SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The road to the top of the Mountain East Conference is still very crowded after week six. After falling behind early on Saturday, No. 14 Notre Dame College took care of business, scoring 20 unanswered points in the second quarter and defeating No. 23 Frostburg State University, 23-21.

Notre Dame received the opening kickoff, but had to punt the ball away. Frostburg State took their time on their initial drive, marching 86 yards down the field and taking over seven minutes off the clock. FSU's quarterback Graham Walker was firing on all cylinders early in the contest. He threw to Malik Morris for 22 yards before completing a pass to Kyle Belack for 15 yards. Following a penalty, the Bobcats were backed up to a 2nd down with 22 yards to go.

Walker went back to work and found Lincoln Ikwubuo for nine yards and Belack for 29 yards to gain the first down, and more. Facing third down again, Morris ran a route into the endzone and made a quick move to the right before turning and running to the sideline on the left where he made a diving touchdown catch.

Frostburg State still led 7-0 until Notre Dame put points on the scoreboard with 7:12 on the clock in the second quarter. Quarterback Chris Brimm connected on the first four pass attempts on the drive, finding Jeremy Hamilton (9 yards), Napoleon Harris (6 yards), Reece Perkins (7 yards) and Harris (12 yards). Idris Lawrence took the ball and ran for 22 yards and then two plays later, Brimm sprinted for 10 yards. However, the Falcons' promising drive would stall on Frostburg State's nine-yard line and Tanner Harding converted his first field goal of the game.

The NDC defense flipped a switch after allowing the early touchdown to Frostburg State. After that touchdown drive, FSU's next five drives totaled only 54 yards and resulted in four punts and a turnover.

"I thought, against a really physical team, our team did a good job answering the bell, both the offensive and defensive line," said head coach Mickey Mental. "That's a really good football program."

Notre Dame's offense went to work and rode the momentum swing. Frostburg State punted from deep in their own territory and Bryce Sheppert helped his offense with a return of 10 yards. Sheppert finished the game with 19 punt return yards and 40 kick return yards.

"My mindset is, try to get the ball and when I get the ball, do the best to make a play with it," Sheppert said.

That return put the Falcons on the FSU 37-yard line and after Lawrence ran four times for a total of 35 yards, Brimm fooled everyone when he kept the ball and ran in for six points. And with 3:13 on the second quarter clock, Notre Dame led 10-7. Brimm would finish the contest going 16-for-20 through the air, for 171 yards, and also ran for 44 yards.

After the touchdown, Frostburg State was set up in great field position and looked to respond quickly after an NDC unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and an offside penalty. However, on the second play of the Bobcats' drive, Dylan Spaeth found his way into the backfield and knocked the ball out of the hands of the quarterback. Spaeth had seven tackles on the day, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Notre Dame recovered the fumble and the offense went down the field. The first of two unbelievable catches by Devanaire Conliffe took place on the drive, as he hauled in a pass that bounced off his shoulder pad, the ball went up into the air and settled into the NDC receiver's arms as he hit the ground. Lawrence ran in for a three-yard TD.

"Anytime you throw the ball near number two [Conliffe], it seems to be plucked out of the air," Mental said.

Again, Frostburg was forced to punt near their own endzone. NDC got the ball with 21-seconds left in the first half. Lawrence ran for 14 yards and went out of bounds to stop the clock. Frostburg State jumped offside, but Brimm went back to pass on the free play. The pass went to Conliffe down the sideline and he jumped up, grabbed the ball out of the air with one hand and made the catch with a defender jumping into him. That set up a field goal by Harding and Notre Dame led 20-7 going into the halftime break. Seventeen of those points came in the final 3:13 of the half.

"Anytime it's a free play and the ball is in the air, you have to go win it," Conliffe stated. "Our coaches preach everyday, when that opportunity comes, you have to make the play. I made the play and was glad CB [Chris Brimm] put the ball where it needed to be."

On the opening drive of the second half, Frostburg State used one big play to get back within six points of NDC. Walker found Belack with a pass across the middle of the field. Belack spun out of one tackle and found space to run. After using one final block by a teammate, Belack finished the 63-yard pass play for a touchdown with 12:25 to go in the third.

That would be the only points on the scoreboard for either team in the third quarter. Harding made up for a missed 41-yard field goal attempt in the third, by converting on his fourth try of the day, a 31-yard kick with 11:45 remaining in the game.

"I try to keep a pretty clear head, focus on my steps, get the correct distance, aim for my spot and make it go through," Harding said.

The contest was certainly far from over, with NDC leading 23-14. Frostburg nearly scored on the first play when they got the ball back. Josh Maxwell ran 62 yards and would have reached the endzone, if not for Roland Rowe chasing him down and making the tackle. Four plays later, Maxwell did reach the endzone, making the score 23-21 in favor of the home team.

Both teams punted the ball away before Notre Dame took nearly four-and-a-half minutes off the clock with a 59-yard drive. It resulted in zero points as the short field goal attempt was blocked.

The Bobcats had the ball with 2:06 on the clock, but they were out of timeouts. Walker was under intense pressure by the NDC defense and ran for two yards on the first play, before Bryce Sheppert all but sealed the win with a sack to move FSU back five yards.

"Bryce came off the edge," Mental said. "Coach [Jake] Chestnut and the defensive staff made a nice little pressure adjustment off of what we had been doing. Bryce, like last year against Frostburg, made a big-time play in a big-time situation."

"I wanted to disguise the blitz, so I figured I would be unblocked," Sheppert mentioned. "I just wanted to make a play for the team."

After allowing 282 rushing yards against Charleston last week, the NDC defense allowed just 76 rush yards to Frostburg, with 62 of them coming on the Maxwell run in the fourth quarter. They allowed Frostburg to obtain just 13 first downs, which is the fewest an NDC opponent has gotten this season.

Conliffe finished with 83 receiving yards for the Falcons and Lawrence would run for 93 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Nathan Moore led the team with eight tackles and had a fumble recovery. Guam Lee added seven tackles and a tackle for loss.

"I thought one of the keys was efficiency in the passing game, 16-for-20, which is really good to see," Mental said. "I thought Tanner did a really good job in the field goal aspect. We have to do a better job and score touchdowns when we get down to the redzone and do better offensively on third downs, but our defense stepped up tremendously today when we needed it."

Next up, NDC will battle West Virginia Wesleyan College on Oct. 16, during Homecoming weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.