GROVE CITY, Pa. – A dominant defensive effort helped lift the Grove City College football team to a 13-6 victory Saturday afternoon over visiting Carnegie Mellon in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at Robert E. Thorn Field.

Grove City (3-0, 2-0) held CMU (1-2, 1-1) to minus-12 rushing yards in the game. The Wolverines recorded four sacks and a pair of takeaways.

The final sack preserved Grove City's 13-6 lead as junior linebacker Ryan Fleming (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) stripped CMU quarterback Ben Mills at the Grove City 43.

Senior defensive end Ethan Ward (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) recovered at the 41 with 1:54 left in the game. Grove City then ran out the clock to clinch the win.

Fleming finished with 2.5 quarterback sacks. Senior defensive end Scott Hastings (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) recorded a sack and senior defensive end R.J. Debo (New Brighton, Pa./New Brighton) added a half sack. Debo also had 2.5 tackles for loss.

Grove City led 7-0 early in the second quarter when the defense forced its first turnover. Senior safety Patrick Mark (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Wellington) intercepted Mills in the end zone with 13:31 left in the half, preserving the lead.

The Wolverines took that 7-0 lead with 1:54 left in the first quarter as senior quarterback Josh Ehst (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) bulled in from the 1 on a sneak. That capped a 12-play, 52-yard drive.

Grove City led 7-0 at halftime and then opened the third quarter with a 10-play, 44-yard drive. Senior kicker Nick Morrow (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) capped the drive with a 37-yard field goal at the 10:09 mark.

Carnegie Mellon trimmed the lead to 10-3 with 6:00 left in the quarter as Hayden Hairston kicked a 30-yard field goal. Grove City countered with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that used 6:48 of clock.

Morrow extended the lead to 13-3 by kicking a 20-yard field goal with 14:05 left. Ehst fired a 41-yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Ryan Heckathorn (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) on the second play of the drive, moving the ball into CMU territory.

Ehst completed 15 of 29 passes for 234 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Scott Fraser (Butler, Pa./Knoch) caught five passes for 50 yards while classmate Nick Gustafson (Newburg, Pa./Shippensburg) had four catches for 59 yards.

Senior Cody Gustafson (Newburg, Pa./Shippensburg) added four catches for 52 yards. Heckathorn paced the Wolverines with 73 receiving yards on his two receptions.

Freshman running back Nico Flati (Aliquippa, Pa./West Allegheny) paced Grove City with 67 rushing yards on 20 carries. Grove City outgained CMU, 325-242.

Grove City owned a 36:17-23:43 advantage in time of possession. Grove City held CMU to a 2-for-13 performance on third down.

Senior linebacker Parker Kilgore (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler) paced Grove City with six tackles. Senior linebacker Nik Grabiec (Newport, Pa./Newport) and junior linebacker Curtis Freyermuth (Meadville, Pa./Cochranton) both had five stops.

Mills completed 14 of 32 passes for 254 yards. Ethan Reifer led CMU with six catches for 106 yards.

Grove City will visit Westminster at 1 p.m. next Saturday in conference action.