This Week: For the first time since Oct. 1, Notre Dame College football will be playing at home. The Falcons battle Glenville State University, on Oct. 22, at noon.
Records: Notre Dame enters the week with an overall record of 5-2, while going 5-1 in the Mountain East Conference, after scoring 41 points on the road and defeating West Virginia Wesleyan, last week. The Falcons are still tied with Concord at the top of the MEC standings. Glenville State is 4-3 (3-3 MEC) and has had an up and down season so far. The Pioneers are 3-0 at home, but they have gone 1-3 away from Glenville, and have not won a road contest since the season opener on Sept. 1.
Coaches Corner: Garrett Mack is in his first season as the head coach of the NDC football program. He had been on the staff for two seasons, prior to 2022. Mike Kellar is in his fourth season on the sideline for the Pioneers. His coaching record at GSU is 14-18, overall, and 12-18 in the conference.
Rankings: Notre Dame is receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25.
Series History: The Falcons and Glenville State have had close battles in almost every matchup since their first meeting in 2013. NDC has a winning record against every other opponent that is currently in the MEC, but they are 4-4 against Glenville State. Notre Dame has only beaten GSU once at home in four tries. That was a 35-10 victory on Mueller Field in 2017. Glenville State won in South Euclid, in overtime, on Nov. 9, 2019. Since that day, the Falcons have not lost another home game.
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame jumped out to a bit of a slow start on the road against West Virginia Wesleyan. A four-yard run into the endzone by Javian Tomlinson gave the Bobcats a 6-3 lead with 6:13 to go in the first quarter. But, the Falcons began to grab the momentum, on their second drive, going 75 yards on six plays.
Chris Brimm threw a touchdown pass to
Michael Solomon to give NDC the lead, and they never gave it back. Early in the second quarter, the NDC defense intercepted passes on back-to-back WVWC drives.
Jacalyn Morrison returned a pick 15 yards for a touchdown. On the next drive,
Wendell McClain picked off a pass and ran it back 23 yards to set the Falcons up on the three-yard line. Brimm would throw another TD pass, this time to
CJ Kiss. At halftime, NDC led 24-9, and the defense did not allow W.Va. Wesleyan to score in the second half. The Bobcats received the second half kickoff, but later on that drive, a punt attempt was blocked by
Isaiah Stephens and recovered in the endzone. NDC's final TD of the game was a 4-yard run by
Tyris Dickerson. Kicker
Cameron Shirkey was named MEC Special Teams Player of the Week after he went 2-2 on field goals and 5-5 on extra points.
Earlier this season,
Chris Brimm took over the NDC record for total career touchdowns with 111 (99 passing, 12 rushing) and most career offensive yards responsible for (11,214). As the starting quarterback since 2018, he has played in 52 games, winning 45 of them. In recent Division II history, Minnesota Duluth's Chase Vogler owns the most victories in a career with 46. At the Division I level, Kellen Moore had 50 at Boise State. Brimm is now the career leader at NDC in passing yards (10,802), passing touchdowns (99), pass efficiency (146.9), average yards per pass (8), yards per completion (13.5), pass attempts (1,342) and completions (803). He is second in passing yards per game (207.7). In terms of Mountain East Conference career rankings, Brimm is first in touchdown passes, total offensive yards and passing yards. He is second in completions and pass attempts and fifth in completion percentage (60).
The NDC defense is second in NCAA Division II with four defensive touchdowns and ranks 16th in passes intercepted with 10. NDC is also first in blocked punts, with four, 12th in opponent passing efficiency, at 97.1, and 14th in total takeaways, with 16. The NDC offense ranks 24th in the country with 156 first downs, and 22nd by averaging 34.7 points per game. Nate Moore is tied for fifth in D2 with 48 solo tackles and ranks fifth with 79 total tackles.
Wendell McClain is tied for eighth in Division II with 10 passes defended.
Cameron Shirkey is tied for fifth with 11 field goals made.
Noting the Pioneers: Glenville State is coming off of a 31-12 victory over Alderson Broaddus in the I-79 Barrel Classic, which was also Homecoming at GSU. Glenville jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime, and did not allow AB to get on the board until the 8:18 mark in the fourth quarter. All four GSU TDs were scored with the run game. Saeed Galloway and Alfred Menjor each had two rushing touchdowns. The Pioneers had 207 yards of rushing offense on 47 attempts, and the Battlers finished with 78 rush yards. Alderson Broaddus went 2-for-14 on third down attempts. On the defensive side for GSU, Lawson Marion led the Pioneers with two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Although Glenville only had one INT against AB, GSU is third in Division II this season with 12 interceptions. In a win over West Liberty, on Oct. 1, Glenville State picked the ball off seven times, the most in MEC history. Both Noah McBride and Dane Lynch had two picks in the game. Quarterback Jeff Miller has not played the last two weeks, but this season, he is third in the country with 16.3 passing yards per completion. Javian Bellamy is 23rd in D2 with 576 receiving yards.
