football

In a game played Saturday at the Medina Veterans Park, the Pembroke Youth Association Dragons defeated the Akron Tigers 32-0 for the Niagara Orleans Football Association JV championship title.

Coach Jerry Cox's team went 12-0 for the season. The Akron Tigers only losses during the season were to the Dragons.

More pictures of the game can be seen here.

It was a great run for Elba/Byron-Bergen in 2011, but in Rochester on Sunday, a good season came to an end at the hands of the Livonia Bulldogs.

It was a close game, but the Bulldogs were just that much better.

"Livonia made the most out of their opportunities," Coach Mike Cintorino said. "We had some opportunities that we didn’t cash in on."

Final score: Livonia 26, Elba 18.

The Lancers fought hard and while opportunities may have been missed, no major mistakes assisted Livonia.

Livonia gained more yards (297 to 244) and held the ball longer (28:51 to 19:09), but Elba/BB was able to move the ball on many of its drives, yet on a couple of drives weren't able to put the ball in the end zone.

Zack DuBois scored two TDs, gaining 161 yards on 21 carries. Matt Ramsey made two catches for 32 yards. 

Cody Taylor also scored a touchdown.

For Livonia, QB Wyatt Struble completed nine passes for 120 yards. Derek Bishop scored two touchdowns and Dustin Ayers and Josh Wester each scored a TD.

The loss clearly upset the Elba/BB players and Cintorino said the emotional reaction demonstrates how hard the players worked and how close they had grown as a team.

"We didn’t want the season to end," Cintorino said. "There’s a lot of teams that break it down in terms of family. When we broke it down to family, it meant something. We worked hard together and we just didn’t want the season to end."

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here.

To purchase photos from this game, click here.

For each Elba/Byron-Bergen score, the Livonia Bulldogs have had an answer, though neither team has had much success with extra point tries. The score is 12-12 in this Section V Class B semifinal game.

UPDATE 3:54 p.m.: Elba/BB loses 26-18.

Notre Dame had no trouble running the ball against Geneseo in their Class D Section V championship match up, but when Geneseo needed a big play, a play action run or option, it seemed to get the job done more often then not.

The tone was set in the first four minutes of the first quarter. Andrew Mullen capped a Notre Dame drive with a 7-yard run to give the Fighting Irish a 7-0 lead. Before another 30 seconds had ticked off the clock, Geneseo's Jon Ridler, on the Blue Devil's first play from scrimmage, bolted 79 yards, and with a two-point conversion, Geneseo was up 8-7.

"Good teams make big plays and they made the big plays when they needed them," Coach Rick Mancuso said.

By the half, Notre Dame was down by three, 24-21 and the two teams combined had rushed for more than 400 yards.  

Sophomore Andrew Mullen scored all three of ND's first-half TDs, one on a 59-yard run.

The Irish took a leg up in the seesaw scoring battle when Doane McCulley took the opening half kick off 82 yards to put ND up 28-24.

True to form for the game, Geneseo countered with another big play. Xavier Copeland scored on a 55-yard run, but the Irish answered with another grind-it-out drive capped by a five-yard run by Nick Taylor.

Score, 35-32, Note Dame with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

Then the game took a decisive turn in Geneseo's favor.

After stopping the Blue Devils on their possession following Taylor's score, Notre Dame was moving the ball down the field again when QB Tim McCulley took off on a keeper. After gaining about 10 yards, he was gang tackled by Blue Devils defenders.

As the photo above shows, McCulley was in possession of the ball as his knees were down, but there was no whistle. This gave Geneseo's Ridler a chance to strip the ball from McCulley.

The Blue Devils recovered the "fumble."

"I thought his forward progress would stop," Mancuso said after the game. "I was waiting for the whistle. He was being driven back on his way down. I thought we’d get the whistle and we didn’t and they got the ball and that deflated us.

"We went from being very, very high and being very energized to being somewhat deflated and I think that kind of took a little wind out of our sails."

Geneseo scored 12 unanswered points and led 44-35 with 9:47 left in the game.

