SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – On Saturday, the offenses from No. 13 Notre Dame College and No. 8 Slippery Rock University did not disappoint as the teams put up remarkable numbers and piled up the points in a NCAA Division II Quarterfinal game. NDC nearly finished their second half comeback, but SRU narrowly moves on by a score of 65-59.

"I'd like to take an opportunity to congratulate Shawn Lutz and Slippery Rock University football as they represent Super Region 1 in the final four," head coach Mike Jacobs said. "A tough football game and I'm proud of the kids. It was a game of highs and lows and I don't think we ever quit today, at all. So, I'm proud of the effort. Certainly appreciative of the seniors who played their last game today and really have given us everything. This was our 28th game in two seasons and that's a lot of football."

Notre Dame received the opening kickoff, which has been a good omen in 2019. In Notre Dame's 14 games this season, the team who touched the ball first, scored in 11 of the games. On Saturday, Jaleel McLaughlin started the game with back-to-back rushes of seven yards. Then, Chris Brimm threw a strike to Zaire Mitchell, to his left. Mitchell caught the ball near the line of scrimmage, but turned up field. He received a big block from Tay Johnson, opening the path for a 57-yard touchdown.

"It was a lot of [man-to-man coverage]," Mitchell said. "Their safeties were over top of me, half of the game. Numbers 38 and 1 really tried to cover me aggressively as we ran an outside zone, inside zone and I just applied pressure and was blocking as hard as I could."

The NDC faithful were loud and the players were pumped up as the Rock's offense took the field, who came into the game fifth in Division II in total yards. After a four-yard completion, Jack Kosko sacked Roland Rivers III and then an incomplete pass forced a Slippery Rock punt.

Needing to get the offense moving again, on 3rd and 10 from the NDC 18-yard line, Brimm threaded the needle to Jeremy Hamilton in the middle of the field. Hamilton missed two defenders and ran to the goal line, but was called down one yard away from pay dirt. Three plays later, McLaughlin put the Falcons ahead 14-0 with 10:13 left in the first quarter.

As expected, the Rock's offense struck for a big play, as Rivers hit Henry Litwin for a 70-yard touchdown, on the second play of their drive.

Incredibly, on NDC's first play of their next drive, Brimm hit Marvelle Ross in stride, who had outrun the defense, and continued to do so all the way to an 85-yard touchdown. Ross finished his career with 5,453 career all-purpose yards, which is the most in program history.

On the other side, Rivers started out with a 45-yard completion to Jermaine Wynn, all the way to the NDC five-yard line. Two plays later, the Rivers-to-Wynn connection worked for a score as Slippery Rock pulled within seven points, 21-14, with 8:16 still on the clock in the first.

Notre Dame looked like they were driving again, as Ladennyawn Greene took a handoff up the field 23 yards, but the ball came out before he hit the ground and the Rock recovered. Slippery Rock took the ball down the field 51 yards in two minutes for a touchdown, to tie the game at 21. Rivers was 4-for-5 on the drive for 32 yards.

The crazy first quarter continued as the Falcons punted, but then the NDC defense forced SRU to punt. That's when special teams came through and Jake Chapla's punt was blocked and recovered by the Falcons at the Rock's 22-yard line. The result of the drive would be a 31-yard field goal by Tanner Harding.

At the end of the first quarter, the teams had combined for 45 points, as NDC led 24-21. That's the second highest amount the Falcons scored in the first quarter this season, after putting up 28 points against West Virginia Wesleyan on October 5. The Falcons and Rock combined for 452 yards in the first 15 minutes.

After Slippery Rock used a 69-yard drive over five minutes to take their first lead, 28-24, Ross made sure his team stayed on top as he returned the kickoff 96 yards. Less than 30-seconds later, the Falcons took the lead back, 31-28. Ross had three kick returns this season and five in his career.

"I was surprised [they kicked to me], I really was," Ross said. "But the ball was in the air and I was thinking this might be my only opportunity so I had to make the best of it."

Slippery Rock then scored on their next three drives and forced the Falcons to punt on back-to-back drives. The Rock went into the halftime break ahead, 49-31. Brimm completed three big passes and totaled 223 pass yards in the first 30 minutes. The NDC running game was held to just 59 yards. For SRU, Rivers had 383 pass yards and six TDs.

The Falcons came out of the locker room on a mission and outscored the Rock, 28-16 over the final two stanzas.

