SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – "It's your typical Notre Dame-Slippery Rock game… This is a big-time game, with two big-time programs."

That's how Notre Dame College head coach Mickey Mental described the action on Mueller Field, on Saturday, an NCAA Division II Playoff game that kept everyone on the edge of their seat. No. 6 ranked Notre Dame scored 21 points in the second quarter and held off No. 19 Slippery Rock University in the second half, for a 33-25 victory.

These two teams met in the NCAA Quarterfinals in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Back in 2019, the teams combined for 124 points, and the first quarter of Saturday's game was showing signs of another shootout after Notre Dame scored on their first three possessions and SRU scored on their first two.

The Falcons, who are the three seed in Super Region One, took the opening kickoff and the offense did not look smooth right away. However, with NDC looking at 3rd and 9 after a penalty, Chris Brimm completed his first pass to Devanaire Conliffe for 17 yards and then hit Reece Perkins for nine yards. The running game started to pick up and Tyris Dickerson ran twice for a combined 15 yards. One more completed pass to Davis Patterson before the drive stalled and Tanner Harding was called upon. He delivered with a 45-yard field goal that tied his career-long.

Slippery Rock, the six seed in the region, wasted no time as quarterback Noah Grover completed passes to Cinque Sweeting of 24 yards, 16 yards and then a 13-yard touchdown strike on their first drive.

Idris Lawrence entered the backfield on NDC's second drive, running seven times for 43 yards. The Falcons went for it on 4th and 11 on Slippery Rock's 38-yard line and that was the correct decision. Brimm found Patterson near the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked and the Falcons lead was just two points, 9-7, with 4:15 to go in the first quarter.

"Receivers making plays on the ball, just taking what they [Slippery Rock] gave us and playing our game," Brimm said.

On the next drive, prior to the end of the first quarter, Grover completed four passes and three of them were of at least 15 yards. To start the second quarter, Slippery Rock was threatening in the red zone. A four-yard run by Tim Smith put the Rock at NDC's two-yard line. The momentum did not swing all the way to the Slippery Rock side because a false start penalty pushed the offense back five yards and the next snap was fumbled, but Grover jumped on top of it to preserve the possession. Two plays later, DJ Opsatnik hit a 29-yard field goal and Slippery Rock walked away with three points and a 10-9 advantage.

Three of the first four drives in the game took 11 plays. After the Rock's field goal, no other drive lasted longer than 10 plays.

The Falcons' offense was the definition of efficient in the second stanza. Trialing by a point, the Falcons went 69 yards down the field in seven plays. Brimm left little doubt on who was running the show on the first drive of the second quarter as he ran for 12 yards and then 10 yards, completed a 23-yard pass to Conliffe and then sent a lob pass over the defense to Perkins for a touchdown. NDC led 16-10 with 9:10 remaining in the first half.

The Falcons truly had all three facets of the game working together near the midway point of the second quarter. Following an incredible 71-yard punt by Dominic Buttazzoni, SRU was pinned on their own 9-yard line by NDC special teams. On the first play of the Rock's drive, Dylan Spaeth read the eyes of the QB and stepped back into position to intercept the pass. On offense, three handoffs went to Dickerson, who went for a combined 29 yards and found the endzone to give NDC a 23-10 lead.

The Falcons had 278 rush yards, which is second most in NDC's NCAA Division II Playoff history. Dickerson had 95 yards before an injury. Lawrence added a career-high 164 rush yards.

"It starts with the five guys up front, with our tight ends and offensive linemen," Mental said. "We can't go without those big guys. What they do up front, making the calls and coming off the ball, they dictate what we're able to do on offense. In November weather in Cleveland, Ohio, you better be able to run the football and we hang our hat on that around here."

Notre Dame did not stop there, on Slippery Rock's next drive, the Notre Dame defense started breaking through the offensive line and causing problems. Grover was sacked by Noah Harris-Lyles and then the SRU QB threw an interception, which was called back due to an offsides penalty on the Falcons. NDC did not have to wait long for another opportunity, as Ron Salters picked off a pass later on the same drive.

The NDC offense took the field and needed two plays for seven more points. Lawrence took off and ran for 38 yards before he was guided out of bounds by the last Slippery Rock defender in his way. Brimm then found Conliffe, who shook off a defender to give Brimm his third passing touchdown of the day. Notre Dame led 30-10 with less than a minute to play in the half.

Brimm is now one touchdown away from tying the Mountain East Conference record for most career touchdown passes. He has 86 in his career, including a career-high 28 this season.

"Every time we play Slippery Rock, we know we're going to get their best shot, so we had to play our game," Brimm said. "Going into that second half, we knew we had to get that late score [in the second quarter] to keep that lead and get us going."

"That late score kind of helped us stabilize the lead even more," Mental said. "We need to continue to play like we did in the first half, we have to finish the game like that. I loved the guys effort and attitude throughout the game."

Notre Dame's defense came out of the locker room looking to cause more havoc. The first pass play of the third quarter was hurried by Harris-Lyles, who was chasing the quarterback. Jack Kosko and Lavell Gibson would later combine for a sack to force a punt. Kyle Butts, the SRU punter, kicked the ball off the side of his foot and the ball went 12 yards.

Notre Dame started on Slippery Rock's 37-yard line but could not get into the endzone. Harding put three more points on the scoreboard with a 37-yard field goal with 11:21 to go in the third quarter.

That would be the final time that the Falcons would score and momentum began to swing as Slippery Rock scored 15 straight points.

Sweeting returned the next kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. The Rock's defense forced a Notre Dame punt and then SRU went 90 yards down the field in 10 plays, finishing the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run by Smith. SRU converted a two-point conversion and trailed by just eight points, 33-25, with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

"They made a nice adjustment in the run game," said head coach Mickey Mental. "We just lost momentum, honestly. They do a good job on the outside, on contested balls, we have to be better on that. In the first half, we made those catches. We've also got to be better on third downs."

The defense still made their presence known as Slippery Rock attempted to tie the contest. Early in the fourth quarter, Harris-Lyles and Gibson combined for sack on 2nd and 23 and then Kosko forced a punt after taking Grover down for a sack on the next play.

After NDC's fourth punt of the second half, SRU and started their drive with 2:07 on the fourth quarter clock. A 15-yard targeting penalty on Notre Dame moved the Rock near midfield, and they put the game in the hands of the quarterback. Grover threw his third interception of the game when the pass was tipped in the air and Tavon Hooks grabbed the ball as he tip-toed the sideline.

"That's one of my dream plays right there," Hooks said. "It came to life, so it's very exciting."

Notre Dame has 20 interceptions on the season, which is a new program record.

The Falcons are now 7-0 on Mueller Field this season, tying the program record set in 2018 for most home wins.

The second seed in Super Region One, Shepherd University, was in a tight battle with the University of Findlay all day. Shepherd held on and won by a score of 38-31, and will host the Falcons next week. The game is scheduled for Nov. 27 with a start time to be determined.