Sloppy Crusaders Extend Win Steak to 6, Topple Falcons!

Despite 4 turnovers and 126 yards in penalties the North Greenville (SC) Crusaders (7-3) got a late interception of a James Flowers pass and converted it into a Marcus Wilson touchdown and a 21-14 win. NDC fell to 2-7 on the season in front of 663 fans at Korb Field. Most of the games scoring would occur in the opening 15 minutes. Greenville would score first on a Teryan Rucker touchdown that would cap a 11 play 75 yard drive to make it 7-0 Crusaders. The Falcons would answer on the ensuing kickoff. Jack Foy (Sidney,OH) would take it back 92 yards for a score and tie the game at 7. The Crusaders would then regain the lead at 14-7 as a 10 play 48 yard drive would be capped on a 1 yard run by Willy Korn. That is what the score would be heading into the halftime break. The Falcons would tie it up as James Flowers would score on a 1 yard keeper to cap a 6 play 47 yard drive and with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter it was a tie game. The game would come down to the 4th quarter. The Falcons would get down to the Crusaders 17 yard line early in the fourth where they would have 4th and 8. NDC would get a delay of game penalty to move it back to the 22 yard line. Coach Adam Howard elected to go for it on 4th down and 13. Flowers would hit Derrick Paster in stride but the Falcons usually sure handed receiver from Berea would drop the ball at the 1 yard line. The Falcons would come up with a stop on 4th and 1 from the 35 yard line to get the ball back. The next play would then be picked off by Carl Dukes. The Crusaders would then score on what would be the game winning 51 yard scamper by Marcus Wilson with 5:43 remaining.

The total yards battle was dominated by the Crusaders. They would have 431 yards as opposed to just 235 for Notre Dame. NGU would have 21 first down as opposed to 13 for NDC. NGU came in as the 4th best rushing offense in D2 and had 319 yards rushing. The Falcons were held to 112. NDC had 116 yards passing while the Crusaders gained 112. NDC forced 4 NGU turnovers while the Crusaders forced 2 NDC turnovers. NGU had 115 yards in penalties while the Falcons had just 36 penalty yards.

Marcus Wilson was the leading Crusader rusher as he had 134 yards on 18 carries including the game winning score. Isiah Anderson added 79 yards on 11 carries. Willy Korn was 8 of 13 for 108 yards with 1 interception. Sean Wright had 4 grabs for 57 yards for North Greenville. The defense was led by Nick Rosamanda and Jarius Mack who tallied 7 tackles each.

The Falcons got yet another 100+ yard game from Pedro Powell. The freshman from Liberty,OH (Lakota East HS) had 122 yards on 29 carries Saturday. James Flowers had a rough afternoon for NDC. The Sophome Qb from Strongsville,OH (Padua Fransiscan) had just 43 yards passing on 5 of 21 with the game changing pick. Derrick Paster completed a 37 yard pass early in the game to go with his 4 catches for 73 yards. Matt Preston also completed a 37 yard pass on a trick play. The defense was anchored by 11 tackles from Bo Grunder while Derrick Smith added 10. Brandon Bucknell (Twinsburg HS) had a pair of fumble recoveries. The Falcons will be back in action next Saturday when they head to the bluegrass state for a battle with the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (4-5). Kickoff is slated for 2 PM. The Crusaders will close the season at UNC Pembroke.

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.

St.Joseph Thrashes NDC!

The Notre Dame Falcons finished up a 3 game road swing with a wimper against the Pumas of St.Joseph. The result was a 37-7 loss in front of 4,382 at Alumni Stadium in Rensselear,Indiana. NDC managed only 178 yards of total offense in the loss. Only 64 of those yards were in the passing game. The Falcons only managed 12 first downs on Saturday afternoon. One improvement for the Falcons was only committing 4 penalties which has been a problem for the blue and white all season. Pedro Powell tallied his third consecutive game eclipsing the century mark. Powell had 114 yards on 23 carries. The quarterback play for NDC was sub par this week. James Flowers was just 4 of 12 for 39 yards and a pair of interceptions. Yan Cyr went 3 of 4 for 25 yards and a touchdown. Derrick Paster led the receiving core with 41 yards on 3 catches. Sophomore running back Shawn Riley caught the 7 yard TD pass from Cyr. Derrick Smith (10 tackles) and Bo Grunder (8) led the way for the Notre Dame Defense. Shane Friend also had 8 tackles. The Falcons fell to 2-5 on the year.

SJC tallied 365 yards of total offense and 18 first downs in this one. Jashon Banks had 26 carries for 112 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Pumas. Billy VanderMerkt added a rushing TD as well. VanDerMerkt had a solid game thru the air going 17 of 26 for 210 yards and a touchdown. Mack Ogeltree led the Puma recievers with 8 catches for 123 yards. Anthony Rouba had only 1 catch but it was for a 5 yard TD.

The game would not be much of a contest for much of the way. St.Joseph's took a 6-0 lead after one quarter and would never look back. It would be 20-0 Pumas by halftime. The game would already be decided when Cyr and Riley would hook up for the lone Falcon touchdown. NDC will have the week off. They will be back in action when they take on Marian College (In) on October 23rd. The Pumas (3-3) will host Urbana on Saturday afternoon.

Powell, Defense Lift NDC past Central State!

It was a rainy, soggy afternoon in Wilberforce,Ohio but the Notre Dame Falcons (2-4) broke its three game losing streak with a 16-13 win over the Marauders of Central State (1-4). Pedro Powell had a monster day for the Falcons. The leading rusher for Notre Dame had 257 yards on 39 carries. It was the third consecutive game that Powell eclipsed the century mark. James Flowers picked up a win in his second consecutive start. Flowers was 7 of 13 for 73 yards and a pick. He also rushed for 20 yards on 7 carries. Matt Preston led the receiving core with 4 catches for 33 yards. On a soggy Saturday afternoon the Marauders held Derrick Paster in check. The top receiver for NDC from Berea High School only had 2 catches for 28 yards.

Josh Anderson had 133 yards on 23 carries for the Marauders. It was not enough to keep CSU from dropping a fourth straight game. James Brooks was 13 of 24 for 106 yards on the day. Roosevelt Williams led the Marauder receivers with 6 catches for 65 yards.

NDC would jump out to the lead early as on the Falcons first possession of the game after forcing a CSU punt it would be Flowers hooking up with Paster on a 21 yard pass with 9:37 left in the first quarter to give NDC a 6-0 lead. The extra point would fail. It would stay that way until a Josh Anderson 2 yard Td run would give the Marauders a 7-6 lead with 2:22 in the half. That would be the score going into the intermission. The Falcons would for the second straight half score a TD on the opening possession. This time it would be Pedro Powell with a 59 yard scamper that would give NDC a 13-7 lead with 11:50 in the third quarter. Jeremy Geier would tack on his first collegiate field goal. The 36 yarder would stretch the Falcon lead to nine midway thru the third quarter. CSU would answer as a 51 yard Anderson TD run would make it 16-13 as the PAT would be no good. The rest of the way would belong to the Falcon defense to preserve the victory. Derrick Smith would lead the way with 6 tackles while Spencer Krebbs added 5. CSU was led by 9 tackles from Te-Petite Fere.

The Falcons will be back in action Saturday as they will take on St.Joseph's (Ind) for a 1 PM kickoff in Renssaleer,Ind. The Pumas come into Saturday with a record of 2-3. The Marauders will host Kentucky State Saturday. Kickoff for CSU's homecoming game is set for 1:30.