Complete Game Notes (PDF): 
Notre Dame
Mercyhurst

GAME 1: NOTRE DAME (0-0) vs. MERCYHURST (0-0)
Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010 (7 p.m.) - Korb Field (Lyndhurst, Ohio)
- The Inaugural Game of NDC Football - 

NOTRE DAME KICKS OFF A NEW ERA
On Saturday night at 7 p.m. a new era begins as Notre Dame College presents the passion and pageantry of college football for the first time in it's 88-year history. One-hundred eight Notre Dame players — wearing the Falcon Blue & White—take the field as Notre Dame hosts the Lakers of Mercyhurst College (Pa.) in the inaugural game of NDC Football.

RADIO
Live: ESPN 850 WKNR (Cleveland)
Tony Rizzo and Aaron Goldhammer

INTERNET
Live audio stream: ESPNCleveland.com
Live Stats: NotreDameFalcons.com

FALCON FOOTBALL WEEKLY
Weekly NDC Football show featuring Head Coach Adam Howard. FFW can be heard on ESPN 1540 KNR2 Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET. The show is also streamed and archived on ESPNCleveland.com.

COACHING MATCH-UP
NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH ADAM HOWARD
Alma Mater: Wilmington College (1997)
First Season at NDC: 0-0
First Season Overall: 0-0

MERCYHURST HEAD COACH MARTY SCHAETZLE
Alma Mater: Bucknell (1983)
10th Season at MC: 32-54
10th Season Overall: 32-54

HALFTIME HONORS
Head Coach Frank Romano and his Wrestling Falcons will be recognized at halftime of Saturday's game. Members of the 2010 NAIA National Championship squad will receive their championship rings in a special ceremony featuring Notre Dame President Andrew P. Roth, Ph.D. The 2009-10 Falcons became NDC's first team to claim a national title on March 6, when they closed out the NAIA National Championship Tournament with three individual champions (Derek Foore, Jeffrey Pelton, Thomas Straughn), one runner-up (Orlando Scales, HWT) and 10 All-Americans (Top-8 finishes).

SOAR SPOT
Korb Field is the home to several other Notre Dame teams, namely Men's and Women's Soccer and Women's Lacrosse. Those three Falcon squad have turned the artificial AstroPlay surface into a tremendous home-field advantage over the years. Since 2006, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer and Women's Lacrosse are a combined 70-14-3 (.822) at Korb Field.

In their developmental season, the Blue & White went 3-0 at Korb Field, outscoring foes, 136-44. (NDC played a fourth home game on campus.)

After Saturday, the Tackle Football Falcons have four more games remaining at Korb Field this season. Notre Dame will host Walsh on Sept. 18, Marion (Ind.) on Oct. 23, North Greenville (S.C.) on Oct. 30 and Urbana on Nov. 13. The Marion tilt on Oct. 23 will be Notre Dame's Homecoming Game. 

600-CLUB
In their 2009 developmental season, the Notre Dame offense averaged 39.0 points per game and twice eclipsed the 600-yard mark in total offense. The Falcons ran for 384 yards and threw for another 218 (602 total yards) in a 53-24 win over Case Western Reserve (JV) on Sept. 27. On Oct. 11 at Wooster (JV), NDC piled up 271 rushing yards and 354 passing yards (625 total) in a 41-18 victory.

TACKLE BOX
Linebackers Gary Briggs, Shane Friend and Derrick Smith combined to record 31 tackles in season's developmental game against Central Carolina Sports Academy (N.C.) on Oct. 25. Friend had 11, which was NDC's single-game high last year.

Notre Dame twice recorded double figures in tackles for loss last year. The Falcons piled up 17 TFLs in their season-opening 49-0 win over Hiram (JV) and 14 in an Oct. 19 showdown at Ashland (JV). NDC garnered a season-high six sacks in the Ashland game; DE Bob Hansen collected two of those.

ROAD WARRIORS
After Saturday night's season opener, Notre Dame will be on the road for each of their next two games and for five of their next six.

In their six road tilts, NDC Football will travel 3,876 round-trip miles. The Falcons' longest road trip will be to Owensboro, Ky. (Kentucky Wesleyan), which is 455 miles from South Euclid.

VETERAN PRESENCE
Defensive end Bob Hansen—a starter and team captain—is a sophomore who played in all eight of Notre Dame's developmental tilts in 2009. So, in that sense he is a veteran. But Hansen is also a veteran in the best sense of the word: the Berea, Ohio, native served his country in the United States Army and served three tours of duty in Iraq.

