GROVE CITY, Pa. - Cody Gustafson caught his third touchdown pass of the game with 57 seconds remaining in regulation and Grove City College held off the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) football team 41-38 to win the ECAC James Lynah Bowl at Robert E. Thorn Field. The Wolverines finish the season with a 9-2 record, while the Engineers conclude at 6-5. 

Trailing by four points when it got the ball with 5:30 to play in the fourth quarter, Grove City drove 75 yards on 11 plays in 4:33. Running back Wesley Schools picked up 24 yards on seven carries and Gustafson had 41 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown that he caught around the 15-yard line and ran down the right side and into the end zone. The catch was his 13th of the game in accumulating 239 receiving yards.

RPI got the ball back at its 38 yard line with 50 seconds remaining and went down the field on four pass completions, including an 18-yard connection from George Marinopoulos to Peter Lombardi to the Grove City eight yard line with three seconds remaining. The game ended on the next play however as the game-tying field goal attempt was missed with no time remaining.

Schools gave the Wolverines a 7-0 lead with a 19-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, but the Engineers answered when Marinopoulos and Lombardi connected from five yards out at the 2:09 mark. Gustafson put the home team back in front with a 29-yard TD reception from Josh Ehst at the end of the quarter and Schools made it 20-7 with a 3-yard run at 6:00 of the second.

Junior Sanjay Krishnan put three points on the board for Rensselaer with a 24-yard field goal with 35 seconds left in the first half and RPI pulled to within 20-17 when sophomore running back Dylan Burnett beat the defense to the front pylon early in the third quarter. A pair of Grove City touchdowns - a 1-yard run by Ehst and a 65-yard strike from the QB to Gustafson - made it a 34-17 lead with 5:13 left in the third quarter.

RPI's Burnett countered with a 3-yard touchdown late in the quarter and a 1-yarder at 9:52 of the fourth to get RPI with 34-31. Senior slot receiver Marc Meislahn put the Engineers in front for the first time with a 6-yard reception from Marinopoulos with 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Marinipoulos finished 31 of 49 for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Fellow junior Vinnie McDonald had 10 catches for 108 yards and Lombardi had six for 77. The sophomore also rushed three times for 15 yards. Burnett had 55 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries.

Senior safety Joey Gutowski (6 solo) and classmate Jack Fallon (5), a linebacker, both had eight tackles to lead RPI's defense. Gutowski added two pass breakups and sophomore Blake Battle registered three PBUs, along with seven tackles - all unassisted.

Grove City was led on defense by Parker Kilgore, who had 19 tackles, including 12 unassisted and one for a loss (1 yard). Ehst had 315 passing yards, hitting on 17 of 28 attempts, and Schools ran for 165 yards on 35 carries. Cameron Drake was the Wolverines' only other pass catcher besides Gustafson. He finished with four receptions for 76 yards.