A fourth Mullen TD, on a seven-yard run, pulled the Irish within two points, but with two minutes left in the game, Copeland ripped off another 56 yard TD run, and with the two-point conversion, the Blue Devils cemented a 10-point win, 52-42.

In all, Notre Dame gained 394 yards on the ground and Geneseo ran for 409 yards and gained another 145 through the air, giving the teams a combined offensive total of 948 yards.

For Notre Dame, Mullen scored four TDs on 15 carries and gained 160 yards. Nick Taylor scored one TD and gained 221 yards on the ground.

Tim McCulley attempted 10 passes, completed four for 48 yards. He was intercepted once.

Xavier Copeland carried the ball 17 times for Geneseo, gaining 234 yards and scoring four touchdowns. He also passed for 145 yards on four completions. Jon Ridler carried the ball 18 times and gained 154 yards, scoring twice. Wes Smith had three catches for 118 yards and one TD.

On defense, Kyle Morse, Nate Woods and Andrew Mullen each had seven tackles. Jacob Tschiderer had 11 tackles for Geneseo. 

Anthony Paladino was Notre Dame's defensive player of the game. Aaron McDonald received a lineman award.

Time of possession tipped in Notre Dame's favor, 29:25 to 18:35.

"I've been very, very proud of the effort of all the kids throughout the season and today was no different," Mancuso said. "I really felt they left everything out on the field. I don’t think we got cheated at all in what we brought to the game and I think they’ve got a lot to be proud of."

If you have trouble viewing the slide show below, click here.

Three TD carries by sophomore Andrew Mullen hasn't been enough for Notre Dame to keep pace with three counter strikes, with two-point conversions, by the Geneseo Blue Devils in the first half of their Class D championship game at Shlen's Stadium in Rochester.

At the half, the score is 24-21.

Mullen has scored on runs of 15, seven and 60 yards (approximately), but after each of Mullen's first two scores, Geneseo has answered with long running plays in the first series from scrimmage.

The game so far has been almost all run and no pass by either offense. Notre Dame has 277 total yards on the ground, and none in the air, compared to 244 rushing yards for Geneseo (and a bit more than 40 through the air).

UPDATE 11:33 p.m.: Final, 52-42 Geneseo. The two teams combined for 803 yards on the ground and more than 1,000 yards total offense. Andrew Mullen scored four TDs.

A third-quarter interception by Matt Ramsey helped spark the Elba/Byron-Bergen Lancers both offensively and defensively, turning a 0-7 deficit into a 21-7 victory in Saturday's Class B quarter-final playoff game against Pal-Mac.

Zack DuBois came up big again on offense carrying the ball 25 times for 262 yards and two TDs, including an 88-yard, fourth-quarter sprint that sealed the deal for the Lancers.

Ramsey had two interceptions on the day, to go along with seven tackles, and DuBois added another pick.

Cody Naylor, who carried the ball for 14 yards, also scored a TD.

Naylor had 13 tackles, including three for a loss.

Brandon Naylor had 14 tackles, including four for a loss, and two sacks.

Tom Fowler had 12 tackles, including three for a loss, and Emiliano Acosta had 13 tackles, including four for a loss.

Pal-Mac's offense: Stephen Morrell, 14 for 35, 147 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions; Derek Wager, three receptions for 44 yards and one TD; Sean Nolan, 20 carries for 80 yards.

In other weekend football action:

In Class C quarter finals, Wellsville beat Le Roy 42-14 and Attica beat Pembroke 21-6.

In the Connors Ferris Bowl games, Alexander beat Warsaw 21-6. Batavia plays ER/Granada at 3 p.m. today. 

Also this weekend, Oakfield-Alabama lost to Perry 34-28.

In JV Action, the Batavia Blue Devils finished out its season undefeated, 8-0, with a 22-16 win over Greece Olympia. Down 16-14 with 3:11 left in the game, Tyler Pratt returned a kick 92 yard for a go-ahead TD.  Also scoring were QBs Brandon Stevenson and Dakota Swimline.

