FROSTBURG, Md. – Notre Dame College and Frostburg State University stood at the top of the Mountain East Conference football standings. Notre Dame had won 19 straight regular season games and Frostburg had won seven straight games in their inaugural MEC season. NDC came into the game ranked sixth in NCAA Division II while Frostburg State was receiving votes in the national poll. But in the first meeting between the two teams on Saturday, the Falcons led for nearly 47 minutes of the game and won 35-13.

Notre Dame won the coin toss but deferred to the second half and kicked the ball away. After the two teams traded punts on their first possessions, Frostburg State started on their own 30-yard line with 10:27 to go in the first. Running back Gavin Lavat ran for 35 yards and two first downs to get the Bobcats in field goal position. FSU put the first points on the scoreboard when Jeremy Harrison connected on a 26-yard field goal. Under current head coach DeLane Fitzgerald, Frostburg was 38-3 coming into the game when scoring first.

Then it was Notre Dame's turn to run the ball down the field. On 3rd and 7, quarterback Chris Brimm ran eight yards for a first down. Three plays later, with the Falcons facing a 3rd and 11, Jaleel McLaughlin ran for 21 yards, resulting in a first down. McLaughlin would run for 10 more yards during the drive before Ladennyawn Green ran for 12 yards to put the Falcons on FSU's 38-yard line. Brimm would take it from there, capping the 11 play, 86-yard drive, with a 38-yard scamper to the end zone for his first rushing touchdown of the season, giving NDC a 7-3 lead.

"I thought our defense did a good job holding them to a field goal on their second possession," head coach Mike Jacobs said. "After that, our offense settled in a little bit and really Chris Brimm had that huge scramble and run for our first touchdown. We were up to play [before that], but I think that energized our kids on the field and got me going a little bit."

"It was a mix up in the play and I just took what they gave me," Brimm said. "I took off and once I cleared the safety, I knew there was nobody there, so I had to make a play."

To make that drive even more significant, Jaleel McLaughlin broke the MEC record for most career rushing yards. He finished the day with 215 yards and three touchdowns. The sophomore now has 4,079 rush yards for his career.

"It feels great," said McLaughlin. "I'm trying to continue being me and continue to keep doing whatever I can do to reward my offensive line for how hard those guys work. They're the reason why I'm doing the things that I'm doing and I just try to continue to work hard every day so I can reward those guys. But this is a great accomplishment for me and for those guys."

After the NDC defense forced a three-and-out, Notre Dame began their next possession with a 20-yard completion to Jalen Boyd, an 11-yard completion to Andrew Turski and McLaughlin ran for 14 yards. McLaughlin would complete the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to cap an 11-play, 62-yard drive with 11:17 remaining in the second quarter.

With NDC still leading 14-3 later in the quarter, the Falcons' offense went back to work, after their defense forced Frostburg's fourth punt of the day. To make things worse for FSU, the punt went off the side of Shawn Bliss' foot and out of bounds just 17 yards down the field. Then, Notre Dame's possession lasted 11 seconds when McLaughlin took it to the house on a 75-yard touchdown run. He reached the edge, found space and took off down the field to give the Falcons a 21-3 lead.

On back-to-back plays on the final drive of the first half, NDC's Amir Atwood and Derrick Brumfield combined for a sack before Saivon Davis took down the Bobcats' QB. Frostburg State had only allowed seven sacks all season coming into the game.

"We knew that out on the edge we have some guys who are able to get after the quarterback," Notre Dame's Defensive Coordinator Jahmal Brown said. "We kind of knew what we would do, protection-wise, if they were to get into drop back passing situations. Again, we did a great a job on first and second down and once we got to those long yardage situations, our guys up front did a great job of getting after the quarterback, using their speed and athleticism to get past those offensive linemen."

At halftime, McLaughlin had 149 rush yards and two touchdowns. Brimm ran for 39 yards but passed for just 33 yards in the first half. He would finish with 125 yards through the air, with 92 coming in the second half.

"We knew in the first half we were going to be able to run the ball, but we talked about it at the half, that we were going to have to throw the ball," Brimm commented. "Our receivers do a good job everyday so I'm comfortable anytime I need to pass."

NDC got the ball to start the third quarter, converted for one first down but then were forced to punt. Dominic Buttazzoni took the snap, but the Bobcats pressured him and blocked the punt and recovered the ball on NDC's 25-yard line. Frostburg State would get the ball as close as the one-yard line, but Notre Dame's defense and an FSU penalty pushed their offense back. Harrison then missed a 31-yard field goal attempt.

"For our defense to get a stop and hold them after having a punt blocked, you can to point to that moment in the game," Jacobs mentioned. "Very rarely do you win a game after having a punt blocked, they're huge swing plays. For us and our defense, to put their foot down, after they got the ball on our 25 and hold them without points, was huge. Then to come back in the fourth quarter and put up 14 points of out own. I'm so proud of our kids, they played their butts off today."

The Bobcats would eventually put three more points on the scoreboard, after a nine-play drive resulted in a 42-yard field goal with 3:01 remaining in the third, making the score 21-6 in favor of NDC.

Notre Dame's offense and defense then made sure they put the game away. Immediately following the field goal, a 77-yard drive resulted in a 32-yard touchdown connection from Brimm to Jeremy Hamilton, who was running across the middle of the field and into the end zone. On the second play of Frostburg's next drive, a throw from Will Brunson was tipped by Notre Dame's Davionn Johnson and landed in the hands of Bryce Sheppert for his third interception of the season. McLaughlin then found pay dirt after a 38-yard run. In the blink of an eye, the Falcons lead increased to 29 points, 35-6.

Frostburg would score their first touchdown with a little more than seven minutes remaining when Brunson ran in from 10 yards away.

"I thought our kids played hard," Jacobs said. "We talked all week that we had to be super physical against this group. We're similar teams in the sense that we both like to run the football. I thought we were lights out today, on both sides of the football. What can I say about our defense? Their running back was averaging 106 yards per game, they were rushing for 152 yards as a team and we held them under 100 yards rushing today. I think we held them to under 250 yards of total offense. Conversely, we ran the football for 347 yards today. Jaleel McLaughlin had an unbelievable day."

"The most important thing we had to do was stop the run, which is what we focus on every week," Brown said. "We knew this week, that it was going to be really important to stop the run, because if they can't run the football, then they can't continue to milk the clock. We wanted to make sure we did a great job on first and second down, stopping the run and putting them in long yardage situations where they had to throw the football."

Frostburg came into the game with a plus-5 turnover margin, but the Falcons won the turnover battle, 1-0. NDC is now 22-0 when winning the turnover battle since 2016. Guam Lee led NDC with nine tackles. Curtis Collins had eight tackles and a pass breakup. Davis finished with three tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks, both season-highs. Brumfield also had 1.5 sacks while Jack Kosko added a sack. Overall, NDC finished with five sacks.

NDC celebrates Senior Day next week, as they battle Glenville State College on Mueller Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m., on November 9.