SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – For the fourth consecutive season, No. 9 Notre Dame College earned a win in their season opener. However, Saturday's game was their first lid-lifter since 2018 that came against an opponent who was receiving votes in the national poll and first opener to go to overtime since 2011. In a difficult battle on a warm day, the Falcons were able to come away with a 42-35 victory over Ashland University, on Mueller Field.

Ashland wasted little time getting down the field on their first drive. Quarterback Austin Brenner found Logan Bolin for 25 yards through the air and, a couple plays later, he completed a 51-yard touchdown strike to KeShun Jones.

Both defenses then took the stage and did not allow another point in the first. With about five minutes to go, Bolin caught another pass but NDC's Ron Salters made a great play. As both players fell to the turf, Salters stripped the ball. The Falcons recovered, but could not score.

A slow-moving NDC drive, which started late in the first quarter and went into the second, featured a couple rushes by Tyris Dickerson and a few short passes to Jeremy Hamilton. A targeting call moved Notre Dame up 15 yards. Then a reception by Reece Perkins for 24 yards and a two-yard run by Tyris Dickerson tied the game and capped a nine play, 70-yard drive.

"We never want to start slow, but as soon as we started picking it up, we got some spark from the defense, I think that's when we got the ball rolling," Quarterback Chris Brimm said. And we got the ball in the right person's hands."

The Eagles quickly responded on their next drive, which was 10 plays and 75 yards. Brenner finished things off by using his legs to go 16 yards into the end zone to take a 14-7 advantage.

Notre Dame's defense came up big again, as Noah Harris-Lyles chased Brenner and chopped down to knock the ball loose. The AU quarterback fumbled and Guam Lee scooped the ball up and scored from 65 yards out to tie the contest at 14 with 1:32 to go before halftime.

A number that stuck out was the Falcons' third down conversion rate at halftime, which was 0-for-6. They turned it around and went 6-for-8 in the second half, as the offense started to click.

"I think we weren't in rhythm that whole first half," head coach Mickey Mental said. "[Ashland] did a really good job of showing something we hadn't seen much of. We made some adjustments. We were behind the sticks a lot. We were in a lot of third and longs, which is not easy. You try to pick those up, but percentages and analytics say it's going to be tough sledding the rest of the day. I thought we got some favorable down and distances and our guys made big plays, one-on-one."

Special teams made their presence known when Bryce Sheppert grabbed the opening kickoff to begin the second half and weaved around defenders for a 99-yard return TD to put six points on the board for NDC. With that play, he broke Marvelle Ross' NDC record of a 98-yard kickoff return, set in 2016.

The shootout then began as both teams ran up and down the field, putting points on the board. Ashland used back-to-back long drives that lasted over five minutes and featured at least 11 plays. The first resulted in a rushing touchdown by Eli Potts and the next was a two-yard rush TD by Gei'vonni Washington. Sandwiched in between those two Ashland scores was a terrific pass down the field from Brimm to Davis Patterson for a 61-yard touchdown.

The game was tied at 28 with 1:49 on the third quarter clock.

After an NDC field goal attempt went wide left, early in the fourth, Brenner led the Eagles into the end zone. The QB ran for 33 yards and threw a 35-yard pass on the next drive.

The Falcons faced adversity, down by seven, but stepped up to the challenge. Dickerson took the ball to start the drive and looked refreshed, running for 27 yards over three carries. Brimm went 4-for-4 throwing the ball. Dickerson ran the ball twice and then Patterson took a pitch to the right side and stayed on his feet to tie the game at 35.

Brimm would finish with 158 passing yards and two touchdowns. Dickerson ran for 80 yards and a touchdown.

"I thought our kids responded to having some adversity, early on in the game," Mental said. "Obviously, when you face a program of Ashland's caliber, things aren't going to be easy. I thought we adjusted and played to our standard later on in the game. When things don't go well, and you have to rely on senior leadership, we have a tremendous class of senior leaders who played a lot of football games and have been in a lot of big-time moments, that the moment is never too big."

Ashland began their next drive at their own 26-yard line. They drove all the way down to NDC's 40, before Tavon Hooks stepped up and intercepted a pass, ultimately sending the game to overtime.

"We were in Cover-3," Hooks said. "We knew in big down situations, they like to go four verts. As the down went on, I saw the two verts, so I split the difference and made the play on the ball when the ball was in the air."

In overtime, Dickerson ran the ball twice and then Brimm found Devanaire Conliffe in the right corner of the endzone for the 42-35 lead. Dylan Spaeth and Guam Lee provided a fourth and one stop for the victory.

"Early in the game, we kept our composure, never let the big moments get too big for us and get the fourth down stop to seal the game," Hooks said, talking about the defense.

On defense for NDC, Nathan Moore had 10 tackles, while Spaeth and Sheppert each had eight. Harris-Lyles added five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and four QB hurries.

Notre Dame has a short week ahead as they will travel to take on Wheeling University, on Sept. 9, at 7 p.m.

Notes: For the 11th consecutive season, the Falcons won their home opener; Tanner Harding, who went 6-for-6 on PATs against Ashland, now has made 203 extra points in his career.