Palisades left Lafayette’s Fisher Field knowing it gave everything it had.

Notre Dame-Green Pond walked away knowing it took Palisdes’ best punch and responded when it needed to.

Faustie Capobianco gave the Crusaders the lead for good with a 1-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 9 seconds left and Matt Bodnar’s 11-yard TD pass to Jonathan Striba with 5 seconds remaining sealed a hard-fought 34-22 victory.

“That’s a playoff-type game,” Notre Dame-GP coach Phil Stambaugh said. “We want to be in those situations. These games are helping us. We don’t necessarily want it to be that close, but at the same time I thinking we’re drawing something from them. I think the kids are able to win those situations, and that’s a positive for us.”

The Pirates never quit, even after falling behind 21-9 in the third quarter.

They blocked a field goal then drove 60 yards in eight plays for a touchdown, a 4-yard scoring from Jack Trickel to Lincoln Cook with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

Coach Bobby Smith’s club then forced a punt before Trickel hit Mason Schultz in stride for a 95-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes left for a 22-21 lead.

“The kids grew up a lot tonight,” Smith said. “Everybody wrote us off. It was just a couple plays we didn’t capitalize on. Everybody knows Notre Dame have 80 people on the team and [Stambaugh] coaches them well.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the kids. They fought their [butts] off tonight. We kept fighting. That was the biggest thing.”

Notre Dame-GP fought back to regain the lead less than two minutes later on Capobianco’s touchdown plunge. A 30-yard pass from Bodnar to Striba was among the keys on the nine-play, 65-yard drive.

Palisades drove the Notre Dame-PG 33-yard line. The Pirates eventually had a fourth-and-8 after penalties on each team, but Drew Boyd rolled over from his safety spot to pick off the pass with 5:03 left.

The Crusaders then did their best to milk the clock and drive 91 yards for the game-clinching score on fourth down.

Notre Dame-GP, like it did for much of the game, showed great balance between the run and pass on the 11-play drive. It had 200 rushing yards and 277 passing in the contest.

“We prepared for situations like this,” Bodnar said. “Going into situations where we have to score after our defense gives up a score, we have to back them up. I’m proud of how we responded. Our defense played well. They are not always going to be perfect.

“Offensively, we have to get better, too. [After they scored], it was just our time now, our time to score, not worry about that. We did a great job of that.”

Palisades scored first early in the second quarter on Blake Oglialoro’s 40-yard field goal.

Notre Dame-GP scored on its next two possessions to take control. A personal foul/blow to the head negated a Palisades fumble recovery. The Crusaders scored two plays later on Striba’s 3-yard touchdown run with 7:22 left in the first half.

After forcing a three-and-out, Notre Dame-GP needed only three plays to go 62 yards for its second score. Aaron Gordon sprinted around left end for a 26-yard TD run. Bodnar’s 27-yad pass to Boyd set up the score.

Palisades’ last drive of the first half stalled after a chop block penalty.

“We had a lot not go our way tonight,” Smith said. “We got caught with a couple dumb penalties, I guess, and it did hurt our rhythm. I’m going to blame the flags.

“I think the big plays that happen against us, we usually would take the next couple plays off. But they were great tonight. The initial something bad happening, but we responded. They believed they can hang with anybody, and they can as long as they play within themselves.”

Notre Dame-GP (8-0) visits Palmerton at 7 p.m. Friday. Palisades (5-3) hosts Wilson, also at 7 Friday.

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com

NOTRE DAME-GP 34, PALISADES 22

Palisades; 0; 3; 13; 7 — 22  

Notre Dame-GP; 0; 14; 7; 13 — 34

ORDER OF SCORING

Second quarter

P: Blake Oglialoro 40 FG, 11:12

ND: Jonathan Striba 3 run (Clemente Cintron kick), 7:22

ND: Aaron Gordon 26 run (Cintron kick), 4:30

Third quarter

P: Jack Trickel 15 pass to Lincoln Cook (kick failed), 9:17

ND: Matt Bodnar 35 pass to C.J. Diaz (Cintron kick), 8:05

P: Trickel 4 pass to Cook (Oglialoro kick), 0:30

Fourth quarter

P: Trickel 95 pass to Mason Schultz (pass failed), 10:01

ND: Faustie Capobianco 1 run (pass failed), 8:09

ND: Bodnar 5 pass to Striba (Cintron kick), 0:05

TEAM STATISTICSPal; NDGPFirst downs; 12; 24Rushes-yards; 22-67; 37-200Passing yards; 273; 277Comp-Att-INTs; 19-35-1; 19-32-0Punts-avg.; 5-27.6; 2-47.5Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 1-1Penalties-yards; 6-52; 6-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Palisades) Jack Trickel 13-48; Max Woerner 6-19; Ashton Fitzgerald 2-(-1); