FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Leading up to tonight's contest, Notre Dame College and Fairmont State University had gone head-to-head in two consecutive games that were decided by less than one touchdown. Thursday night's contest was no different as NDC scored a touchdown with 1:33 left in the game, to go up by three points. Notre Dame hung on to win by a final score of 24-21 in a matchup that head coach Mike Jacobs said was really special to be a part of on the sidelines.

The adversity began before the coin toss even took place. At about 6:45 p.m., lightning was spotted in the area and kickoff was pushed back a half hour from its originally scheduled time of 7 p.m.

The rain and lighting had ceased when the teams jumped onto the field, but both teams had a tough time finding their footing. On the second play of the game, NDC's Chris Brimm threw an interception. Takwan Crews-Naylor then missed a receiver as FSU went for it on fourth down, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Following back-to-back punts, the Falcons of Notre Dame put the only sustained first quarter drive together. Jaleel McLaughlin ran five times and Brimm threw three passes, which set up a 42-yard field goal that Tanner Harding knocked through the uprights.

As the second quarter began, the rain found its way back to Fairmont. Beginning in the first quarter and ending with 14:19 to go in the second, Fairmont State used a 10 play, 67-yard drive to get on the scoreboard. Khalik Hamlin ran 11 yards, his sixth rush of the drive, to find pay dirt and give the Fighting Falcons a 7-3 advantage.

On the very next NDC possession, Harding came on to punt the ball away. The kick was a low line drive and was easily blocked by Danny Anige, who ran into the endzone for a 17-yard return. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, Fairmont State led by 11 points (14-3).

Notre Dame turned the ball over on downs on their next possession. They had the ball on Fairmont State's 13-yard line and had originally sent the field goal unit on the field. However, with the rain coming down harder and the wind howling, Coach Jacobs called a timeout and went for it.

"With as bad as it was there before the half, I had the field goal unit on, but then thought a little bit better of the operation and decided to go for it," Jacobs mentioned. "I don't think you can be complacent, I think you have to be aggressive if you want to go on to be a team that continues to win each week."

As the teams entered the field for the second half, the rain and the puddles that had formed on the field, had subsided. Still down 14-3, the Notre Dame defense stepped up as it has all season, forcing FSU into a three-and-out (three plays and a punt) and getting the ball to their offense, as the visiting sideline roared to life.

"Really, we just came out in the second half with a lot of energy," said defensive coordinator Jahmal Brown. "Our guys were still in good spirits because in that first half, they (Fairmont State) really only had one drive where they had a lot of success on us. We came in at halftime, made a couple adjustments and our guys took it in and then we came out in the second half with a lot of great energy."

"We came out and talked about getting a big three-and-out which our defense did. Our defense was lights out all night, tonight," Jacobs said. "I can't say enough about how well our defensive line, our linebackers, really the entire unit, played. We kept them one dimensional as much as we could."

NDC's offense could not score and then Fairmont State nearly put more points on the board. They drove 71 yards down the field, capped by a 47-yard catch by Javon Hayes. Stopped on the Notre Dame one yard line, Fairmont State's kicker Colin Harvath missed a field goal from 18 yards out, clanking it off the left post. That's when the momentum shifted in NDC's direction.

On the next possession, the NDC Falcons drove down the field, with the help of Fairmont State penalties. The first penalty was a pass interference call when Zaire Mitchell was pulled to the ground as the pass was headed his way. The very next play resulted in a personal foul call when Jeremy Hamilton was thrown down after the whistles had blown. From there, it still was not easy. On fourth and goal at the one yard line, Notre Dame gave the ball to the reigning MEC Offensive Player of the Week and McLaughlin rewarded them with a tough touchdown run, making the score 14-10 in favor of FSU, with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter.

That drive was the turning point in Jacobs' eyes.

"Once we cut the score to 14-10, really that drive we put together," he said. "That drive coming out of the half and getting a score was big for us. Jaleel (McLaughlin) with 41 carries tonight, he just did whatever we asked of him. That's about double what we would like for him to carry, but again the kid is just the bell cow and he's a special player when we need big plays, he's delivered for us time and time again."

After an FSU turnover on downs, Brimm found Mitchell for 20 yards to begin the next drive for NDC.

"Brimm's numbers aren't going to jump off the page at you, but the kid just controls the offense," Jacobs said, with confidence in his quarterback. "He's unquestionably our field general and I thought he did really well tonight, especially in the adverse conditions."

McLaughlin then ran for 34 yards on four carries, but it was Vasean Davis who scored on his only touch of the day, a 13-yard scamper to paydirt. NDC took their first lead since early in the second quarter, 17-14, with 12:53 remaining in the game.

A huge turn of events began with 9:56 remaining. A 40-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Lewis capped a 78-yard Fairmont State drive, in less than a minute. On Notre Dame's next possession, FSU's Michael Porter grabbed his second interception of the contest, on Fairmont State's one yard line.

Then, Notre Dame caught a much needed break. Punting from deep in their own territory, FSU looked to boot the ball away, but the snap was low and punter Samuel Tucker was tackled on the five yard line.

On the ensuing series, NDC used one rush and three pass plays, but could not get the ball in the end zone. However, a late pass interference call gave Notre Dame new life. Brandon Ruffin was called after he and Andrew Turski got tangled up, diving for the pass. McLaughlin ran the ball into the end zone on the next play, with 1:33 remaining, giving the Falcons a 24-21 advantage, a lead that they would hold onto for the final 93 seconds.

"We knew Fairmont State was a really good football team and Coach Woodman does a great job recruiting," the Notre Dame Head Coach mentioned, after the contest. "They're always well schemed and we knew coming in we were going to have to play 60 minutes of football. Weather was a little bit of a factor early and we did some things to try to control that. You can't say enough about our kids going down big in a big game and now for the third week in a row coming back after halftime and really just playing with all kinds of energy and for one another, it was really special to be a part of on the sideline."

Notre Dame (6-0, 6-0 MEC) remains the only undefeated team in the Mountain East Conference with the win. Tonight, they ran 28 more plays than Fairmont State and had 89 more yards of total offense. NDC's defense gave up just 171 passing yards in the game, to a team that is averaging over 250 yards-per-game through the air. That stat made Brown happy.

"Definitely makes me happy," he said. "Over the course of the season, we've given up some plays in the passing game and we've done a great job of defending the run so it was good to see our back seven, really our back four in the secondary, step up and make plays when we needed to make plays. Outside of a couple plays over the top, when they took a couple shots over the field, I thought our guys did an exceptional job."

Fairmont State (4-2, 3-2) dropped their second conference game and second Thursday night game of the season. They were just 4-for-13 on third downs, tonight, and 1-for-7 on third downs in the second half.

Notre Dame now has eight days to prepare for their next home matchup against Urbana University on October 13. That contest will begin at 12 p.m.