Notre Dame College
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Notre Dame College www.notredamefalcons.com Football Game Day Notebook Week 2 Game Information Teams: Notre Dame College at West Liberty University Series: NDC leads 6-0 Date: Thursday, September 12 Time: 7:10 PM Site: West Family Stadium Video: http://team1sports.com/hilltoppersports Live Stats: http://hilltoppers.com/ Radio: 1542 KNR2 ESPN Ceveland NDC Twitter: @NDCFalcons WLU Twitter: @WLathletics Records: Notre Dame is 1-0 (1-0 MEC) after defeating Concord 33-10. West Liberty is also 1-0 (1-0 MEC) after a 2019 Schedule close 33-30 victory against Wheeling. Overall 1-0 | MEC 1-0 Coaches Corner: Mike Jacobs is in his fourth year as the Home 1-0 | Away 0-0 head coach of the NDC football program. He has an over- all record of 31-6 (27-4 MEC). In 2018, Jacobs was named September MEC, Regional and National Coach of the Year. Roger 7 Concord W 33-10 Waialaeis in his 15th season at West Liberty. He has an 12 at West Liberty 7 p.m. overall record of 78-78 (25-35 MEC), and his 78 wins is best among current MEC head coaches. 21 Fairmont State 12 p.m. 28 at Urbana 1 p.m. Rankings: Notre Dame was ranked No. 4 in the pre- season AFCA Coaches’ Poll released September 9. The October Falcons stayed put after being ranked No. 4 in the pre- 5 W.Va. Wesleyan^ 12 p.m. season poll. West Liberty did not receive votes. 12 at Charleston 1 p.m. Series History: Notre Dame is a perfect 6-0 against West 19 Wheeling 1 p.m. Liberty in a series that began in 2013. Despite an average 26 Findlay# 12 p.m. margin of victory of 14.3 (largely due to a 55-21 win last season), the contests have been decided by one posses- November sion three times. In the last game at West Liberty, in 2017, NDC built a 24-7 lead at halftime, but was outscored 12-0 2 at Frostburg St. 1 p.m. in the second half before clotting the bleed. Last season, 9 Glenville State% 12 p.m. it was Notre Dame that trailed at halftime (14-13) only to 16 at West Virginia St. 12 p.m. come back and outscore the Hilltoppers 42-7 in the second half. The Falcons have had great success on the ground against WLU the past two seasons with 371 yards rush- Home Games in Bold ing in 2017 and 464 yards last year. Jaleel McLaughlin ^Homecoming set a program record with 340 yards rushing against West %Senior Day Liberty last season. #Non-Conference Game Noting the Falcons: In Notre Dame’s first game of the 2019 season, the Falcons showed a style of play that many fans have become accustomed to since head coach Mike Jacobs took over in 2016. The bend-don’t-break defense held Concord to a field goal on its first drive of the game after a first-and-goal at the four yard line. And the of- fense had many of its signature long, explosive plays... ...All three of the touchdowns scored by NDC came from 30, or more yards out. The first offensive drive for the Falcons went 76 yards in just two plays. Running back Jaleel McLaughlin shot out of a cannon on the first play for a 44-yard rush before Marvelle Ross had a 32-yard catch and run where he broke multiple tackles to score the first touchdown of the season. McLaughlin and Ross scored the team’s second and third touchdowns as well on 30- and 52-yard runs, respectively. Noting the hilltoppers: West Liberty snuck out a victory in its first game of the season, scoring a touchdown with just 31 seconds left to play to win by just three points. The Hilltoppers faced off against their neighbors, Wheeling, in the Cardinals first ever NCAA DII contest. WLU is very familiar playing in close games. Nearly half of their games since 2015 (22 of 45) have been decided by seven points or fewer. In those 22 games, West Liberty has a record of 9-13. The 22 games decided by that slim of margin are the most in the MEC over that time span. Only two other schools had 20 or more regular season games decided within seven points (Fairmont State - 21, Charleston - 20), every other school had 17 or fewer of such games (Notre Dame has had 20 total games decided by a touchdown since 2015, but three of them came in the playoffs). THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Since joining the Mountain East Conference in 2013, Notre Dame is 4-2 in Thursday night games. The Falcons have twice played Thursday night games at Fairmont State, win- ning 59-51 in 2015 and 24-19 in 2017. Thirty-something: Notre Dame kicker Tanner Harding hit four field goals from 30-plus yards against Concord (32, 37, 38, 39). The four made field goals ties a program record for most in a single game. Harding made nine field goals in 2018 and has a career field goal percentage of 68.8 (22-32). His career percentage currently stands as the best in NDC career history. Harding handled punting duties in 2018, and both he and head coach Mike Jacobs said that taking that off his shoulders has made it easier to focus on putting it through the uprights. Harding is currently tied with fellow MEC kicker Justin Watts (Glenville State) for