Hansen was named the Falcons' 2009 Team MVP by the Cleveland Touchdown Club in February.

FORMER HAWKEYE NOW A FALCON
LB Derrick Smith has collegiate playing experience at the D-I level. Smith was an Iowa Hawkeye in 2006 and 2007.

The Cleveland native and Glenville HS grad (2006) was redshirted by the Hawkeyes in 2006 and then saw special-teams action in two games in 2007. Smith recorded a pair of tackles in those two games.

In high school, the versatile Smith recorded 123 tackles, 52 solo tackles, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his career. He was a three-year letterman in football and track. Smith's Glenville HS record was 24-3 in his final two years, including a 14-0 conference mark.

The 6-foot, 195-pounder was the Falcons' starter at strong safety last year. Adam Howard: “Derrick Smith is the most versatile football player I've ever coached.” 

NEXT GAME AT KORB FIELD
The Falcons will face perhaps their toughest inaugural-season foe in their next home game, when NDC hosts the Cavaliers of Walsh University on Saturday, Sept. 18 (1 p.m.).

The Cavaliers went 8-3 a year ago and are ranked No. 16 on the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll (Aug. 9). Walsh returns 20 starters from their 2009 squad which placed second in the Mid-States Football Association.

FRESH FACES DOT TWO-DEEP
Notre Dame's week-one depth chart (as of Aug. 21) features 21 freshmen (eight first-teamers and 13 back-ups). Overall, Saturday's varsity roster features 62 freshman players.

Freshman starters: LG Jared Schuster, RT Brandon Nelli, TE Matt Preston, WR Trevor Smith, SS-return specialist Bo Grunder, CB Sylvester Flowers, PK Jeremy Geier, P Cayle Chapman.

BIG-PLAY BO
One of NDC's starting freshmen is Bo Grunder, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound safety who will also figure prominently in the Falcons' return game. Grunder is a product of Washington HS (Massillon, Ohio), which also produced FS Josh Remark and DE Joe Studer, who are also on the two-deep. Grunder was a standout two-way player for the Tigers, earning Ohio Division-I co-Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior in 2009.

Grunder's 2009 campaign included nine interceptions, 100-plus tackles, four fumble recoveries and more than 1,000 yards in combined receiving and return yards. He helped lead the Tigers to the Division-I state semifinals. In July, Grunder played in the East-West All-Star Football Game.

During his senior year, Grunder often saved his top performances for Massillon's biggest games: In averaging almost a turnover a game, Grunder often forced them when they mattered most. He had an interception in the 10-7 regional championship win over McKinley (Canton, Ohio). Grunder's 16 tackles helped Massillon hold Hoover's Erick Howard to 99 yards on 38 carries in a 17-10 regional quarterfinal win. His 77-yard pick-six against GlenOak (Canton, Ohio) sent the eventual Federal League champions to a 14-0 deficit on their way to a 35-10 defeat.

NAIA FOOTBALL
In 2010 Notre Dame is competing as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics program. There are 93 programs in NAIA Football; those 93 squads include 11 independents and 82 teams split among nine conferences.

National and conference (including independents) weekly and season awards are presented by the NAIA, beginning with player-of-the-week announcements on Monday, Sept. 6.

The NAIA holds a 16-team championship tournament at the end of the regular season. Conference champions and the top-rated independent program earn automatic berths in the bracket, which will be played out from Nov. 20-Dec. 18. Only teams rated in the NAIA Coaches' Poll Top-20 are eligible for at-large tournament bids.

NDC AND THE NCAA
In the 2010-11 academic year, Notre Dame athletic teams are competing in Candidacy Year-Two in the NCAA Division II membership process.

If approved for continuing its membership process next summer, Notre Dame would compete in 2011-12 as a provisional NCAA-II member and, upon further approval, as a full-fledged NCAA-II member in 2012-13.

In summer 2010, NDC Director of Athletics Susan Hlavacek announced the College is exploring a number of possibilities with regard to future conference affiliations.

WHAT'S NEXT ...
Notre Dame will square off against another upstart collegiate program next Saturday, Sept. 4, when the Falcons head to Columbia, Ky., to take on the Blue Raiders of Lindsey Wilson College. That contest, with its 2:30 p.m. ET kickoff, will mark the first game in the history of LWC Football; the Blue Raiders and Falcons are the NAIA's two start-up programs beginning play in 2010.