Football: Notre Dame Strikes Early and Often to Defeat Lawrence

Late in the second quarter, the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" starting blaring over the loudspeakers at Notre Dame High School Friday night (Sept. 9).

As it turns out the song – which includes the line "Tonight's going to be a good night" – was the perfect anthem for the Notre Dame varsity football team's evening, as they crushed cross-town rival Lawrence High School 48-0 in the season opener for both teams. 

Even more appropriately, junior running back Wally Nance scampered into the end zone for a 31-yard score as the song was playing, giving the Irish a 41-0 nothing lead they would take into the half. 

While the Irish wouldn't add any more points offensively in the second half — which was played with a running clock due to the massive point deferential — the first half was as close to perfect as Notre Dame coach Chappy Moore could have hoped for. 

"It was a good start and you can't argue with that. We came out and jumped all over them," Moore said. "After we went up 21 and it snowballed on them, it went bang, bang, bang just like that… we just jumped on it." 

Notre Dame scored on its first six possessions and bad turnovers by Lawrence turned what was already a snowball effect into more of an avalanche. 

Nance opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run halfway through the first quarter, a powerful run up the middle as he blew through a pair of Cardinal defenders. 

For Nance the 97-yard, two-touchdown performance is a promising sign of things to come, especially in an Irish offense that posted 329 yards of total offense, including 226 in the first half. 

"He (Nance) wasn't playing this time last year… he's a good receiver, a good runner and a tough kid. You can't ask much more of him," Moore said. 

Five minutes after Nance's first touchdown, the Irish struck again, as quarterback Sam McDermott avoided a Lawrence rush and escaped for a 13-yard score. 

Both first quarter strikes, combined with Lawrence's inability to move the ball, built Notre Dame's confidence. In the second quarter the Irish exploded for 27 points. 

It would appear the only lowlight in Notre Dame's second quarter — which included scores a mere five seconds apart, aided by a Lawrence fumble — was the fact that an extra point attempt was blocked. 

For Lawrence there were many lowlights, as a young Cardinal team looked, well, young. Six turnovers derailed any attempt to remain competitive in the contest.

"I think turnovers and the fact we've got some young guys playing in different key spots definitely hurt us," Lawrence coach Rob Radice said. "We missed some tackles and that led to some first downs for them. They were certainly the better team than us today."

However, Lawrence showed some more fight in the second half, doubling their yardage and playing solid defense against the Notre Dame starters who played until the end of the third quarter. 

"I'm encouraged by the second half," Radice said. "They still had their first unit in and we made some tackles and got an interception … we're looking for some positives here. I think we're going to win many football games this year."

Lawrence will get a chance to redeem itself at 11 a.m. next Saturday when it hosts Hamilton, while Notre Dame will visit West Windsor-Plainsboro North, also on Saturday, at 1 p.m. 

Lawrence

  0

  0

0

0

  0

Notre Dame

14

27

0

7

41

First:

ND — Wally Nance 7-yard run (Mike Young kick), 7:57

ND— Sam McDermott 2-yard run (Young kick), 2:42

Second: 

ND — McDermott 1-yard run (Young kick), 11:02

ND — Young 26-yard pass from McDermott (Young kick blocked), 10:46

ND — Kevin McCarthy 16-yard run (Young kick), 7:15

ND — Nance 31-yard run (Young kick), 3:46

Fourth: 

ND — Phillip Mahotiere 50-yard fumble return (Young kick), 5:25

Total yards: Notre Dame 329 (147 passing, 182 rushing); Lawrence 115 (14 passing, 101 rushing)

Turnovers: Notre Dame 1; Lawrence 6

Record: Notre Dame 1-0, Lawrence 0-1