most field goals in NCAA DII this season. Running SHort: Both teams competing this week currently rank in the top 10 in rushing defense in NCAA DII. The Falcons held Concord to just 17 yards rushing while West Liberty allowed just 29 yards on the ground to Wheeling. NDC ranks seventh in Division II in yards allowed while the Hilltop- pers are 10th. Notre Dame was able to subtract many of the yards gained by the Mountain Lions with five sacks. West Liberty did not record any sacks and still held Wheeling to fewer than 30 yards rush- ing. Running Free: West Liberty quarterback Zach Phillips had 16 carries last week, just five fewer than running back Quincy Wimbish. Phillips was able to gain 52 yards on the ground, but also utlimately lost 34 yards for a net total of 18 yards. Looking like a snack: The Falcon defense recorded 5.0 sacks against Concord and currently rank sixth in NCAA Division II in the category. West Libert allowed five sacks in Week 1. Only seven teams in the country allowed more sacks than the Hilltoppers in the first week. By the Numbers 3: Teams with two players in the top 40 in the all-purpose yards rank- ings: Notre Dame Tarleton State and Findlay. Last season Jaleel NDC INFO McLaughlin and Marvelle Ross broke the NCAA DII record for most all-purpose yards combined by teammates. McLaughlin currently ranks 16th with 188 yards while Ross is 40th with 153. COLLEGE FACTS 3: First downs converted by Concord on 17 third-down attempts last NAME.................................................NOTRE DAME COLLEGE week. NDC currently ranks sixth in DII with a .176 third-down conver- WEBSITE...................................WWW.NOTREDAMECOLLEGE.EDU sion defense. ENROLLMENT...............................................................1,200 FOUndED.....................................................................1922 Tackles for a loss recorded by junior linebacker Guam Lee. Lee cur- 3: LOCATION...............................................SOUTH EUCLID, OHIO rently ranks 11th in NCAA DII in the category. Lee led the Falcons last week with 10 total tackles. CAMPUS SIZE.........................................................48 ACRES COLORS.................................ROYAL BLUE AND YELLOW GOLD 12: Tackles for a loss recorded by the Notre Dame defense in Week 1. MASCOT.................................................................FALCONS The 12.0 TFLs currently ranks fifth in NCAA Division II. ATHLETIC AFFILIATION...................................NCAA DIVISION II PRESIDENT......................................................JOHN GALOVIC ATHLETIC DIRECTOR...........................................SCOTT SWAIN Coaches Corner HOME FIELD...................................................MUELLER FIELD Head Coach Mike Jacobs SURFACE.............................................................FIELD TURF (31-6, 27-4 MEC) Mike Jacobs is in his fourth season as the leader of the Notre Dame College football program. He was named the head coach in 2016, after serving the previous two seasons as the Defensive Line Coach and the Defensive Coordinator. MEDIA RELATIONS Jacobs led Notre Dame to its most successful season SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR............................ISAAC HUNT in 2018 as the Falcons made a run to the NCAA Divi E-MAIL....................................................IHUNT@NDC.EDU sion II Semifinals. During the regular season, NDC was undefeated. The team finished 2018 with a 13-1 (10-0 DIRECTOR OF MARKETING/ASST. SID...................JAKE BUNNER MEC) record. Jacobs was named MEC Coach of the E-MAIL...............................................JBUNNER@NDC.EDU Year after the Falcons were picked to finish third in the conference prior to the season starting. He was also named Regional and National Coach of the Year by the Don Hansen Football Gazette. In his first year at the helm, Jacobs led NDC to its most successful season in school history with a 9-2 (8-2 MEC) NDC ATHLETIC STAFF record. During this run, the Falcons earned a spot in ATHLETIC DIRECTOR...........................................SCOTT SWAIN the top 25 rankings for the first time. ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR..................NICHOLAS DE LORME During his second season, Notre Dame finished second in the Mountain East with an 8-2 conference record. Overall, the team had an 8-3 record as they rushed for an MEC-high 2,558 yards. ATHLETIC BUSINESS COORDINATOR..........................SUE JOLIAT SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR............................ISAAC HUNT The Falcons have also seen a lot of individual success under Jacobs. Overall, he has coached 43 All-Mountain East Conference players, 14 All-Super Region One Team honorees and six All-Americans. His players have DIRECTOR OF MARKETING...................................JAKE BUNNER also had success in the classroom he has had a CoSIDA Academic All-American in each of his three seasons.