PHoto of Elba's Zack DuBois by Destin Danser.

With 1:09 left in the game, Clyde-Savannah needed just one point to tie the game, but in high school football, PATs are not automatic.

Eagles Head Coach Nick Dercola decided to roll the dice on a running play. A two-point conversion would all but guarantee a win for the Eagles in the Class D semi-final playoff game.

Derrick Wright took the hand-off and sprinted to the far side corner of the end zone, but Andrew Mullen and Nick Taylor beat Wright to the goal line.

Final score, Notre Dame 27, Clyde-Savannah 26.

Through nearly three quarters of football, the Fighting Irish appeared dominant, using a ball-control running game and a well-executed defense to keep the Eagles on the ropes.

But defensive lapses in the fourth quarter by Notre Dame and a key fumble with less than three minutes to go turned a 27-13 lead into a nail-biter for the Irish.

"They’re a good team," said Coach Rick Mancuso. "When you make mistakes in a big game, good teams are going to capitalize and that’s what they did."

Mistakes by the Eagles -- particularly interceptions -- helped Notre Dame's cause.

Nate Woods helped set up ND's first TD when he picked off a pass early in the first quarter.

Tim McCulley added two more interceptions, including one with less than a minute in the first half and Clyde-Savannah threatening to tie the game at 14. McCulley pulled down a Tom Molisani pass on the three-yard line.

On offense, Nick Taylor led the way with 120 yards on 30 carries. He crossed the goal line three times.

Andrew Mullen added another TD on a 15-yard reception. Mullen also carried the ball 12 times for 68 yards and had six tackles and half a sack on defense.

McCulley was 5-7 for 33 yards and no interceptions.

Notre Dame turned by ball over twice on fumbles, including the key fourth-quarter fumble on the 43 yard line that allowed Clyde-Savannah to pull into a point.

Taylor also had six tackles and half a sack. Also with half-sack credits were Doane McCulley and Aaron McDonald.

Nate Woods returned three punts for 107 yards.

Eagle's QB Molisani was 15-30 for 249 yards.

"They throw ball over yard," said Mancuso. "But that works to our advantage to get a team like that because one of the teams that’s playing now (in the other Class D semi-final game) is also going to be a team that’s going to throw the ball, so this was good experience for our young kids."

Those other teams were Geneseo and Dundee. Geneseo won 64-16.

Notre Dame will face Geneseo on Friday in Rochester.

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here.

With these photos, you are looking at the future of Batavia Blue Devils football, and from all appearances, it's a bright one.

The Batavia JV squad is undefeated on the season and going back to last year, when the team went 6-2, the junior Blue Devils have 13 straight wins.

All of this winning has come under Head Coach Brennan Briggs.

Briggs credits the players.

"We don't really have any superstars on the team," Briggs said. "They really work well together. They've bought in to what we've been teaching -- work hard, no excuses football."

The JV team beat Bishop Kearney on Monday night 47-14.

Assistant Coach Brandon Ricci said there are 10 to 15 players on the JV squad who are likely to make varsity next season, including some freshmen, and each of them could make a contribution.

"They might not take a starting job from a senior, but you won't be losing much when you put them on the field," Ricci said.

Next week, BHS JV plays Olympia and according to parents at the game, it will likely be the team's toughest challenge of the year. To reach 8-0, the JV squad will need to beat a team also looking to finish with an 8-0 record. The game is Saturday afternoon at Van Detta Stadium.

Here's how the team faired in its previous six games:

Game 1 @ Bath W 27-0
Game 2 @ Bishop Timon W 27-20
Game 3 vs. Livonia W 29-20
Game 4 vs. Le Roy W 30-12
Game 5 @ Elba-Byron Bergen W 48-17
Game 6 vs. Attica W 36-6

The Lancers had four chances to punch the ball in from the four-yard line for a game winning score, but the Attica Blue Devil's defense held firm and preserved the team's fifth victory of the season.

Attica won 14-8.

