WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Despite a halftime deficit and rain falling throughout the second half, Notre Dame College found a way to get past West Liberty University by a score of 40-35, on Saturday evening. The Falcons scored 24 points over the final two quarters to secure the victory.
 
NDC and West Liberty started the contest at 5 p.m., and although it was a brisk day, the weather did not become a factor until the second half.
 
The Hilltoppers won the toss and received the opening kickoff. West Liberty was unable to do anything on its first drive against the NDC defense and punted the ball away. However, on Notre Dame's first offensive play, a fumble occurred at the mesh point of a handoff between senior Isaiah Murphy and junior Idris Lawrence. Murphy was making his first start since Sept. 16.
 
West Liberty recovered, and on the next play, Khadeem Richards ran eight yards for a touchdown to give the home team a quick lead.
 
Still having trouble moving the ball, NDC was ready to punt the ball away on its next drive. But on 4th and 2, Notre Dame's punter Dominic Buttazzoni was run into and a five-yard penalty was called. With new life and a first down, Murphy could not find a receiver, so he tucked the ball away and ran for 43 yards, getting to WLU's 29-yard line. Lawrence ran for 11 yards to get another first down, but the drive came to a halt and senior Cameron Shirkey was successful on a 35-yard field goal.
 
Answering right back, West Liberty's wide receiver Chris Charles threw a 58-yard pass to Rashawn Harvey on the first play of the drive. Charles would catch the next pass and the Hilltoppers scored, three plays later, on another rush by Richards. With 7:41 on the first quarter clock, WLU led, 14-3.
 
After going 67 yards down the field on their first drive, the Falcons needed just one yard to score on the next drive. Freshman Kentrell Marks returned the WLU kickoff 78 yards, finding a hole and getting to the right sideline before he was taken down at the one-yard line. Junior Krys Riley-Richardson pushed his way through for the score.
 
Still in the first quarter, Notre Dame forced a WLU punt and went back down the field 46 yards in eight plays, leading to another field goal by Shirkey.
 
Shirkey finished the game by going four-for-four on field goal attempts and four-for-four on extra points. He made four field goals in a game for the first time in his career and he ties the program record for most field goals in a game.
 
The contest continued to feature many twists and turns as the teams entered the second quarter. West Liberty found the endzone on special teams, when an NDC punt was blocked, recovered by the Hilltoppers at Notre Dame's seven-yard line and returned for a touchdown.
 
That would be the only touchdown scored in the quarter, and the only points on the board until the final seconds of the half.
 
Notre Dame's quarterback Deshawn Evans, who took over for the injured Murphy on the second drive of the quarter, found junior Andre Allen Jr. for 19 yards, to get NDC to West Liberty's 25, with five seconds left before halftime. Shirkey, again, put a 42-yard field goal through the uprights to make the score, 21-16, in favor of West Liberty.
 
To start the second half, a short kickoff was returned 15 yards by NDC's Abe Nyang. In just three plays, NDC took its first lead of the game. Evans completed a pass to senior Tyshawn Lighty for 21 yards and then Lawrence, who started the drive with a short run, ran 26 yards for a touchdown. NDC went 53 yards down the field in just 1:23 of game time.
 
For the third week in a row, Lawrence has set a new career-high in rushing yards. On Saturday, he finished with 194. He also set a career record with three rushing touchdowns.

As a team, NDC ran for 287 yards and four touchdowns, which ranks second in a game this season in both categories.
 
"Our running backs are hungry for yards and are doing a hell of a job. It starts with our offensive line," said head coach Garrett Mack. "We don't have this kind of success without the offensive line dominating and resetting the line of scrimmage."
 
The game was far from over at that point. West Liberty's quarterback Rudy Garcia used his legs to gain 12 yards on the next drive, including a one-yard dash to the endzone. Also on the drive, he completed two passes and the Hilltoppers combined to run for 48 yards.
 
With the rain falling, Evans still moved the ball with his arm. He found junior James Faulkner for 13 yards, senior Napoleon Harris for nine and Harris, again, for 26 yards. Shirkey finished the drive with a 27-yard field goal and NDC trailed by two, 28-26, with 4:33 on the third quarter clock.
 
On WLU's next drive a pass was tipped and intercepted by junior Emarion Perkins as he fell to the turf at West Liberty's 15-yard line. The Falcons quickly turned that into points when Lawrence ran in for a 16-yard rushing TD. Notre Dame would lead 33-28 at the end of the third.
 
Everything went well for the Falcons on their first drive of the fourth quarter. NDC went 86 yards down the field and put a 40 on the scoreboard. Saturday was the second time this season that NDC had scored over 31 points. On the drive, Lawrence totaled 64 rushing yards, Evans and Faulkner connected for 18 yards and Riley-Richardson ran a couple times. Lawrence found the endzone for the third time to put the Falcons up by 12, but WLU never went away.
 
The Hilltoppers went 79 yards down the field in 10 plays on their next drive, resulting in a touchdown to close within five points, 40-35. They recovered an onside kick and got all the way to NDC's 23-yard line.
 
With just 57 seconds left, sophomore Christian Taylor intercepted the ball over the middle of the field to end the game and give the Falcons the victory.
 
"The defense stepped up when we needed it to," Mack said. "It wasn't always pretty, but at the end of the day, they got the stop when they needed it."

Senior Antoine Holloway II led the team with a season-high eight tackles and junior Lavell Gibson added two sacks and two tackles for loss.
 
NDC will be back home on Oct. 28, versus Wheeling University, to celebrate Senior Day. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.