The Shepherd Rams football team comes into Saturday’s homecoming game against the Notre Dame College Falcons ranked number 16 in the country and number one in the Mountain East Conference.
“It is always nice to play in front of alumni, and having a packed house to cheer you on is a little extra momentum, but we still have a game to play and can’t lose focus,” Coach Monte Cater said about homecoming.
The Rams come into the game with record of 3-0.
On the offensive side, the Rams are averaging 43 points a game and averaging 413 yards a game.
The Rams’ passing attack is led by junior quarterback Jeff Ziemba, who has thrown for 789 yards and has had 9 touchdowns for the season. Ziemba’s usual target this season so far has been Billy Brown, who is averaging 132.3 yards per game.
The Rams’ ground game is led by Allen Cross and Jabre Lolley, who are both averaging 50 plus yards a game.
The Rams defense is led in tackles by Keon Robinson with 19, and Myles Humphrey with 15. Humphrey also leads the team with 3 sacks. Along with Robinson and Humphrey, the rest of the Rams defense has helped the team only allow 35 points so far this season.
The Falcons come into Saturday’s game with a record of 1-2, with last week’s loss coming in the closing seconds against division 1AA Robert Morris.
Notre Dame’s offense is led in the air and on the ground by their quarterback Malik Grove, who leads the team in not only passing yards but rushing yards. Grove has 657 yards and 6 touchdowns, while adding an additional 346 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground.
“Grove is a great athlete; it would be hard enough defending his arm but defending him on the run is another challenge completely,” Cater said.
The Falcons running back DJ Greene has averaged 83 yards a game and 4 touchdowns for the year.
Emmanuel Smith and Mitchell Shegoes are both receiving threats on the outside averaging 60 yards a game each.
The Falcons have struggled this year defensively, giving up more than 1300 yards during the season to opponents, including a season high 632 yards to the College of Charleston in the first week.
“They are a very sound football team and we can’t afford to take plays off like we did last year against them,” Cater said.
The Rams and Falcons will kick off at noon Saturday, Sept. 26.
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