Attica, Elba/Byron-Bergen and Notre Dame all finish the regular season with 5-2 records and a three-way tie for second in the Genesee Region League.  Barker/Roy Hart (7-0), with its win Friday over Notre Dame, secured the league championship.

In Saturday's only local football game, the Lancers fell behind 7-0 in the second quarter when Zach Kozma picked off a pass from Elba's Zac Gillard and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

Elba pulled ahead in the third quarter on a block punt that Alex Jasinski carried 22 yards into the end zone. Zach Dubois ran the ball in on a two-yard conversion.

Attica's winning score came on a six-yard run in the fourth quarter by Brad Ruzewski.

Given an opportunity to tie the score (and pull ahead on a conversion), Elba had the ball on the four-yard line with 1:30 remaining in the game, but four run attempts failed. Attica's David Clark, who had 16 tackles on the day, came up big in the stand, making two key tackles.

On the day, DuBois had 86 yards on 23 carries. With those 83 yards, Dubois went over the 1,000-yard mark for his HS career.

Gillard completed four passes for 50 yards and Dan Ramsey had three catches for 47 yards.

On defense, Emeliano Acosta had two blocked punts. Tom Fowler had nine tackles.

For Attica, Earl Howard had 76 yards on 23 carries.

Barker/Roy Hart finished out a season in which it mostly dominated the Genesee Region League with another big win over Notre Dame on Friday.

The win cemented an undefeated season for Barker (7-0) and locked up the league championship.

The Fighting Irish, with the 44-14 loss, finish the season 5-2.

Notre Dame scored first on a 15-yard run by Nick Taylor, but Barker struck right back and took an 8-7 lead after a six-yard run by Austin Blackley.

Blackley led Barker's offense with 204 yards on the ground on 17 carries. He scored four TDs.

Notre Dame's only other score came in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Tim McCulley.

McCulley completed nine passes for 52 yards and had two interceptions.

On the ground, Notre Dame was led by Taylor (19 carries, 108 yards) and Andrew Mullen (nine carries, 73 yards).

On defense, Kyle Morse had 10 solo tackles.

Barker had 411 total yards offense, while Notre Dame had 269. Time of possession for ND was 32:18 minutes. Barker had the ball for 15:42.

Depending on the outcome of today's game between Attica (4-2) and Elba/Byron Bergen (5-1), the Genesee Region League could wind up with a three-way tie for second place, or with a win over Attica, Elba could claim second for itself. Game time is 1:30 p.m. in Elba.

In other Friday night action:

A dominating ground game helped Batavia (3-4) beat Bishop-Kearney (2-5) at BK.

The Blue Devils had a total of 326 yards on the ground, with C.C. Martinez leading the charge. Martinez carried the ball 34 times for 254 yards and four TDs.

James Soggs scored the Blue Devil's other TD on a 20-yard run in the 4th quarter.

On defense, Dameon Reeves and Soggs had a sack, Nick Canzoneri had a fumble recovery and Cody Gangarrossa added an interception.

Le Roy dropped to 3-4 with a 35-13 loss to Cal-Mum in Caledonia.

Tommy McQuillen rushed for 237 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.

Alexander picked up its second win of the season, 22-6 over Oakfield-Alabama (0-7).

Alexander scored on a 47-yard run by Lucas Phillips in the first quarter and on seven-and one-yard runs by Mark Farnsworth in the second and third quarters.

O-A scored in the third quarter on a five-yard run by Curtis Dunlap.

For O-A, Tommy Manzella completed 26 for 214 yards. Dunlap had four receptions for 83 yards.

We don't currently have any information on the Pembroke vs. Holley game. Besides Attica at Elba, there are no other games scheduled today.

Sectionals begin next weekend.

Elba/Byron-Bergen shutout Oakfield-Alabama 49-0. Zack Dubois ran the ball 18 times for 146 yards and two TDs. Zac Gillard completed eight of nine passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Ramsey had three receptions for 105 yards and two TDs. Cody Naylor had a three-yard TD run. Tommy Manzella completed 12 for 128 yards for the Hornets. Ben Langdon had five receptions for 44 yards.

