Box Score
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons suffered their first loss of the 2016 season, as they fell to No. 4 Shepherd, 38-17 on Saturday afternoon at Mueller Field. 

The Falcons (3-1, 2-1 MEC) saw a program record, five-game winning streak come to an end in the loss, while the victory for the Rams (4-0, 4-0 MEC) was their third in four games against the Falcons since 2013, and was their 14th straight regular season win. 

The game was full of momentum shifts, and a lot of penalty flags, as the two teams were flagged 18 times combined (nine penalties each), tallying 195 penalty yards throughout the contest. The Rams held the Falcons to just 257 yards of total offense, and they controlled the clock as well, holding a 33:04-26:56 advantage in time of possession. 

Shepherd won the coin toss, and elected to receive the opening kickoff. The Rams took control from the get-go, marching 75 yards down the field on the game's opening drive, and scored on a 2-yard touchdown rush from Brandon Hlavac to take a 7-0 lead with 9:52 to play in the first quarter. 

Notre Dame benefited from the first turnover of the contest, as CJ Davis muffed a punt at the Shepherd 29 yard line, and the Falcons fell on the fumble. Notre Dame eventually took the ball to the Shepherd one yard line, where they had it first and goal, but they had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Kyle Kaplan, to narrow the deficit to four (7-3) with 14:43 left in the second quarter. 

The Rams responded with a 7-play, 61-yard drive that concluded with 7-yard touchdown rush from Malik Harelston to give them a 14-3 lead at the 10:30-mark in the first half. 

After forcing the Falcons to go 3-and-out on their final possession of the first half, the Rams took over at their own 19 yard line with 1:13 left in the second quarter, and two plays into the drive, Jeff Ziemba found Billy Brown on a 74-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 21-3 lead, which they took into the half. 

Needing a quick scoring strike to start the second half, Notre Dame went 75 yards on 11 plays on their opening possession of the third quarter, and they scored their first touchdown of the game as Malik Grove found Mitchell Shegos on a 33-yard touchdown pass to bring the Falcons back within 11 (21-10). 

Both teams exchanged punts on the following two possessions, before the Rams used the combination of Ziemba and Brown to score their next touchdown, as Ziemba tossed a 61-yard touchdown to the 6-foot-4 inch 240 pound wide receiver to give Shepherd a 28-10 advantage with 5:15 left in the third quarter. 

Heading into the fourth quarter, Notre Dame marched inside the red zone, and they were set up first and goal at the Shepherd 2-yard line, but on second down, Grove was sacked by DeAngelo Niler, who popped the ball loose, and Myles Humphrey returned the fumble 77 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a 35-10 lead with 14:40 left. 

On the ensuing kickoff, Marvelle Ross appeared to have delivered his second special teams touchdown in as many weeks, with a 95-yard kickoff returned for a touchdown, however, it was called back because of a holding penalty. 

Notre Dame went 3-and-out on that drive, and the Rams took over their next drive at their own 23. They marched inside the Notre Dame 10-yard line, but had to settle for a field goal, getting a 26-yarder from Zach Wise to give them a 38-10 lead. 

On their next drive, the Falcons went 90 yards on five plays, as Grove tossed a 58-yard touchdown pass to Shegos for the final score of the game. 

The Falcons entered the contest averaging 253 yards per game on the ground, but they were limited to just 52 yards rushing on the afternoon. Grove was NDC's leading rusher with 26 yards. 

Grove completed 14-of-30 passes for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His top target in the passing game was Shegos, who hauled in seven passes for 122 yards and caught both of Grove's touchdown passes. Emmanuel Smith caught four passes on the day for 44 yards. 

The Notre Dame defense came away with four sacks on the day, as Aykee Henderson, Claudy Mathieu, Jalon Avent and Tyson Jackson all had sacks. Henderson broke up three passes as well, to go along with six tackles. Xavier Dowdell and Jake Chestnut led the way with nine tackles each. 

The Falcons return to action next Saturday, Oct. 1, when they head to I.L. and Sue Morris Stadium for another Mountain East Conference matchup against the Glenville State Pioneers. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.