GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College football team opened the 2013 season Saturday afternoon with a 28-10 victory over visiting Carnegie Mellon at Robert E. Thorn Field.
Grove City amassed 251 rushing yards in the win as the Wolverines earned their largest margin of victory over CMU since a 26-7 win in 1997.
Senior quarterback Brian Pell (Streamwood, Ill./Wheaton Academy) ran for a game-high 98 yards and two scores for the Wolverines. He also completed 11 of 23 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Sophomore tailback Steve Maskrey (Cranesville, Pa./Northwestern) added a career-high 86 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
After a scoreless first quarter, Grove City grabbed a 7-0 lead with 8:50 left in the first half when Pell threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Anthony Ritchie (Big Rock, Ill./Wheaton Academy). Freshman kicker Ryan Stewart (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) converted the first of his four extra points following the touchdown.
Ritchie's touchdown catch capped a nine-play, 94-yard drive. Sophomore wingback Zach Rader (Butler, Pa./Butler) ignited the drive with a 38-yard run on an option play and Maskrey's 27-yard run gave Grove City a goal-to-go situation.
Maskrey scored on a six-yard run with 1:25 left in the first half, pushing the lead to 14-0. That play punctuated a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Pell helped ignite that possession with a 32-yard strike to Ritchie.
Carnegie Mellon cut the lead to 14-3 midway through the third quarter on Connor Young's 42-yard field goal. However, Grove City sealed the win with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Pell scored on a four-yard run 46 seconds into the final period, boosting the lead to 21-3. He closed the Grove City scoring by bulling in from the 1 with 2:46 remaining.
Grove City finished with a 382-366 edge in total yardage. The Wolverines also converted 8 of 14 third-down situations.
Ritchie caught four passes for 64 yards. Junior wingback Jimmy Bailey (North East, Pa./North East) caught two passes for 30 yards and senior wide receiver Khalil Ervin (Malvern, Pa./Phoenixville) had two catches for 15 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker Jason Skyrm (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) led Grove City with a dozen tackles and senior linebacker Brandon Miller (Corry, Pa./Corry) added 11 tackles. Senior defensive end Ryan Althausen (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) recorded 1.5 sacks and sophomore nose tackle Brent Veerman (Powell, Ohio/Columbus Crusaders) added a half sack.
Sophomore inside linebacker Bobby Tuttle (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) intercepted a pass on the first play from scrimmage. He added seven stops.
Quarterback Rob Kalkstein completed 14 of 27 passes for 158 yards for CMU. Fullback Zachary Erra-Hernandez ran for 76 yards on 16 carries. CMU held a 19-18 edge in first downs.
Carnegie Mellon drove to the Grove City 1 on its second possession of the game but the Wolverines kept CMU out of the end zone. On fourth down, Erra-Hernandez fumbled into the end zone from the 1. CMU recovered the fumble in the end zone but could not be credited with a touchdown due to the rule that prevents a team from advancing a fourth down fumble.
CMU had not lost a season opener since 1998.
Grove City will visit Anderson (Ind.) next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in non-conference action.