Several players had big games for the Lancers (5-1), including Gabe Stempin who had a 48-yard return on an interception. Andy Boyce had seven tackles, half a sack and a fumble recovery. Brandon Naylor had six tackles and twice was involved in sacks. Alex Jasinski had five tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. Emiliano Acosta had five tackles, a sack, and half of another. O-A is 0-6 on the season.

Batavia HS lost to Wellsville on homecoming night 38-6. No stats are available for the game.

Le Roy fell to 3-3 with a loss to Letchworth, 42-7. Tommy McQuillen rushed for 123 yards on 19 carries, scoring the Oatkan Knights lone TD.

Genesee Region League leader Barker moved to 6-0 with a 36-14 win over Attica.

Alexander picked up its first win of the season over Holley by a score of 39-7. No stats are available for this game.

In a game in which Pembroke went into the second quarter with a lead and a chance to beat the always tough Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, the Dragons ended up 24 points off the mark.

The Irish dominated on offense and defense from midway through the second quarter, scoring three TDs in the second quarter and a TD and field goal in the third.

Brothers McCulley, Tim and Doane, led the Notre Dame (5-1) offense with Tim tossing four touchdowns and completing six passes for 187 yards. Doane had two TD receptions and gained a total of 101 yards.

Nate Woods also scored twice, once on a passing play and once on a running play. Woods had 75 total yards.

Andrew Mullen came up big on offense and defense. On offense, he scored on a 35-yard pass play, his only reception of the day, and on defense had 10 tackles. Nick Taylor, Nick Conklin and Doane McCulley each had eight tackles with Taylor adding a QB sack.

For Pembroke (2-4), QB Cody Bedard carried the weight of the offense after running back Wyatt Chittenden was injured early in the game.

Bedard ran the ball 33 times for 120 yards, including one TD run. He completed five passes for 51 yards and had one interception.

Luke Thomas and Steve Weaver had five tackes each for the Dragons and Zack Franclemont had the team's lone sack.

Pembroke's other TD was scored by Trevor Gray, who carried the ball twice for four yards.

Notre Dame had 309 yards total offense, to Pembroke's 227.

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here.

Running back Zach Dubois helped carry Elba/Byron-Bergen to a 19-14 victory over Notre Dame.

Dubois had 152 yards on 23 carries, scoring three touchdowns.

Elba/BB (4-1) jumped out to a 12-0 first-quarter lead, with Dubois scoring on runs of three and four yards. The first TD followed a fumble by the Fighting Irish on the opening kickoff.

Sophomore Quarterback Tim McCulley was involved in both of Norte Dame's TDs, rushing three yards in the second quarter to score and tossing a third-quarter TD to Nick Taylor on a 10-yard pass play.

Dubois scored earlier in the third quarter on a 62-yard run, which proved to be the decisive score.

Tom Fowler led the Elba/BB defense with 15 tackles, including four for a loss. Alex Jasinski had five tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Cody Naylor had seven tackles and one sack.

The Lancers had 253 total yards compared to 173 for Notre Dame (4-1), however, time of possession was greatly in Notre Dame's favor, 29:59 to 18:01.

For Notre Dame, Nick Taylor had 61 yards on 16 carries. McCulley had 83 yards passing.

With Notre Dame's loss and Baker's 49-7 win over Holley, Barker is in sole possession of first place in the Genesee Region League at 5-0.

In other Genesee County football action:

Alexander fell to 0-5 with a 26-7 loss to Attica (4-1).  Lucas Phillips scored Alexander's lone TD, a 48-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Le Roy, now 3-2, scored 35 points in the second quarter on its way to a 62-26 win over Perry (1-4). Tommy McQuillen had 213 yards rushing on 18 carries, scoring six TDs. Andy Lowe completed all eight pass attempts for 136 yards and two TDs. Jeremy Poles had three receptions for 55 yards.

