandergrift serving as his chief back-ups.
“Jaxyn is someone no one knows anything about, but he’s a great athlete,” Mowrey said. “He’s going to come on the scene and have a great year. He’s a state qualifier in the triple jump without any lifting.
It’s just who he is athletically.” Senior Jack Wolfe and junior DeLathian Boanes will return to their starting spots on the offensive line, while senior Clayton Martin is back for his year as a starter at tight end. Senior Ian McCreary and juniors Logan Dice and Karson Heckathorn are expected to fill the other open offensive line slots.
Boanes — a two-year starter — returns to anchor the defensive line, while Wolfe also started as a junior. Heckathorn, Dice, McCreary and sophomore Jimmy Cooper will rotate in and out.At linebacker, Martin, McCreary and Dice are expected to see the bulk of the snaps with Wilson and Vandergrift spelling them.
In the secondary, Greer and McCreadie return as starters, while Richardson-Heasley will be in the mix. Wilson, Vandergrift, Stucchio, senior Ja’Zier Leonard, sophomore Levi Toth will be the primary reserves. “It’s always a tricky proposition to find the right pieces to the puzzle on defense,” Mowrey said.
“We don’t have the luxury that colleges do to have kids focusing on one side of the ball.” at North East; Fairview; at Titusville; Slippery Rock; Fort LeBoeuf; at Oil City; Sharon; at Hickory; at CASH. 0 Lucas McCreadie QB-DB 5-11 165 12 1 Levi Toth WR-DB 5-11 165 10 2 Ben Moore WR-DB 5-7 135 10 3 Austin Gothe QB-DB 6-0 155 10 4 Clayton Martin TE-LB 5-9 190 12 5 Ja’Zier Leonard WR-DB 6-1 165 12 6 Jaxyn Wilson RB-S 5-8 165 11 7 Ta’Rel Richardson-Heasley WR-DB 5-10 165 12 8 Drake Moore QB-DB 5-11 170 10 9 Nate Parenti TE-LB 6-0 190 9 10 Keith Vandergrift RB-DB 5-10 160 10 11 Nathan Greer WR-DB 6-2 180 12 12 Hunter McElroy RB-LB 5-5 140 12 13 Callen McCoy WR-DB 5-5 110 9 15 Tyler McElroy WR-DB 5-7 125 11 16 Peyton Miller WR-DB 5-8 135 10 20 Carl Bubenheim RB-LB 5-8 145 12 22 Evan Pereira RB-LB 5-9 165 9 23 Charlie Miller WR-DB 5-8 135 9 24 Jonah Stucchio RB-DB 6-0 165 11 25 Jesse McCoy TE-DL 5-7 165 11 26 Gage Wanner RB-LB 5-5 150 9 27 Tanner Mong TE-DL 6-1 170 10 28 Aiden Rigney RB-LB 5-8 145 9 29 Ayden Gaiski WR-DB 5-10 125 10 30 Gabe Homer-Jones K 5-6 120 10 32 Luke Gamble TE-LB 6-1 180 9 34 Zach Mathieson RB-LB 5-9 170 9 42 Carter McElhinney WR-DB 5-11 170 11 50 Ian McCreary OL-LB 6-2 200 12 51 Kaden Bable OL-DL 5-3 215 9 52 Andres Navarro OL-LB 5-9 185 10 54 DeLathian Boanes OL-DL 6-3 250 11 55 Ryan Faler OL-LB 5-7 205 12 57 Jack Wolfe OL-DL 6-4 245 12 58 Logan Dice OL-LB 5-10 215 11 59 Patrick Faler OL-DL 5-9 250 10 65 Brody Thompson OL-DL 5-9 170 10 66 Malachi Whitley OL-DL 6-0 205 9 67 Kade Anderson OL-DL 5-8 225 11 70 Brady Harris OL-DL 5-8 180 9 71 Nicklas Belden OL-DL 6-1 190 10 72 Caden Matlock OL-DL 5-9 240 10 74 Evan Uber OL-DL 6-0 170 10 75 Jordan Gamble OL-DL 6-0 210 9 76 Troy Moore OL-DL 5-11 165 10 77 Karson Heckathorn OL-DL 6-6 265 11 78 Sebastian Aguirre OL-DL 5-9 215 9 80 Lamar Franklin WR-DB 5-8 130 9 81 Gage Gildersleeve WR-DB 5-7 130 9 87 Jimmy Cooper TE-DL 6-0 195 10 99 Lucas Kelly K-P 5-10 145 9.
