Box Score
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Notre Dame Falcons withstood a second half rally from West Liberty on Thursday evening, and came away with their first road win of the season, as they outlasted the Hilltoppers, 59-51.  

Notre Dame (3-5, 3-4 MEC) snapped a six-game losing streak on the road, marking their first win outside of South Euclid since Oct. 4, 2014. The loss for West Liberty (4-4, 4-3 MEC) was their third in as many tries against Notre Dame. 

The Falcons led 38-10 at the half, before West Liberty outscored them, 21-0 in the third quarter, and tied the game 15 seconds into the fourth. The game changed after Claudy Mathieu picked off a pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown with 9:45 left, and the Falcons maintained a lead from that point forward. 

The two teams combined for 1,252 yards of total offense, and NDC tied a program record for most points in a game. 

The Notre Dame offense went to work early. After forcing the Hilltoppers to punt on their first possession of the game, Notre Dame scored on a third and eight situation from their own 21 yard line, as Malik Grove found Emmanuel Smith on a 79-yard touchdown pass to give NDC a 7-0 lead. 

After forcing the Hilltoppers to punt on their second drive, the Falcons put together a seven play, 62-yard drive, which resulted in a 10-yard touchdown rush from Grove to give NDC a 14-0 lead with 5:19 left in the first quarter. 

West Liberty scored seven seconds into the second quarter on a 15-yard touchdown rush from Anton McCallum on an end around, making it 14-7 at the 14:53 mark in the second quarter. 

Notre Dame responded very quickly, and used a pair of big plays to march right down the field less than 90 seconds later. Another huge third down play kept the drive alive, as Grove found C.J. Germany on a 47-yard pass on third and 10, and that same combination hooked up again later on the drive on a 15-yard touchdown pass to put NDC ahead, 21-7. 

The first turnover of the game occurred on the very next drive, as Jake Chestnut picked off Dakota Conwell's pass at the NDC 45-yard line, and Notre Dame capitalized three plays later on DJ Greene's two-yard touchdown rush to give NDC a 28-7 lead with 11:07 left in the half. 

West Liberty's Christian Morris kicked a 28-yard field goal with 8:32 left in the half to bring West Liberty within 18 (28-10), but Notre Dame used another big play to answer, scoring three plays later, as Grove found Kyle Perkins on a 66-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons a 35-10 lead, and Kyle Kaplan hit a 34-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the half to give NDC their largest lead of the game (38-10). 

The Hilltoppers came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, and it began with their opening possession, where they went 82 yards on 10 plays, and scored on a four yard touchdown pass from Dakota Conwell to Daree Goodwin. 

They inched closer, as they capped a seven play, 78 yard drive on a one yard touchdown rush from Conwell with 2:56 left in the third, and following a Notre Dame fumble, the Hilltoppers narrowed the deficit to seven (38-31) after Conwell ran it in from two yards out with 1:57 left in the third. 

West Liberty tied the game 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, as Conwell found Ian Kelly on a 67-yard touchdown pass with 14:45 to play. 

The Hilltoppers were driving, and had the ball on the NDC 30-yard line, when they tried to setup a screen, which Mathieu saw, and picked off, returning it 70-yards to give the Falcons the lead again, with 9:45 remaining. 

After forcing West Liberty to punt on their next possession, Notre Dame put together a nine play, 66-yard drive, which concluded with DJ Greene finding the end zone on a four yard touchdown rush to give the Falcons a 52-38 lead with 3:37 to play. 

The Hilltoppers responded, as Conwell connected with Anton McCallum on a 47-yard touchdown pass just three plays into the drive, but they missed the extra point, making it 52-44 with 2:39 to play. 

West Liberty attempted an onside kick, recovered by NDC at the West Liberty 40 yard line. On that drive, NDC forced the Hilltoppers to use all of their timeouts, and on fourth and two at the 32-yard line, Greene found the end zone for the third time on the night, with a 32-yard touchdown rush to give NDC a 59-44 lead with 2:08 left. 

Again the Hilltoppers went to work quickly, scoring on their next drive, doing so on just three plays as Conwell again connected with McCallum, this time on a one-yard touchdown pass to make it 59-51, with 1:24 to play. 

The Hilltoppers again tried an onside kick, but it went out of bounds, and the Falcons took over to end the game. 

Grove had a huge day through the air for NDC, completing 30-of-42 passes for 499 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran for a score as well. Greene had a career high, 142 yards rushing and three touchdowns. 

Shegos led the Falcons with 11 catches for 148 yards, while Smith tallied 10 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. Germany caught six passes for 138 yards to go along with a score and Perkins hauled in a pair of passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. 

The Falcons are in action again on Saturday, Oct. 31, when they head back home for another Mountain East Conference matchup against Fairmont State. Kickoff at Mueller Field is scheduled for Noon.