No stats are available on the following games:

Hornell beat Batavia 49-7; Pembroke beat Oakfield-Alabama 43-22.

Elba/Byron-Bergen (3-1) rolled over Holley 28-0, with all of the Lancers' points coming in the first half. Zack Gilliard completed 10 passes for 171 yards and two TDs. Matt Ramsey caught three passes, all for touchdowns, and had 107 receiving yards. Zack DuBois had 121 yards rushing. Nate Jonathan led a powerful Lancer defense with 10 tackles and a sack. Brandon Naylor, in only his second game up on varsity, recorded nine tackles, including his second sack of the season and his third forced fumble in two games. Holley is now 1-3.

Alexander played tough again, but came up short in overtime in a 17-14 loss to Notre Dame. Notre Dame, with four wins, remains undefeated on the season. Notre Dame put together its victory with an interception by Tim McCulley and four plays later, McCulley booted a 35-yard field goal. McCulley was 9-18 passing for 95 yards and two TDs. Nick Conklin carried the ball eight times for 56 yards. Nick Taylor had 13 tackles and Doane McCulley had nine and a sack. For Alexander (0-4), Austin Heberlein had 11 carries for 65 yards and Lucas Phillips added 109 yards rushing on 13 carries. Mark Farnsworth completed nine passes for 131. Alexander had 338 total yards compared to ND's 249.

Pembroke dropped to 1-3 with a loss to Attica, 14-6. Wyatt Chittenden gained 107 yards on the ground.

Baker beat Oakfield-Alabama 54-22. The Hornets are now 0-4 on the year.

Le Roy beat Batavia, 48-35 (coverage).

Genesee Region standings:

1. Barker, 4-0
1. Notre Dame, 4-0
3. Attica, 3-1
3. Elba/Byron-Bergen, 3-1
5. Holley, 1-3
5. Pembroke, 1-3
7. Oakfield-Alabama, 0-4
7. Alexander, 0-4

Next week's schedule:

Friday: Batavia at Hornell, 7 p.m.; Oakfield-Alabama at Pembroke, 7 p.m.; Attica at Alexander, 7 p.m.; Perry at Le Roy, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: Notre Dame at Elba/Byron-Bergen, 7 p.m. The Section V website had the wrong time.  We've confirmed the game is at 1:30 p.m.

The Batavia Blue Devils travelled to Le Roy last night to take on the Knights. It was a close game from the start, with each team scoring a touchdown on its opening possession. Le Roy's offensive line became a key factor early on by creating some huge holes in the defense for Tommy McQuillen to run through, allowing him to run for 336 yards on the night, and score six touchdowns (school record).

Batavia's offense was able to keep the score close for most of the game, however QB Brett Scheuerlein threw three very costly interceptions that may have cost them the game. One was intercepted by Tommy McQuillen, and the other two by Ethan Olsowski. Le Roy's offense scored touchdowns as a result of all three interceptions. Both teams appeared strong, and the game could have easily gone the other way if Batavia had maintained better control of the ball.

In the end, Le Roy came out on top, 48-35.

Andy Lowe and Marcus Mistersare also scored touchdowns for Le Roy. John Difante, James Soggs and Justin Washington scored for the Blue Devils. 

Batavia is now 1-3, and will travel to Hornell next week. Le Roy is 2-2 and will host Perry at home next Friday night.

In a battle of 1-1 teams, Elba rolled over Pembroke 46-20 behind the six TDs of Zach Dubois. The Lancers jumped out to a 18-0 first-half lead, and even with the Dragons scoring twice in the third quarter, Elba added 21 points of their own to the scoreboard.

Dubois scored three times in the first half on short runs, but really broke loose in the second half, scoring on runs of 53, 48 and 57 yards. In all, Dubois carried the ball 22 times for 296 yards.

Overall, Elba had 420 yards of offense. Elba's Matt Ramsey had three catches for 73 yards. The Dragon's QB, Cody Bedard, was 17 of 34 for 175 yards and two TDs. Wyatt Chittenden for Pembroke, 18 carries, 75 yards, eight receptions for 135 yards, two TDs.

