South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Chaminade-Madonna grad Colombi leads 4th-quarter rally
Marshall stuns No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend
Chaminade-Madonna graduate Henry Colombi threw the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Steven Gilmore followed that by returning an interception 37 yards for a touchdown as Marshall shocked No. 8 Notre Dame 26-21 on Saturday, making Marcus Freeman the first Fighting Irish coach to lose his first three games.
Gilmore, the brother of Stephon Gilmore of the Indianapolis Colts, picked off a pass by Tyler Buchner with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left, raced to the end zone and then jumped into the stands, where Marshall fans were already celebrating the victory.
Marshall (2-0), the first Sun Belt Conference team to play at Notre Dame Stadium, beat a team ranked in the top 10 for just the second time in school history. The Thundering Herd beat No. 6 Kansas State 27-20 in 2003.
The Irish had a streak of 42 straight wins against unranked opponents snapped.
Freeman, the 36-year-old first-time head coach who was promoted after Brian Kelly left for LSU, had lost a bowl game to Oklahoma State on New Year’s Day and then at Ohio State last week. But this one will go down much differently to hopeful Notre Dame fans.
The Herd took a 19-15 lead with 5:16 remaining when Colombi, who attended University School in Davie before transferring to and graduating from Hollywood’s Chaminade-Madonna in 2017, completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Devin Miller.
The score was set up by a 42-yard run by Khalan Labron, who rolled up 163 yards on the ground. Laborn broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and juked Irish safety Brandon
Joseph before breaking free.
Any hope for a comeback by the Irish (0-2) ended when Owen Porter intercepted a pass by backup Irish quarterback Drew Pyne with three minutes remaining. Pyne threw a TD pass with 14 seconds left to cut the lead to five points.
Colombi was 16-of-21 passing for 145 yards and the Thundering Herd rushed for 221 yards on 49 carries.
The Irish, who struggled offensively in a 21-10 loss to Ohio State with a play-it-safe, ball-control game plan, opened the playbook against the Herd but still struggled to get much going.
Buchner was 18-of-32 passing for 201 yards with two interceptions. He also led the Irish in rushing with 44 yards on 13 carries, Michael Mayer had eight catches for 103 yards.
The Irish grabbed a 15-12 lead early in the fourth quarter on a
1-yard run up by Buchner. He then kept it and ran wide right for the two-point conversion, but the Irish couldn’t mount much offense after that.
Two plays with a little over eight minutes left in the third quarter epitomized Notre Dame’s struggles.
On third-and-2 from the Notre Dame 47, the Irish couldn’t get the first down on two carries by Audric Estime, coming up 6 inches short.
That led to a drive by the Thundering Herd, highlighted by a backward pass by Colombi to Talik Keaton along the left sideline for a
30-yard gain, but the drive stalled after Cam Fancher took over at quarterback for Colombi.
Marshall drove to the 4-yard line before settling for a 20-yard field goal to go ahead 12-7.