‘Tough call’ opens floodgates as Falcons blow out Braves

PEMBROKE — A controversial play, within the midst of a rapid-fire three-touchdown stretch, helped propel Notre Dame (Ohio) to a halftime lead Saturday as they confronted The College of North Carolina at Pembroke soccer staff.

After the floodgates had been opened, the Falcons dominated the second half in a 45-7 win over the Braves at Grace P. Johnson Stadium.

“It truly is the time earlier than halftime and the time after halftime that you really want to concentrate on alternatives, and that’s the place momentum can actually shift,” UNCP coach Shane Richardson mentioned. “Momentum actually fell aside after that play, and that basically was the beginning of it. With a purpose to change momentum, everyone’s received to only preserve doing their job; you’ve received to have the ability to flush adverse performs like that.”

After Notre Dame (9-1, 8-1 Mountain East Convention) had simply scored to tie the sport at 7-7, UNCP (6-4, 6-3 MEC) started its subsequent drive at its personal 47 after a great kick return by Virgil Lemons. On the primary play of the drive, Josh Jones threw a cross that gave the impression to be a ahead cross, deflected backwards by a defensive lineman; the Falcons’ Guam Lee recovered the unfastened ball, which was dominated to be a backwards cross, and returned the restoration 41 yards for a go-ahead landing.

“The refs known as it a backwards cross in order that’s what we’ve received to roll with,” Jones mentioned. “We’ll see it on movie and all that. We’ve simply received to execute the play higher and keep away from these form of conditions.”

“It’s a troublesome name; completely different angles on the sphere, you see various things,” Richardson mentioned. “Clearly it’s unlucky, if it was a backwards cross, and all of the officers, they have been on the identical web page. However that’s powerful, when you toss something like that and it goes backwards and so they don’t blow the whistle, you’ve received to have the ability to play and attempt to at the least go sort out it.”

The landing gave Notre Dame a 14-7 lead with 2:50 to go within the half. It got here as the center of three touchdowns late within the second quarter for the Falcons that turned the sport of their favor.

The primary, a game-tying landing earlier than the backwards cross play, got here on the finish of a 15-play, 70-yard drive when Idris Lawrence, on his eleventh carry of the drive, scored on a 1-yard run.

After Notre Dame took the lead, Jones was intercepted on UNCP’s subsequent possession by Noah Harris-Lyles. The Falcons scored simply earlier than the half, arrange by a 38-yard Lawrence run and two Brimm completions; a 6-yard Brimm run culminated the drive with eight seconds left and gave the Falcons a 21-7 intermission lead.

With the momentum shifted to Notre Dame, the Falcons scored on 4 of their first 5 second-half drives as nicely, turning what had been an in depth sport for half-hour right into a Falcons rout, with Notre Dame scoring 45 unanswered factors.

“For those who in any respect begin to mope about what dangerous simply passed off, or the play that simply occurred the place we gave up a landing, or begin complaining concerning the referees; something like that, you’re going to be affected in the way you do your job,” Richardson mentioned. “I believe that’s form of what began to occur; guys began to deal with an excessive amount of of the incorrect issues, and it took us away from executing our job.”

Jones accomplished 26 of his 46 cross makes an attempt for 224 yards, connecting with 10 completely different receivers on the day. The Braves struggled to run the ball, nonetheless, netting 11 yards on the bottom.

Lawrence completed with 118 dashing yards on 22 makes an attempt for the Falcons whereas Brimm was 17-for-28 passing for 186 yards. Devenaire Conliffe had 9 catches for 110 yards.

Notre Dame punted on its first three drives of the sport earlier than its three pivotal late-first-half touchdowns.

“Nice begin, wonderful begin, you possibly can’t ask for higher drives,” mentioned senior Taye Vereen, who had 4 tackles together with one sort out for loss in his closing residence sport.. “We’ve received to make it extra constant all through the sport, not simply once we come out. You’ll be able to’t simply come out sizzling and funky off.”

UNCP scored on a 12-play, 80-yard drive to open the sport, with Jones discovering C.J. Davis for a 4-yard landing cross with 10:04 left within the first quarter.

The Braves recovered the following kickoff — a stiff wind knocked the ball down in a spot within the Falcons’ protection and UNCP’s Quentin Cooper fell on it — however couldn’t flip it into factors, with a turnover on downs on the Falcons’ 32-yard line. After punts on the Braves’ subsequent two drives, Alex Alvarado missed a 47-yard field-goal try with 10:39 left within the first half, simply earlier than Notre Dame’s first scoring drive.

“We’ve received to do higher executing, particularly once we get the ball on the opposite facet of the 50,” Jones mentioned. “These are large alternatives for us; we’ve simply received to make performs.”

Firstly of the second half, the groups exchanged punts earlier than Notre Dame’s Tanner Harding kicked a 36-yard discipline purpose for a 24-7 lead with 7:12 to go within the third.

UNCP went three-and-out on the following possession and the Falcons’ Bryce Sheppert blocked the punt; Davis Patterson recovered in the long run zone for a landing to increase the result in 31-7.

The Falcons scored on their subsequent two drives, with a 31-yard cross from Brimm to C.J. Kiss and a 4-yard Lawrence run, and led 45-7 with 12:27 remaining.

UNCP honored its 13 seniors earlier than Saturday’s sport, the staff’s closing residence contest; the Braves, who have been eradicated from MEC championship rivalry with the loss, will conclude its season once they journey to Harmony for a 1 p.m. kickoff subsequent Saturday.

“It simply felt good to say I caught it out, and all of us caught it out, the boys that have been right here,” Vereen mentioned. “It felt good to say that we stayed and pushed via the arduous instances, and left our mark on this system.”

“I’m actually pleased with the place we’re at this level, really; we’ve fought, we’ve battled, we’ve actually competed to place ourselves in place to complete the season out in a good way,” Richardson mentioned. “We have to end 7-4, and ensure that these guys exit the precise approach. They’ve received to steer the cost on that, and the gamers have gotten to drive the practice right here the final week.”