GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats concluded the 2017 season with a 51-21 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) loss to the Grove City Wolverines at Alumni Stadium.
 
With the win the Wolverines earned possession of the Mercer County Cup. Thiel had won three-straight Mercer County Cup games coming into Saturday's contest.
 
Grove City jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead in the first quarter. Randall Labrie opened the game with a 1-yard touchdown run during the first possession of the game.
 
Mitch Causer extended Grove City's lead to 10-0 when he booted a 27-yard field goal on his team's second possession of the game. On the ensuing drive, Wolverine linebacker Sam Henson picked off a Thiel pass and returned it 60 yards for the touchdown.
 
Labrie connected with Cody Gustafson on a 92-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter. Labrie also scored on an 18-yard run at the 11:23 mark of the second frame.
 
The Tomcats got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter when Ronald Brown (Munhall, Pa./University Prep) threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jake Elk (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) to cap off a 14-play, 75-yard drive. However, Labrie threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Matt Pennypacker to give the Wolverines a 38-7 lead at halftime.
 
Thiel cut into the lead in the third quarter when Brown threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Waddy (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora), but Wesley Schools scored touchdowns on 3-yard and 16-yard runs to push Grove City's lead to 51-14.
 
The Tomcats closed out scoring with 54 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when Brown threw his third touchdown pass of the game, this time to Ryan Rowland (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington) from six yards out.
 
Labrie completed 7-of-14 passes for 182 yards. He also threw two touchdown passes. Schools ran for 271 yards on 36 carries while Gustafson caught five passes for 151 yards.
 
Brown completed 15-of-32 passes for 162 yards. He threw three touchdown passes. Brown also led the Tomcats on the ground with 98 yards on 18 carries. Nick Barca (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) also contributed 39 yards on 17 totes.
 
Waddy and Rowland led Thiel's receivers. Waddy caught three passes for 66 yards while Rowland reeled in six passes for 62 yards.
 
Patrick mark led Grove City with 15 tackles. Joe Serratore (Pittsburgh, Pa./South Park), Jake Elk (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and Matt Crawford (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) each made nine tackles for the Tomcats.
 
Twelve Thiel seniors were honored prior to the game, including: Rowland, Serratore, Elk, Cy Carroll (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf), Trey Andrews (Johnstown, Pa./Greater Johnstown), Hayden Kaizen (Rockwood, Pa./Rockwood), Shane Russell (Union City, Pa./Union City), Justin Zinsmeister (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin), Phil Kyle (Mt. Union, Pa./Mt. Union), Chris Boff (South Park, Pa./South Park), Gary Hiner (Brookfield, Ohio/Brookfield) and Colin Peal (Pliny, W. Va./Point Pleasant).