Notre Dame College Rallies to Defeat West Liberty
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — The West Liberty University football team got off to a fast start here Saturday but couldn’t maintain the momentum as once-beaten Notre Dame rallied to a 30-14 win in Mountain East Conference action at cold and windy Mueller Field.
The host Falcons (7-1, 6-1), who continue to receive votes in the NCAA Division II Coaches’ Top 25 poll, got off to a flying start when Marvelle Ross returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown but the Hilltoppers (3-5, 3-4) didn’t blink.
On West Liberty’s very first snap from scrimmage, Dakota Conwell found a streaking Max Kapron behind the Falcon secondary and the lanky wideout sprinted 78 yards to paydirt to knot the score at 7-7 just 33 seconds into the game.
The fireworks weren’t finished yet as the Hilltopper defense forced a fumble by Notre Dame WR Reggie Germany on the ensuing possession and West Liberty recovered at the Falcon 43.
Two Braxton Gamble runs gave West Liberty a first down at the 26 and Conwell lobbed a strike to Dan Monteroso in the end zone for a 14-7 Hilltopper lead at 13:11 of the opening quarter.
After the early explosion, the game suddenly devolved into a defensive struggle with the teams trading punts in a battle for field position.
A 30-yard field goal by Notre Dame’s Kyle Kaplan at 11:28 of the second quarter trimmed the margin to 14-10 and a blocked punt set up an 18-yard scoring pass from the Falcons’ Malik Grove to Emmanuel Smith, putting the hosts ahead to stay, 16-14, with 5:15 left in the half.
Notre Dame gave itself some breathing room when Grove dove into the end zone from a yard out on the final play of the second quarter for a 23-14 Falcon lead at intermission.
The West Liberty offense struggled to move the ball with any consistency after the two early touchdowns. The Hilltoppers had racked up 121 yards of total offense and 14 points on their first four offensive snaps but were held to just 55 yards of total offense for the rest of the half by the aggressive Falcon defense.
Meanwhile, the Hilltopper defense was more than holding its own against a high-powered Notre Dame offense that entered the game averaging nearly 35 points and 470 yards of total offense a game.
The Hilltopper stop troops came up big again in the second half, holding the Falcons without a single passing yard in the third quarter, but the injury-riddled West Liberty offense couldn’t take advantage.
Notre Dame finally broke through with the only points of the second half on a 3-yard scoring run by Brian Walker with 11:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Hilltoppers drove into Falcon territory on each of their next two possessions only to turn the ball over on downs before reaching the red zone.
West Liberty finished with just 237 yards of total offense, managing just 37 rushing yards on 23 carries. Conwell completed 19 of 39 passes for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns with one interception. Monteroso had four catches for 49 yards and a score while Ian Kelly and Osman Kargbo combined for 11 grabs and 42 yards.
Grove completed 18 of 36 passes for 157 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Walker led all rushers with 99 yards on 22 carries while Smith picked up 92 receiving yards on 9 catches.
Linebackers Kevin Melder and Cliff Clark paced the WLU defense with 15 and 13 tackles, respectively, while freshman DB Logan Deri came up with his fifth interception of the season.
Notre Dame 30, West Liberty 14
West Liberty 14 0 0 0 — 14
Notre Dame 7 16 0 7 — 30
First Quarter
NDC — Ross 98 kickoff return (Kaplan kick), 14:43
WLU –Kapron 78 pass from Conwell (Morris kick), 14:27
WLU — Monteroso 26 pass from Conwell (Morris kick), 13:11
Second Quarter
NDC — FG Kaplan 30, 11:28
NDC — Smith 18 pass from Grove (kick failed), 5:15
NDC — Grove 1 run (Kaplan kick), :00
Fourth Quarter
NDC — Walker 3 run (Kaplan kick), 11:40
Rushing: West Liberty 23-37; Gamble 9-46; Penick 2-3; Peterson 1-2; Ortiz 1-0; Dorsett 1-(1); Kargbo 1-(-2); Conwell 8-(-10). Notre Dame 51-220; Walker 22-99; Grove 12-47; Jackson 3-27; Hargrove 9-24; Greene 5-23.
Passing: West Liberty 19-39-200-2td-1x (all by Conwell). Notre Dame 18-36-157-1td-1x (all by Grove)
Receiving: West Liberty 19-200; Kargbo 6-20; Kelly 5-22; Monteroso 4-49; Jones 3-31; Kapron 1-78. Notre Dame 18-157; Smith 9-92; Germany 4-30; Baldwin 3-17; Hargrove 1-10; Shegos 1-8.
First downs: West Liberty 13, Notre Dame 23.
Fumbles: West Liberty 0-0, Notre Dame 3-2.
Penalties: West Liberty 6-36, Notre Dame 9-75.
Time of Possession: West Liberty 24:13, Notre Dame 35:47.
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