Notre Dame shuts out Lawrence to get in win column

LAWRENCE » When asked if Notre Dame’s strong second half in an opening-night loss to Allentown carried over into the Irish’s home opener Friday, Tristan Tritt couldn’t get the affirmative out of his mouth fast enough.

“Aaaabsolutely,” said Tritt after helping the Irish to a dominating, 28-0, victory over visiting Lawrence in the first game between the township rivals since 2011.

“That’s all we talked about all week,” Tritt said. “Coach (Marc) Lordi wasn’t happy with the loss but he was proud of how we played in the second half and we just took that mentality and worked really hard in practice.”

Indeed, sometimes moral victories lead to real ones. After the Redbirds took a 29-0 halftime lead last week, ND outscored them 20-13 in the second half and made it a two-possession game with 10 minutes to go.

That strong play was apparent for all four quarters against the Cardinals. The Irish held Lawrence to 87 yards of offense while rushing for 203 yards and passing for 69 more. Even special teams got in on the act, as Tritt scored on a blocked punt midway through the second quarter to make it 14-0.

The tight end/defensive end felt that may have been the game’s key moment.

“I think Sam (Ponticello) or Cole(on Williams) blocked it,” Tritt said. “I just picked it up and scored. Coach preaches special teams all week in practice. Having that was a huge momentum shift, we thought we were invincible. After that, it was just really great.”

As was the feeling of picking up a ball and walking two yards into the endzone, as the block came on the goal line.

“Oh my God, it’s the best feeling in the world,” Tritt said. “I was jumping around, I was so excited.”

It was a night for excitement for the Irish in every phase of the game. Offensively, ND got all three of its running backs quality carries. Coleon Williams ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries, his twin brother Cortaz had 61 yards and a TD all in the second half, and Ricky Spruil ran for 66 yards.

“Oh my God, I don’t know how you’re going to stop them,” Tritt said. “The coaches have done a great job putting in good plays for them. If we do our job up front no one’s going to stop us.”

Coleon Williams struck first, going around the right side for a 25yard TD run late in the first quarter. George Chrissafis added the first of his four PATs.

After Tritt scored on the blocked punt, Lawrence went three-andout. Taking over at their 15 with 4:25 in the half, the Irish got a huge play on third-and-3 when Robbie Buecker found Tim Jones with a 40yard strike down the middle. On the next play, Coleon Williams went to the left side for a 38-yard TD run.

Cortaz Williams, a 1,000-yard rusher last year, ripped off consecutive runs of 20 and 23 yards to produce the night’s final score in the fourth quarter.

While the offense used big plays, the defense was downright nasty all night. Lawrence had just three first downs and seven possessions of three-and-out.

“We worked really hard in practice,” Tritt said. “Coach put together a great game plan and we just went out there and executed. That was something that was missing from last week, we didn’t execute. Tonight we played hard and executed well.”

They absolutely did.

Lawrence (0-2) 0 0 0 0 - 0

Notre Dame (1-1) 7 14 0 7 – 28

N-Col Williams 25 run (Chrissafis kick) N-Tritt scores on blocked punt (Chrissafis kick) N-Col Williams 38 run (Chrissafis kick)

N-Cor Williams 23 run (Chrissafis kick)

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