WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – On a warm and humid Thursday night, Notre Dame College continued their trend of success in the run game against West Liberty University, going for five touchdowns on the ground in a 43-24 victory. NDC is now 7-0 all-time against the Hilltoppers.

To start the contest, West Liberty took the opening kickoff and went to work, marching 46 yards in just over two minutes. Zach Phillips completed two of his four passes and Quincy Wimbish ran for five yards. The biggest play of the drive was a 34-yard reception by Isaiah Robinson. NDC's defense did not give up a touchdown so the field goal by Owen Rozanc sailed through the uprights from 46 yards away and for the second week in a row, the Falcons trailed 3-0.

On the ensuing Notre Dame drive, a 44-yard run by Jaleel McLaughlin put the Falcons in good position to strike for the lead or tie the game. However, a field goal attempt by Tanner Harding came up short.

After punts by both teams, West Liberty had the ball on their own 20-yard line. On the first play of the drive, NDC's Saivon Davis stuck his hand up on a pass attempt and deflected it high into the air. Justin Peck hauled it in for the interception and the visitors were in business, inside the red zone.

"A lot was going on. A big shout out to my teammates for getting their hands in the passing lane, and getting it tipped. The [defensive backs] taught me how to be a ball hawk," Peck said.

However, the drive stalled and Harding was called on for a 28-yard field goal that he would convert with 7:22 remaining, tying the game at three.

West Liberty was stopped by the Falcons on their next drive and were forced to punt. The punter Reed Reitter, a freshman, shanked the attempt into the stands and the ball was spotted at the previous line of scrimmage on the West Liberty 12-yard line. NDC started there and used that gift to reach pay dirt.

The touchdown was a special one, as Ladennyawn Greene crossed the goal line for the first time since September 16, 2017, before he suffered a knee injury.

"It feels great, I'm just glad to be back out there with my brothers," Greene mentioned. "I worked my butt off, every day in the training room, I basically lived there. I feel whole again.

"I feel a lot better than I did two years ago. My whole knowledge of the game has gotten better. I'm definitely better as a player, mentally."

Another bad West Liberty punt put NDC in good field position early in the second quarter. After getting the ball down to the six yard line, Greene pushed forward for five yards. Then, on the next play, ran the ball in from one yard out, giving the Falcons a 15-3 lead with 12:10 remaining in the first half.

About four minutes later, McLaughlin took the first and only play of a Notre Dame drive 70 yards for six points, and after missing back-to-back extra point attempts, Harding converted on the point after touchdown to give NDC a 22-3 lead.

"It's brand new turf and has a lot of fill, it's a little softer than most of the fields we play on," said head coach Mike Jacobs, talking about the kicking game. "But I won't make excuses, we just didn't strike the ball very well, but I have all the confidence in the world in Tanner Harding, he has been as consistent as anybody, he had half of our points last week. He'll bounce back, he'll be dialed in this week and we fully expect him to have a great week next week."

Chris Brimm was hit and fumbled the ball which allowed West Liberty to start their drive on the NDC 19-yard line. With 4:26 remaining in the second quarter, the WLU drive ended with Thomas Cole making a touchdown reception, his fourth of the season. The Hilltoppers trailed by just 12 points at the half, 22-10.

To start the second half, NDC punted twice and West Liberty punted once. But when the Hilltoppers got the ball with 10:04 remaining in the third quarter, the crowd began to get loud. The reason being, West Liberty would put together a drive lasting nearly six minutes which resulted in a touchdown. Phillips was in control as he either passed or ran on 11 of the 14 plays on the drive. WLU climbed within five points, 22-17.

While the momentum had shifted to the home squad, it looked like NDC would have to settle for a field goal on their following drive. After a 30-yard kickoff return from Jalen Boyd, the Falcons were in a good spot. And then after converting a first down, a false start penalty pushed the offense back. On 3rd and 11, Greene put his head down with the mentality that "whoever is in my way is getting run over." He bulldozed his way to a first down, setting up for a short touchdown run for McLaughlin. NDC led 29-17 in the fourth.

The Falcons have now ran for an average of 384 yards over the last three matchups with WLU. Tonight, McLaughlin ran for 258 and Greene added 43.

"It starts up front with our offensive line play," Jacobs said. "Again, I can't say enough about the job that Anthony Soto does with those guys. Then it goes into having a really talented backfield that is four or five guys deep that we trust. It starts up front with the line and the job that those guys do and the conditioning that they do, because it was hot tonight."

Notre Dame got the ball about a minute later, called McLaughlin's name for six plays, including his third scamper into the end zone.

Later, while responding to a West Liberty score, Notre Dame would efficiently use four plays to get back in the end zone with 5:07 remaining as Brimm hit Zaire Mitchell with an easy pass-and-catch for six. Mitchell and Marvelle Ross each had five receptions.

"With as much as we run the football, it really opens things up in the passing game," Jacobs explained. "I thought Chris did a pretty good job, but we have to put the ball on the money a little more consistently, we had a few drops that we need to clean up but I'm proud of the way those guys played, they're dynamic targets. Zaire is a guy who is 6'6", 6'7" and with Marvelle's speed, they give us the opportunity to do a lot of different things."

In the final five minutes, Curtis Collins grabbed an interception and Shean Roy forced a fumble, allowing the Falcons to win the turnover battle, 3-2.

"I thought our defense played really well, again," Jacobs said. "We held a team under 60 yards rushing for the second week in a row. They had about two yards per carry and more than half of the yards came from their quarterback. To continue to hold at the line of scrimmage and make it hard for teams to run, it allows us to rush the passer and the turnovers are always critical. We gave them a short field once and we have to clean that up but I'm proud of the way those guys are playing right now, those guys are doing a really nice job."

Nathan Moore led the team in tackles with seven and while the sophomore linebacker is getting comfortable in the defense, he is excited about what he sees from his teammates early in the season.

"Our defensive effort is tremendous," he said. "No matter where the ball is at, there are 11 hats on the ball. We've got some schemes to clean up, but other than that, we are just playing lights out defensively."

Offensively, the Falcons totaled 444 total yards to the Hilltoppers' 268. After starting the game 0-for-6 converting on third downs, NDC ended the game 7-for-17 in that category. West Liberty was 7-for-18 on third downs but did go 3-for-3 in the red zone.

Notre Dame comes home to take on Fairmont State University in the "Falcon Bowl" on September 21. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.