WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- Running back #Michael Booker# hit paydirt three times - twice on runs of more than 60 yards - and the Falcons scored five touchdowns over the second and third quarters, as Notre Dame defeated Waynesburg (Pa.), 41-17, on Monday night.

The victory for Notre Dame (2-0) comes in the program's first road game. The Falcons, who scored seven touchdowns in their Sept. 6 opener against Hiram, have now scored 90 points through their first two games.

Booker, a 5-foot-7, 170-pound freshman from Grand Rapids, Mich., spearheaded a Falcon rushing attack that piled up over 200 yards and accounted for five touchdowns. Booker, himself, scored on runs of seven, 61, and 61 yards.

Notre Dame fell behind the host Yellow Jackets in the opening quarter when Waynesburg opened scoring on the night with a 28-yard field goal at 11:11. Eleven minutes later (at 0:11), the Yellow Jackets would score a touchdown on a 13-yard pass play. Those two scores bracketed a 7-yard Ricky Stevens scamper that put NDC on the board at 6:55.

Trailing, 10-6, just three minutes into the second quarter, the Falcons got a boost when #Matt Cuthbert# blocked a Yellow Jacket punt and, for the second week in a row, #Andrew Davis# returned it for a touchdown. That special-teams score put the Falcons on top to stay. NDC would score twice more in the second and two times in the third for a total of five touchdowns in a span of 20 minutes.

Booker accounted for three of those scores. Listed at No. 1 on the NDC depth chart at tailback, the freshman runner scored from seven yards out at 8:58 in the second. He then added a 62-yard touchdown at 3:16. That score put Notre Dame up, 27-17, at halftime.

Booker's third touchdown came with 8:44 on the clock in the third, when he rattled off a 61-yarder. Not to be outdone, Notre Dame quarterback #Derrick Paster# split Booker's 60-yard touchdowns with a 70-yarder of his own, at 11:48 in the third.

That outburst of points in the second and third quarters was held up by a staunch Falcon defense. #Bob Hansen# and #James Harris# anchored the defensive line throughout the game. Both defensive ends kept pressure on the Waynesburg quarterback. NDC coaches also pointed to the play of linebacker #Freddie Lenix# and defensive backs #Derrick Smith# and #Charlie Williams# as being key in NDC's shutting out the Yellow Jackets in the second half.


GAME NOTES …

STING OPERATION: Waynesburg's varsity team competes in the Presidents' Athletic Conference as an NCAA-III institution. The varsity Yellow Jackets went 5-5 a year ago. The first year of football at WU was 1895. In 106 seasons, the Yellow Jacket program is 418-395-8. Waynesburg won an NAIA National Championship in 1966. … Varsity Head Coach Rick Shepas is an Ohio native (Youngstown). He is a 1987 graduate of Youngstown State.

NOTABLE: The Blue & White have already scored 10 touchdowns this season on plays of 25 yards or more. … Overall the Falcons have scored 13 touchdowns on the season - seven rushing, two passing, two via special teams and two by the defense.

QUOTABLE: Head Coach Adam Howard on Monday night's game - “This game served a great purpose. We won, but some things we need to work on were exposed. Waynesburg did a great job challenging us for 60 minutes.”

WHAT'S NEXT: On Sept. 10, Notre Dame Head Coach Adam Howard announced the cancelation of the team's intra-squad scrimmage - the Blue & White Game - which had been slated for Sunday, Sept. 20. With that schedule change, NDC's next game is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27, when the Falcons host the Spartans of Case Western Reserve University (Korb Field, Brush HS-Lyndhurst, Ohio, 1 p.m.). The game on the 27th will be part of Homecoming Weekend for Notre Dame College.