SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Avenging one of the two losses suffered in 2016, the Notre Dame College Falcon football team (5-1, 5-1 MEC) defeated Fairmont State University Fighting Falcons (5-1, 4-1 MEC) 19-14 in a game where the offense controlled the clock and the defense took advantage of its opportunities.
 
Neither team had much going in the first part of the opening quarter as the first three possessions of the game ended in punts. Then momentum tipped into NDC's favor as junior linebacker RJ Goodwin intercepted a pass and returned it 22 yards to the FSU 33-yard line.
 
Seven plays later, Tanner Harding put the only points of the first quarter on the board with a 31-yard field goal make. Harding scored the first three and the final three points of the game for the Falcons with a 33-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
 
"Tanner Harding, on a windy day under a lot of pressure came up big time," Head coach Mike Jacobs said. "He also had two big touchbacks on kickoffs. He was fantastic."
 
Jacobs said the wind affected nearly everyone in the game. It even caused Notre Dame to kick punts rugby-style on many of their seven punt attempts.
 
Following the field goal that put them up 3-0, the Falcons next offensive possession was long one. Starting in the first quarter and ending in the second, NDC chewed up nearly eight minutes on 18 plays before quarterback Malik Grove hooked up with Marvelle Ross for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
 
On a third-straight drive, Notre Dame scored again, this time on a 58-yard run from Nehemiah Brown.
 
The long touchdown run was set up after the Falcons were awarded a first down for a running-into-the-kicker penalty on a fourth-and-two punt attempt. It was the third 50-plus yard run for Brown in the past two weeks.
 
Fairmont State opened up the third quarter with a 65-yard touchdown pass on the first offensive play of the second half to make the score 16-7.
 
Neither team could get much going in the third quarter, but Goodwin came up with another big forced turnover, this time a fumble, on the NDC side of the field.
 
"Those turnovers were huge," Jacobs said. "We didn't have any turnovers today. That team led the country in takeaways with 18 so to come out plus-two on the day is the tale of the tape in a close game."
 
In the fourth quarter, Harding's second field goal capped off another big possession (13 plays, 6:06 minutes) by the Falcons before FSU responded with a touchdown on the next series to make it 19-14 with less than 2:30 to play. Rather than attempt an onside kick, Fairmont State decided to kick deep and force the Notre Dame offense to convert.
Staring at a third-and-five with the clock ticking, Malik Grove rushed for six yards to get the final first down of the game and give NDC what they needed to take a knee and end the game. Overall, Grove handled the ball on 58 (34 passing, 24 rushing) of the Falcons' 85 offensive plays. He finished with 152 yards passing and 79 yards rushing.
 
"You can't say enough about how Malik controls the game in everything that he does for us," Jacobs said. "The offensive play today was a classic case of taking what they give us. We weren't going to try and get cute or get out of what we normally do. Run the football, protect it, timely passing."
 
Timely passes were exactly what Grove connected on, with multiple third-down conversions. Senior wide receiver Darius Johnson made two plays that brought the crowd at Muller Field to its feet on those conversions. After no recorded stats in the first three games, Johnson has had at least three receptions in each of the past three weeks.
 
"He had a couple of crucial third-down catches including a huge catch that kept us from being backed up that was really the play of the game in my opinion," Jacobs said. "The connection with him and Grove is big and he adds a leadership element to a young wide receiver room."
 
Fellow wide receiver, Emmanuel Smith, not only caught nine balls, but returned a kick as well as he was on the field for a majority of the game during NDC's 37:31 minutes of possession. The long drives didn't have much effect on him or his teammates, however.
 
"We were pumping," Smith said. "We practice for these types of games all season to make sure we can take advantage when it's hot out or we're on the field for a long time. We're always ready for our hurry up and to get on teams and make them more tired than we are."
 
Coach Jacobs said the long time of possession, a season high for NDC, wasn't a plan going into the game, but did give his team an advantage when they needed it.
 
Multiple Fairmont State offensive play-makers were on the sideline throughout the game and when they came onto the field they struggled to get in a rhythm at times. For that, all credit goes the Notre Dame defense.
 
"I can't say enough about how much the young defensive backs have developed," Jacobs said. "I can't say enough about how well our defensive line controls the line of scrimmage. Our linebackers continue to make plays in the middle of the field. I thought they played fantastic today."
 
When it comes to the 23-19 loss suffered on the road against FSU last season, the Falcons remembered well what that feeling was like and used it as motivation all year long.
 
"We were thinking about this a lot," Smith said. "We were calling it the 'Falcon Bowl' all week. Throughout the summer, when we were working hard, this is one of the games we looked forward to."
 
Notre Dame will travel to Urbana (3-3, 2-3 MEC) on Saturday, October 14 for its next conference game. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.