Read more
Scores and Photos of Friday night high school football - Sept. 18
Propelled by a 22-point first quarter and a great night running the football, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were able to secure their third win of the season Friday night with a 36-0 shutout of the Howard Hustlin' Tigers.
Coming off a loss last week at Knoxville Catholic, Notre Dame coach Charles Fant felt that turning up the intensity during practice would make the difference for his team.
"I've been harping that we've been starting really slow, and I didn't feel like we've been giving great effort," Fant said. "We had to make sure that we practiced really hard for this game, and we found some things that we needed to fix. Now it's just about sustaining."
The Irish rushing attack seemed to benefit the most from Fant's amped-up practices. Running back Ricky Ballard was electric for Notre Dame in the first half, scoring touchdowns covering 33 and 45 yards.
"(Coach Fant) was out there taking our lives away from us," Ballard said when asked about the physical nature of practice this week. "We had a really hard week of practice, but it showed up tonight."
Junior Andrew Banks contributed with a 46-yard punt return that helped to spring his 5-yard TD run two plays later. Banks also had several consistent runs while in relief for Ballard.
The Irish used their stellar run game to set up the pass. Quarterback Alex Darras connected for two first-half touchdowns, to Gehrig Johnson for 20 yards and then to Calvin Simms for 14.
The only dark spot of the night for Darras came in the second quarter when a tipped pass found its way into the hands of Howard's Quattarius Porter.
After the Tigers moved deep into Irish territory, quarterback Vincent Bowling was stalled on three straight rushing attempts, ultimately ending the possession on the Irish 1-yard-line as the clock expired and sent both teams to halftime.
"We've got to finish," Howard coach Mark Teague said after the game. "They saw when you finish on your blocks, the ball moves. That's the thing we've just got to continue to get better at. We're still young, and we're still learning, but that excuse of being young runs out after a while. We've got to get out there and do our jobs."
Notre Dame (3-2) plays Mississippi power Calhoun City next week. Howard remains winless with the loss but looks to bounce back next week on the road at Lancaster Christian.
Contact Taylor Ellis at sports@timesfreepress.com