SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio - The Ohio Dominican Panthers football team opened the 20th season of action with a road contest in the Cleveland area against the Notre Dame College Falcons on Saturday (Sept. 2) afternoon.
In the program's 200th game, the Panthers battled the Falcons until the very end. Ohio Dominican fell 23-21 to the Falcons at Mueller Field.
BOX SCORE NOTES
- Jake Byrd (Fort Wayne, Indiana) completed 14-of-26 passes for 121 yards with one interception.
- Drew Gallehue (Edon, Ohio) entered the game in the fourth quarter, throwing his first career touchdown. Playing on two drives, he was five-of-nine for 79 yards.
- Travis Whittaker (Gahanna, Ohio) carried the ball three times for 34 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with an injury.
- Jonzell Norrils (Toledo, Ohio) went for 102 yards rushing on just ten carries. Norrils broke off on the eighth-longest run from scrimmage, a 70-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
- Jayden Cornell (Kenton, Ohio) led the Panthers as the receiver caught five passes out of seven targets for 64 yards and a touchdown, setting a career-best.
- Ty Wiley (Pickerington, Ohio), Cobe Marquez (Waverly, Ohio) and Zach Bartrum (Meigs County, Ohio) all had three catches. Wiley totaled 48 yards with Marquez and Bartrum having 29 and 26 yards, respectively.
- Wiley also added 41 yards on kick returns.
- Michael Powers (West Mansfield, Ohio) led all defenders with 14 tackles while adding one sack and two tackles for loss.
- Brady Blattner (Cumberland, Ohio) ended the game with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble.
- Daishaun Hill (Rocky River, Ohio) also made eight tackles.
- Eddie Miller-Garrett (Newark, New Jersey) (2 TFL) and Dimitri Mitsopoulos (Toledo, Ohio) (1 sack and 1 TFL) combined for ten tackles and three TFL.
- Kalos Farrier (Cincinnati, Ohio) recovered the fumble that Blattner forced.
- Ohio Dominican trailed in the total offense category 324-304 despite the Panthers leading the rushing attack 104-90.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Notre Dame got on the board with a 35-yard field goal on their first drive as they led 3-0 with five minutes gone by in the opening period.
- Ohio Dominican answered with an nine play, 90-yard drive to take back the lead. After three big passing plays, Whittaker ended the drive with a 23-yard scamper to the end zone. ODU's lead was 7-3 with 5:52 left in the first.
- The Falcons tried to capitalize on an interception in the first quarter but the Panthers defense got a fourth down stop near midfield, stuffing the Falcons run at the line of scrimmage. ODU led 7-3 after the first quarter.
- NDC scored 13 straight points in the second quarter with two field goals and a touchdown as they led 16-7 at the halftime break.
- In a defensive third quarter, Ohio Dominican got closer to the Falcons as Norrils got loose for his 70-yard touchdown run. Ohio Dominican cut the lead to 16-14 with 5:29 left in the third.
- Powers had a sack on the previous drive, pushing the Falcons deep into their own territory.
- Notre Dame's first drive of the fourth quarter was a scoring drive with a 21-yard rushing touchdown, pushing the lead to 23-14 with under 11 minutes left.
- Following a missed field goal by NDC, Gallehue took over at QB and drove the Panthers down the field. A five play, 63-yard drive was capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass to Cornell with 5:03 on the clock, and the Panthers down 23-21.
- As the Falcons ran the clock down, Blattner forced a fumble inside the five-yard line as Farrier recovered it. Ohio Dominican had a chance to win the game, needing a quick drive as only 1:03 was left on the clock.
- Notre Dame forced the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs, hanging on 23-21 in the final seconds.
UP NEXT
- The Panthers will return to Panther Stadium for the home opener next Saturday (Sept. 9) as they play host to the Winston-Salem State Rams at 3:30 PM.
