URBANA, Ohio – For the sixth consecutive week, Notre Dame College walked away with a victory, a 45-7 win over Urbana University on Saturday afternoon as sophomore Marvelle Ross caught four touchdown passes and the defense did not allow a point after the 14:43 mark in the first quarter.

The Falcons (6-1, 6-1 MEC) have now scored more than 40 points four times this season. As a team, the Falcons tallied 546 yards of total offense, which was a season high. Seven points is the fewest number allowed by NDC's defense this season. The Blue Knights (3-4, 2-4) have dropped two consecutive games following a three game win streak from September 16-28. After averaging just 17.8 points allowed in the first five weeks, UU's defense has allowed 45 points, or more, in two consecutive weeks.

Urbana's offense started the game with the ball and Chance Short, a sophomore quarterback, was pressed into duty for starter Tajuan Green who could not play due to injury. On the first play of the game, Short completed an 81 yard touchdown pass to Rodell Rahmaan with 14:43 on the clock. The score represented Rahmaan's sixth straight game with a touchdown catch. Rahmaan, however, would not catch another pass the rest of the game and Urbana would not put any more points on the board.

Defensive coordinator Joe Staab did not think the Urbana offense would look much different with a new face under center.

"We knew they wouldn't run the quarterback as much, but their game plan was still the same, try to take shots and try to run the ball with their running backs," he mentioned.

After Notre Dame punted on their first two drives and Urbana punted on their second drive, the momentum started to shift in favor of the Falcons. Immediately after Notre Dame's second punt, Short threw an interception, that sophomore Curtis Collins hauled in, on the first play of the drive. On the ensuing drive, Notre Dame needed a big play on 3rd and 23 and junior Brian Walker came through with a 15 yards run, getting the Falcons into field goal range and allowed redshirt-freshman Tanner Harding to score three points with a 32-yard field goal

Following a missed 51-yard field goal by Urbana's Josh Cole, the NDC offense went back to work. On 2nd and 22, senior Malik Grove found Ross and the Falcons receiver used a nice move to maneuver around one defender and used a block from a teammate to take off and finish the 78-yard touchdown reception. The score put Notre Dame ahead for the first time, 10-7.

"I think anytime you play an aggressive defense, you're going to have guys who have a chance to get one-on-one," head coach Mike Jacobs said. "We think Marvelle is one of the most special athletes in the conference. He showed up today, he caught the ball clean. I thought he had one of his best days, if not his best day ever, and he did a nice job of catching punts for us, too. All in all, that may be the best top to bottom game he's had for us."

On the kickoff, Maurice Warren Jr. fumbled the ball and NDC recovered. The Falcons drive that started with 1:57 left in the first quarter, ended in the second quarter with a Walker two yard scamper into the endzone, putting NDC ahead by ten points (17-7).

Three plays into Urbana's next drive, redshirt-freshman Jeff Thomas grabbed his second interception of the season as he cut in front of the intended receiver on the pass play. Following an incomplete pass and three run plays for the Falcons, Grove threw a ball 36 yards and connected with sophomore Markus Hood for a touchdown.

The onslaught did not slow down as Notre Dame's defense forced a three-and-out and a punt to get the football back into the hands of the offense. The offense did not disappoint and ran the ball three times with junior Brian Walker for 24 yards and junior Nehemiah Brown, twice, for two yards. The run plays set up a 23-yard touchdown pass to Ross, and NDC went up 31-7 before the halftime break.

To begin the second half, Notre Dame punted the ball away on the first drive, but the stifling defense got the ball back quickly. Following a completed pass to Trevon Saunders for 21 yards and two NDC penalties on the play, the Blue Knights were in the red zone, for the first time, on the 12 yard line. Two plays later, Short was hit hard by Notre Dame's sophomore Justin Peck, who forced the fumble, and freshman Harrison Roberts jumped on the ball for the recovery.

"We think our defensive line is the deepest position group on the team," said Jacobs. "I talk about them every week. There are eight to ten guys that we roll in and out. When they're on, they're stopping the run and forcing people into long third downs, and then we pin our ears back and go after the quarterback. We got a big hit on him and forced a fumble in a critical point in the game and it really helped us out today. I'm really happy with the way that they played."

The following NDC drive did not result in any points, but with just under seven minutes to play in the third quarter, Grove threw another touchdown pass to Ross for 24 yards to put Notre Dame up 38-7.

The final NDC touchdown came on two plays in the fourth quarter when Grove rushed for 21 yards and threw 31 yards to Ross for their fourth TD connection of the day.

"It's good that I got the four touchdowns, but I'm just happy to get the win," Ross said. "Nothing is possible without our offensive line. We feel that we have the best o-line in the conference so without the o-line, nothing is possible."

For Notre Dame, Grove threw for 229 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 83 yards. The Falcons quarterback had broken the Notre Dame football program record in most touchdowns responsible for, with 86, last week. On Saturday, he broke the program record for most overall career yards, as he needed just 91 yards to break it and ended the day with 312 yards. Walker rushed for 129 yards and Ross caught five passes for 164 yards and four touchdowns. NDC ran for 317 yards and passed for 229 yards.

Defensively, Notre Dame had two sacks and caused three turnovers (two interceptions, fumble). They limited the Blue Knights to 149 yards rushing and 186 yards through the air. Junior RJ Goodwin had seven tackles, two for a loss, and sophomore Shean Roy recorded six tackles.

Jacobs was very pleased with what he saw, and pointed out some aspects of the game that stood out.

"Our guys did a great job of protecting the football," he said. "This is a very aggressive defense that we played today and they're up there near the top of the conference in sacks, so to protect the football, to come up with some big turnovers and then turn those turnovers into points was huge for us today."

The NDC defense stepped up to the challenge and that made Staab happy.

"The intensity and effort that our guys played with (stood out). It's an in-state rival game and the guys wanted to have a statement game. The goal was a shutout and we didn't start off properly, but after that, we played 59 minutes of shutout football."

Staab also wanted to give a shout out to Matt Ulrich (co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach), Harlen Jacobs (defensive backs coach) and Jake Chestnut (graduate assistant) for all of their work they put in, in the past week to make the defense run on all cylinders.

Urbana's Short had 186 yards and a touchdown but threw two interceptions. Warren Jr. ran 11 times for 59 yards and Ja'Vahri Portis ran six times for 60 yards. Saunders caught the ball six times for 88 yards. Defensively, Mikal Tolliver had four tackles and two sacks. Duray Hall had 16 tackles.

Notre Dame will come home to play West Virginia Wesleyan College on Mueller Field on October 21 for the Breast Cancer Awareness Game. The contest is scheduled to kick off at noon.