The Grove City Christian School football team doesn't appear to be content with just earning the program's first postseason berth in four seasons. The Eagles hope to enjoy some success in the Division VI playoffs.

Sixth-seeded Grove City Christian opens postseason play Saturday when it visits third-seeded Zanesville Rosecrans. Game time is 7 p.m.

"The team is pumped," Eagles coach Clyde Lucas said. "This is what they've been wanting."

It is the Bishops' second consecutive postseason appearance and third overall. Last season, Rosecrans lost to Hannibal River 38-7 in a Division VI, Region 23 quarterfinal.

Rosecrans cost the Eagles a perfect regular season, winning at home 10-7 on Oct. 16. Grove City Christian committed four turnovers and had six penalties for 60 yards.

"We know this team," Lucas said of Rosecrans. "I don't think they've changed a whole lot since we saw them last time, and we haven't changed drastically. If we would have played our game the last time, we could have beaten them, but we didn't play our game. This time we want to play our game and see what happens."

The Eagles improved to 9-1 and secured the sixth seed following a 56-0 win against Fairfield Christian Academy last Friday.

Senior running back Jessie Barns, who scored on runs of 73 and 30 yards, finished with 191 yards on 14 carries. He leads the team in rushing with 1,351 yards and 15 touchdowns on 148 attempts.

"It's a great opportunity for our school and our team," senior quarterback Christopher Bowman said. "It's a great feeling. We've worked so hard. We've taken our bumps and bruises, and this is a great payoff to be in the playoffs."

Bowman has completed 70 of 113 passes for 1,203 yards and 15 touchdowns. His twin brother, Brice, has caught 28 passes for 729 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The Bishops enter the game at 8-2, with their losses coming against Division VI Tuscarawas Central Catholic 40-7 on Sept. 29 and Division V Caldwell 19-13 on Oct. 24.

Rosecrans is averaging 18.2 points a game and allowing 15.9 a game. The Bishops won two games in overtime.

The Eagles are averaging 43.3 points a game and allowing 8.7 a game.

Against Grove City Christian during the regular season, senior running back Joshua Kohler rushed for 125 yards on 27 carries.

Senior quarterback Joseph Vincent was held to 3-for-12 passing for 37 yards.

The Bishops utilize a base 50 defense.

"They have seniors at skilled positions," Lucas said. "The quarterback can throw and run, and he directs that offense really well. They'll do spread and they'll do just regular 'I'. We have to take care of things up front. They have a young defensive and offensive line and we didn't block it very well last time."

•The brother-sister tandem of Katie and Sam Miller closed out their successful cross country seasons by competing in the Division III Region 11 meet last Saturday at Pickerington North.

They were the school's first regional qualifiers.

Sam Miller, a sophomore, finished 22nd in the boys race, six spots away from qualifying for state. He completed the course in 18 minutes, 22.9 seconds.

"Sam went out and gave it everything he had, but he knows that he's set up for next year," coach Doug Boggs said. "He has to continue to build off of this and get to state next year."

Senior Katie Miller capped her cross country career by finishing 42nd (22:40.45) in the girls race.

•It was an impressive turnaround season for the soccer team, led by first-year head coach David Morrison.

After finishing 4-8-1 overall and in last place in the MOCAL last season, the Eagles had a successful 2009 season, finishing 11-5-2 overall and 3-1-1 in the league.

Grove City Christian finished second in the MOCAL, behind first-place Madison Christian (5-0).

The 11 wins is a school record.

The Eagles recorded a Division III tournament win, defeating Delaware Christian 2-0 on Oct. 21 before losing to Fisher Catholic 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 24.

"The progress we've made has been immeasurable," Morrison said. "The kids were fantastic."

Senior midfielder Josh Slone led the team in scoring with 20 goals and was named first-team all-MOCAL. Also earning first-team honors were senior center midfielder Brady Stephens and junior goalie Sam Hatfield.

Seniors Gabe Gutierrez and Daniel Spears and junior Derek Vacha were second-team all-MOCAL. Senior Joey Ryan and junior Jonathan Clark were honorable mention.

The team's other senior is Meridith Brackman.

"I had some excellent seniors, some excellent leadership on my team," Morrison said. "We had a new, refresh kind of attitude. A new mentality going into the season and the players were determined to make this season different than all the other ones, so they really put out the best effort that they could."

Other players expected to return include junior Amanda Folzenlogen, sophomores Brittany Barton, Maddie Groves, Kathryn Juarez, Katelyn McFarlane, Gabby Norris, Aubri Paugh and Andrew White and freshmen Kirsten Folzenlogen and Gabe Ryan.