SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio –Notre Dame College battled through injuries and relied on their run game and defense to outlast West Liberty University 24-19 on Thursday night.

The Falcons (4-1, 4-1 MEC) have now won four consecutive games and still have never lost to WLU in the five meetings between the two teams. The Hilltoppers (2-3, 2-3) lose their first home game of the season and fall to 4-1 in their last five night games.

"What the Mountain East and Reid Amos, our commissioner, have done with these Thursday night games to make them unique is great," Head coach Mike Jacobs said. "There's not too much action in Division II on Thursday nights and to have the niche market for us at Notre Dame College, who have only had football for nine years, makes selling our program much easier."

Notre Dame started the game with the ball, but after a three-and-out, had to punt the ball away. For the first time in two weeks, a punt had been registered by the Falcons. West Liberty punted on their next drive and Notre Dame took over at their own 35 yard line. On the Falcons' second drive senior Malik Grove tried to throw deep on 2nd and 17 but West Liberty's Joshua Ojo came down with the pass, which represented Grove's second interception of the season.

The Hilltoppers offense took advantage of the turnover. To cap off a 12 play, 71 yard drive, quarterback Brent Colabella completed a 16 yard pass to Jeremiah Ortiz who ran into the end zone for the first score of the game.

On NDC's next drive, it looked like the Falcons would have to punt the ball away, but a Roughing the Kicker penalty gave the Falcons a first down. Immediately after the penalty, junior Nehemiah Brown rushed for 64 yards. To end of the drive, Grove ran three yards into the end zone to tie the game with just under five minutes to play in the first quarter.

"All of the credit goes to the offensive line," head coach Mike Jacobs said. "Our offensive line got us close to 400 yards rushing the football again. In a game that was close, when we needed to run the ball in the fourth quarter, our offensive line got it done. I'm extremely proud of all our running back that played tonight and our quarterback did a nice job running the ball as well."

With 12:40 remaining in the second quarter, Grove ran for 55 yards over three plays on a Falcons drive, before junior Brian Walker ran 25 yards into the end zone, near the sideline, using a massive stiff arm to break a tackle and score. The touchdown put the Falcons up 14-7.

"I just saw a big hole open on the backside and saw a lot of green grass," said Walker, after the game. "The defender and I made eye contact and the only thing that came to my mind was to be as physical as I possibly could. He ended up on the ground and I ended up scoring."

With less than five minutes remaining before the half, NDC scored another touchdown when Brown reached pay dirt with a nine yard run, his first touchdown as a Falcon.
"Coming into the week we knew we'd have to step up to fill the spot [DJ Greene] filled for the first four weeks," Brown said. "Tonight, the offensive line blocked their butts off and we had to take advantage of what they gave us."

The Falcons used another strong rushing attack to get 76 yards down the field and set up a 24 yard field goal from Tanner Harding with nine second left in the half, giving the Falcons a 24-7 lead going into the halftime break.

West Liberty received the kick off in the second half and wasted no time, scoring on the first drive with a 31 yard field goal from Christopher Morris. The momentum started to swing in favor of the Hilltoppers as the WLU defense stopped Notre Dame at their own 33 yard line. On the punt attempt, the snap sailed over senior Anton Vrebac's head into the end zone where Vrebac picked the ball up and ran out of the end zone, giving the Hilltoppers two more points from the safety. The five point swing cut the West Liberty defecit to 12 points, 24-12.

With three minutes to play in the third quarter, Colabella hit Isaiah Robinson for 42 yards and a touchdown, making the score 24-19 in favor of Notre Dame.

The Falcons defense made several big stops in the fourth quarter as neither team was able to put a point on the scoreboard in the final stanza. West Liberty did not help themselves out, as they committed a big penalty on each of their final three drives, pushing the offense back.

"Our guys made some plays. I was ecstatic to see that we were positive in the turnover battle today," Jacobs said. "Those were big plays that allowed us to go up early in the game. I think that really changed things. They came up with a couple of huge stops in the fourth quarter when West Liberty had some momentum. Our line did well and our defensive backs continue to grow up every week. I'm proud of what our defense did tonight. We're blessed to be as deep as we are on the defensive line. We talk about pass rush quite a bit in the fourth quarter. We thought our guys did a fantastic job getting pressure on the quarterback late."

Notre Dame ran the ball 53 times for 371 yards, but only passed for 34 yards. Brown ran for 154 yards and a touchdown, Grove scored a TD on the ground and ran for 130 yards and Walker rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt-freshman Jeffrey Thomas made 10 solo tackles while junior Clarence Theophile and senior Jalon Avent made five solo tackles and had six total tackles. Freshman Davionn Johnson grabbed an interception in the second quarter.

Jacobs was very impressed with Thomas tonight on the defensive side of the ball.

"We work on [making open field tackles] a lot," he said. "It's important for us to track the ball carry and have confidence to shoot your shot. He's done a really nice job. Again, we see a kid develop in our system. He had a really nice spring and he's more of what we thought he'd be. He was maybe our most improved player on the entire roster coming out of spring football."

Colabella was 27-45 and threw for 288 yards and had two touchdowns and an interception for the Hilltoppers. Ortiz rushed for 130 yards and caught three passes for 22 yards and a touchdown. Clifford Clark recorded 13 tackles, 10 assisted and Ty Homes had 10 tackles and eight of them were solo tackles.

"We're 15-4 in our last 19 games and we're playing good football," said Jacobs. "We're excited about the direction of our program. The support of our administration, in athletic director Scott Swain and our president Tom Kruczek, and our students and alumni make us proud of where we are headed."

Notre Dame will come back home to take on Fairmont State University on October 7 on Mueller Field. The game is scheduled to kick off at 12 p.m.