"We talk about how the game is going to ebb and flow," Jacobs said. "At this point in the year, when you're in the elite eight and you're playing a Harlon Hill Finalist [Roland Rivers III], you know they're going to make plays. We talked all week that we had to keep our composure, as much as possible. You have to have a next play mentality. You can never get too high when you make a play, you can never get too low when you don't, you just have to keep going."

"Stay the course," Brimm said. "I know we were down at points, but we stayed on each other to stay in the moment. The main thing at halftime was just to not give up and stay the course."

After the opening kickoff, Slippery Rock moved quickly. They used eight plays to get to the 15-yard line on NDC's side of the field, which included converting on 4th and 7, using a fake punt. Linebacker Terrell Gabriel took the direct snap and passed the ball for a for a 32-yard pass and catch. However, three incompletions later, Chapla came out to settle for a field goal.

Then, after two completions by Brimm, McLaughlin broke through the line and was gone for a 67-yard score. He had just 39 rush yards in the first half, but would accumulate 87 in the second. McLaughlin finished the day with 126 rush yards and 34 receiving yards.

"I just had to be patient and play my game," McLaughlin said. "I knew stuff would start to open up with how our offensive line had been playing. I just continued to play my game."

McLaughlin finished the season with 2,316 rush yards, which is sixth most in a season in DII history and he had 198 points scored which is eighth most in a season in Division II.

However, Slippery Rock went down the field and scored another touchdown on a 65-yard drive that took 3:21 off the clock. They led 59-38 with 5:43 to go in the third quarter. That's when NDC started to turn the tide.

Later in the third, Chapla was punting near his own endzone and Ross returned the punt 18 yards, putting Notre Dame at the Rock's 19. Brimm completed a pass to Hamilton (12 yards) and Ross (7 yards). Ross' catch was near the side of the endzone, but he tip-toed his way to six points, with less than a minute to go.

SRU punted again, and Brimm capped a 46-yard drive with a 19-yard pass to Mitchell who caught the ball over the defense and had a clear path to the endzone. Notre Dame was down just seven points, 59-52 early in the fourth.

The Falcons clamped down and Rivers went 1-for-3 on the next drive, completing one pass for six yards. Chapla then punted for the third consecutive drive. But, after Ross back peddled to catch the punt, he lost the ball and Slippery Rock recovered on Notre Dame's 15-yard line.

The Rock would score in less than a minute, and the Falcons blocked the extra point, making the difference just 13 points. At the end of NDC's next drive, McLaughlin would make a great catch, reaching up in the endzone and pulling NDC within six points, 65-59, with 6:29 remaining in the game. Brimm's five touchdown passes is tied for his season-high and is tied for the most in a game in NDC history.

"All of [the players on the offense] are great players," Brimm said. "Personally, I don't really want or need recognition, I just want to do my 1/11th and get my playmakers the ball."

Notre Dame got the ball back one more time, but a Slippery Rock interception essentially ended the contest.

Head coach Mike Jacobs spoke about his seniors after the game and gave them a lot of credit.

"To be in the 11th year [of the program's existence], what the seniors have done is change the trajectory of the program from one that competes weekly, to one that competes at a national level, and does so at a very high rate," Jacob said. "[The seniors] go down as the winningest class in school history, for now. I really can't say thank you enough for what they have given our program."

For NDC, Brimm finished the game 14-for-26 with 360 yards. Mitchell caught five passes for 99 yards and two TDs. Ross had three catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns. He also totaled 126 yards in kick returns. Hamilton made two catches for 93 yards. Notre Dame had 548 total yards of offense.

On the defensive side, Bryce Sheppert led the team with 11 tackles, including eight solo stops. Kosko and Saivon Davis each had a sack, while Sha'haun Williams and Guam Lee had half a sack. Both also had a QB hurry.

"Once you see things happen in practice and then see the same things in the game, you just get comfortable with it. I was just trying to do whatever I could to help my teammates," Sheppert said.

Slippery Rock's Roland Rivers went 27-for-47 with 436 yards and six touchdowns. Charles Snorweah had 103 rush yards. Litwin caught 12 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns. SRU was 8-for-8 on red zone chances and went 4-of-5 on fourth down conversions. The Rock finished the game with 586 yards.

Notre Dame has spent 20 straight weeks ranked in the AFCA top-25.