Elba's defensive stats: Andy Boyce, 15 tackles, one sack; Matt Ramsey, seven tackles, fumble recovery returned for a TD; Cody Naylor, 10 tackles, one sack; Brandon Naylor, six tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles.

Le Roy dropped to 1-2 with a loss to Avon, 34-20. Tommy McQuillen rushed for three touchdowns for Le Roy.

Batavia also dropped to 1-2 with a 20-17 loss to Livonia. T.T. Martinez racked up 171 rushing yards on 24 carries and a touchdown. Brett Scheurline was 9-for-20 for 109 yards.

Batavia visits Le Roy this Friday for a non-league game.

Alexander lost to Barker 16-7.

For our coverage at Notre Dame vs. Oakfield-Alabama, click here.

Photos by Destin Danser.

Coming off two disappointing seasons and starting the 2011 season 0-2, it would be easy to dismiss a game against Oakfield-Alabama as a bye week, but as any coach in the Genesee Region will tell you, there's no squad in the league that can be taken lightly.

There's no telling if the Fighting Irish took the Hornets a little less than serious coming into Friday night's league match-up, but O-A's young players certainly made a game of it.

The final score was 29-14, but the Hornets were never really out of it until the final minutes, and at the half looked like a team that could spoil Notre Dame's early season perfect record.

"They're very well coached," said Notre Dame's head Coach Rick Mancuso. "Brian (Palone) is doing a great job. That (Tommy) Manzella kid is a terrific quarterback. They're tough, there's no doubt about it. They spread you out all over, they throw the ball. I give them all the credit in the world. I thought they played very well tonight."

Palone said his team is young. They let the game get away from them when Nate Woods returned a punt 50 yards for a TD, making the score 15-14 following a two-point conversion.

"That changed the momentum," Palone said.

While Manzella showed he could still march his offense down the field -- he passed for 192 yards on the night on 27 completions -- the Hornets couldn't finish the deal in the red zone.

"Overall I fell like we were right in there," Palone said. "Our kids were fighting hard just like we ask them -- 'give 110 percent.' We’ve got a lot of sophomores out there. We’re just very young this year, so we’re going to make mistakes, but we’re just going to learn from our mistakes and improve."

The scoring started in the first quarter when Nick Taylor capped a Notre Dame drive with a 16-yard run.

But O-A's no-huddle offensive helped the Hornets get the momentum back and the defense was being pretty stingy, twice intercepting Tim McCulley.

Two O-A drives in the second quarter ended in TDs -- a three-yard run by Manzella and a two-yard pass by Manzella to Chris Nanni.

By the fourth quarter, Notre Dame's running game was nearly unstoppable. 

Taylor finished the game with 87 yards on the ground on 17 carries. Nick Conklin had 82 yards rushing on 11 carries.

ND's two fourth-quarter TDs were a five-yard run by Taylor and Woods hauling in a 25-yard pass from McCulley.

McCulley finished with 107 in the air on 16 completions.

Mancuso said his young team played two great quarters to start each of their previous games and then "sort of frittered it away" in second halfs, but Friday the team played better in the second half than the first.

"With a young group of kids like we've got, that's what you expect," Mancuso said. "I want to get us to the point where we're playing four full quarters of football."

As for O-A, which was shut out three times in 2010 on its way to a 0-7 season, following a 2-5 campaign in 2009, Coach Palone is disappointed in his team's 0-3 start, but he said he's seeing progress for the Hornets.

"I feel like this program is heading in the right direction," Palone said. "Every day and each and every game you can see that we’re improving. We’re hanging right in there with these teams now, where last year and the year before we weren’t right in there with the games. They were breaking the games wide open. This year, we're right there."

For the Week 1 contest, 17 people correctly picked Darren McFadden of the Oakland Raiders as the week's leader in rushing yards. After a random drawing from among those 17 people, Mark Potwora wins the sheet pizza.