Through three quarters of football, Pembroke battled Notre Dame to a draw, but when Jake Weatherwax dashed into the end zone from six yards out with five minutes left in the game, the Dragons were unable to answer and fell to 1-2 on the season, 34-27.
It was Notre Dame's first win of the season.
The Dragons and Irish were pretty evenly matched throughout the contest, with each team averaging 5.8 yards per play on offense and only being a minute apart on time of possession for the game.
Weatherwax finished with 187 yards rushing on 29 attempts (he scored four times) and Pembroke's Zach von Kramer had 187 yards on the ground on 27 attempts, and he had two TDs.
Pembroke's Reid Miano had 13 completions on 29 attempts for 209 yards and two TDs.
Notre Dame's Brendan Klotzbach was 8-19 in the air for 126 yards. He was intercepted once.
"Pembroke’s a great team," said Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso. "They’re very well coached and they have a couple of great athletes on that team. We knew we would have our hands full. Their quarterback threw the ball fantastic and Von Kramer is just a phenomenal running back. We had our hands full. There’s no doubt."
Von Kramer also caught a TD pass and gained 74 yards on three receptions.
Mancuso thought it was a great win for his team, which struggled a bit through the first two games of the season.
"I think we're getting better each week," Mancuso said. "We're not there yet, obviously, but I think the kids had a great week of practice."
Mancuso was impressed with the game Weatherwax had.
"Jake did a fantastic job," Mancuso said. "He's a gritty, hard runner. He makes great cuts. He reads the blocks. I thought he did a terrific job."
Defensively, Notre Dame played tough, but the team still has some holes to plug.
"Defensively, we brought it," Mancuso said. "We really worked hard this week on staying diligent to our plan and working hard and I thought the kids stuck with it. I thought they did a very nice job of executing."
Caleb Wolcott had 10 tackles and a sack. Brad Misiak had 10 tackles.
"We’ve got a lot to work on," Mancuso said. "I mean, they put up 27 points. I’m not ecstatic about that, but those are things we need to clean up and each week we’ll get better."
For the Dragons on defense, von Kramer had 12 tackles.
Four Notre Dame receivers had two catches each -- Ryan Moffatt, Nico Zambito, Misiak and Jordon Weatherwax. Moffatt gained 45 yards and Zambito gained 42.
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