Notre Dame opened its 2021 Section V varsity football season in winning fashion tonight, defeating York/Pavilion, 15-0, in a non-league game at York.
Junior quarterback Jimmy Fanara connected with senior receiver Cody Henry for a 35-yard touchdown late in the second quarter and ran in for the two-point conversion to give the Fighting Irish an 8-0 lead, and senior running back/receiver Evan Cummings scored from 3 yards out early in the fourth quarter. Junior Brandon Carrick kicked the PAT to complete the scoring.
Notre Dame controlled the ball for most of the first quarter, marching down the field on its opening possession from its own 25 to the York/Pavilion 15, but a 4th down and six pass from Fanara to Henry came up a yard short.
In the second quarter, after forcing York/Pavilion to punt, the Irish started a drive on their own 25 with 4:29 remaining.
Fanara, who completed nine of 12 passes for 107 yards, found Henry for a 22-yard gain. A couple runs by Fanara moved the ball to the York 41, and a six-yard pass to sophomore received Ryan Fitzpatrick put the ball on the Golden Knights' 35.
Then, facing a third-and-five situation, Fanara lofted the ball over the middle where Henry jumped up to catch it and sprinted the final 10 yards to the end zone.
The Irish put the game away on its opening drive of the fourth quarter, with Cummings -- who had 73 yards on 17 carries -- capping a nine-play drive by taking a pitch from Fanara on a first-and-goal play from the York/Pavilion 3-yard line.
Cummings darted toward the left sideline but seeing that he was hemmed in, stopped and reversed course to the right -- outrunning the defense into the end zone with 9:07 left in the game.
Penalties -- false starts, offsides, holding and a couple of unsportsmanlike conduct calls -- plaqued both teams throughout the contest.
Sophmore George Woodruff had 27 yards on four carries while Fanara ran the ball nine times for 38 yards. Henry caught five passes for 84 yards.
On defense, junior Bryceton Berry had a couple sacks while Henry had 10 tackles and senior Drew Edwards had nine tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery as ND limited York/Pavilion to 60 total yards.
