VALDOSTA, Ga. – After a season of doing things no one thought they could do, the Notre Dame College football team had one more big moment in front of them, and again, they did what no one thought they could do.
 
Heading into Saturday's NCAA Division II Semifinal game at Valdosta State, the Falcons were predicted to lose by more than 30 points. After all, they were playing the No. 1 seeded Blazers, a team that averaged 54.1 points per game and beat their other two playoff opponents by margins of 50 and 40.
 
Early on in the game it looked like those making the predictions would be correct as the Blazers went up 9-0 in the first five and a half minutes by scoring a touchdown on the opening driving and blocking a punt that resulted in a safety. But NDC had been proving predictions wrong all season; the Falcons won the Mountain East Conference Championship after being picked to finish third in the league.
 
On the next possession for Notre Dame, the visiting team would drive 85 yards on 13 plays to score its first touchdown of the game to close the gap 9-7. The drive concluded with an eight-yard pass from Chris Brimm to Markus Hood. Brimm completed seven passes on the long drive that bled into the second quarter to put his team back in the game.
 
The Falcon defense, now having time to get into a rhythm, forced a three-and-out on the next two VSU possessions. On the third Blazer drive, the hosts were only able to get off six plays before being forced to punt.
 
Notre Dame now had the ball with less than two minutes to play in the first half, and head coach Mike Jacobs appeared to be happy to go into the break trailing by just two. The Falcons ran the ball on their first three plays, but Jaleel McLaughlin was able to churn out 19 yards on those carries. NDC then called a timeout and started to look downfield with just 57 seconds to play in the second quarter.
 
The Falcons completed three passes, and ran the ball once, to get the line of scrimmage down to the VSU 22-yard line. Kicker Tanner Harding then came out to make a 39-yard field goal and give NDC a 10-9 lead at halftime.
 
Notre Dame now led Valdosta by one after the first two quarters, something no other team had been able to accomplish against the Blazers this season.
 
The Falcons came out in the third quarter with a strong offensive drive, moving the ball 69 yards in just five plays to get to the VSU six-yard line. But on third-and-goal, Valdosta State's David Brown intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it the length of the field to put VSU back up 16-10.
 
The Blazers forced a three-and-out on the Falcons next possession and returned the punt 32 yards to set up a short field at the NDC 26. Notre Dame was able to stop VSU on its first two plays, but gave up a 29-yard touchdown pass on third down. Valdosta State was now up 23-10 after scoring 14 points in less than five minutes.
 
After being set up to score at the opening of the third quarter, NDC now found itself trailing by two possessions. After the game, Jacobs said the pick six was a big shift for the teams.
 
"I don't think that one play is the reason we lost the game, but I certainly think it swung momentum quite a bit," Jacobs said. "We scored before half and came out of halftime to go right down the field. It was a huge play for them and it was tough to get back at that point."
 
On the next NDC drive, the offense again moved the ball down the field, this time 84 yards, but the Falcons ultimately turned the ball over on downs at the VSU eight-yard line, but that wouldn't be the end of Notre Dame's camp out in the Valdosta State red zone. The NDC defense forced a three-and-out, allowing just seven yards to bring out the VSU punt team. D'Niyae Morris then blocked the Blazer punt attempt and the Falcons recovered the ball on the one-yard line.
 
Two plays later, Brimm punched the ball past the goal line on a quarterback sneak to make the score 23-17 in favor of the home team.
 
Valdosta State did not waste any time recovering, however, and went 84 yards on one run to go up 30-17 before the end of the third quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, the teams traded the ball back and forth as the clock ran down. Neither offense got much going until Valdosta State drove down to get inside the NDC 20-yard line. But the Falcon defense, as they have been able to do all season long, came up with a big red-zone stop as Guam Lee recovered a fumble at the NDC 18-yard line.
 
Not only was Lee able to recover the fumble, but he also took it 82 yards to score a defensive touchdown and put the game back within six.
 
NDC attempted an onside kick and nearly recovered it, but the Blazers came away with the ball and ran the remaining 2:17 off the clock to win 30-24.
 
Notre Dame gave Valdosta State its first close contest of the season and proved all the predictors wrong.
 
"We did some good things that nobody really thought we'd be able to do," Brimm said.
 
"I think we shocked the world a little bit," said linebacker and team captain Curtis Collins. "We shocked a lot of people in our conference and in the country this season.
 
"Going in to the week, we knew that if we did our jobs that we would have a good chance to win. Our whole defense put on a strong performance, from our [defensive] line to our linebackers to our defensive backs. I'm proud of how we played today."
 
Collins and his teammates held Valdosta State to 30 points and 329 yards, which is the lowest number in both categories the Blazers have produced in 2018. VSU's previous season lows were 44 points and 438 yards.
 
Derrick Brumfield, Davionn Johnson, Jack Kosko and Sha'haun Williams all led the NDC defense with six tackles apiece. Brumfield, Kosko and Williams are all defensive lineman and their unit came up with 5.5 tackles for a loss throughout the contest.
 
"Our goal is always to control the line of scrimmage, and we were able to do that today," Brumfield said.
 
Williams recorded one sack on the day to move his season total to 20.0, which is third most in a single season in NCAA Division II history.
 
McLaughlin also worked his way up on the NCAA list. With 175 yards on the ground in the semifinal game, the true freshman worked his season total up to 2,421 rushing yards, which is fourth most in DII single-season history.
 
Brimm ended the day with 193 passing yards and two total touchdowns. Marvelle Ross was Brimm's favorite target with six receptions for 78 yards, but the redshirt-freshman quarterback threw to six different receivers on the day.
 
The 2018 Notre Dame College football team completed the program's first undefeated regular season (11-0), won the program's first conference championship, earned the first playoff berth in program history, and won two playoff games to make it to the NCAA DII Semifinals.
 
"I can't say enough about how much they've done to really set this program on the right course and raise the floor as to what we're capable of," said Jacobs after completing his third season as a head coach. "I'm certainly disappointed in today's outcome, but nothing will compare to how hard these kids have worked and how much they've given to the program over the last 15 weeks."