Knights Outlast NDC!

The Notre Dame Falcons (2-6) fell to the 14th ranked Marian College Knights (6-2) 35-22 in front of 1436 fans at Korb Field on Saturday. The Falcons would get on the board first with exactly six minutes remaining in the first half as John Hamilton (Nordonia HS) would run back an interception 28 yards for a score. The Knights would answer right back. A 7 play 55 yard drive would be capped on a 5 yard pass from Clay Coomer to Julian Williams to tie the score at 7. NDC would then have a 63 yard 8 play drive that would lead to a 22 yard field goal by Jeremy Geier that would make it 10-7 Falcons with 12:49 in the half. The Knights would regain the lead 14-10 with 9:31 in the half. It would be Coomer and Williams hooking up again. This time it was a 29 yard scoring strike. Marian would score again right before the half on a 1 yard run by Kyle Jones that would make it 21-10 with 24 seconds left in the half. This was a 80 yard 8 play drive for the Knights in just 1:49. This is where we would stand going into the locker room. The Falcons would come out in the second half with a very solid drive. 13 plays and 69 yards would be this drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. James Flowers would score on a quarterback keeper on fourth down to make it 21-16. The extra point would be blocked. Jaquan Patilla would score on a 2 yard after a muffed punt by Bo Grunder would give Marian the ball at the NDC 11 yard line. This score by Patilla would make it 28-16 Knights. Patilla would add another score of 2 yards that would cap a 77 yard drive to put the game away 35-16 with 11:06 to go. The Falcons would score a late TD with 24 seconds left on a Flowers strike to Derrick Paster (Berea HS) to make the final score 35-22. The ensuing two point conversion would fail.

Marian would have 342 yards of offense while the Falcons had 300. Pedro Powell would lead the Falcons individually once again. The Sophomore from Lakota East High School would have yet another 100 yard game, his 4th straight. This time Powell would have 141 yards on 34 carries. James Flowers went 12 of 29 for 153 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. Derrick Paster led the Falcon receivers with 5 catches for 88 yards and a TD. The defense was led by Michael Lannigan (Brecksville HS) with 11 tackles. Shane Friend and Bo Grunder added 9 tackles each. Friend also had a fumble recovery.

The Knights Clay Coomer was 17 of 23 for 244 yards with 2 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. The receiving core was led by Clay Coomer who would have 113 yards on 6 catches. Julain Williams added 48 yards receiving and a pair of TD's. Joey Nebreiza had 64 yards rushing on 3 carries. The Knights defense was led by Brock Caroboa who had 10 tackles.

The Falcons will be back in action Next Saturday at 1 PM at Korb Field when they face the North Greenville (SC) Crusaders (5-3).Marian will be at Taylor University next Saturday.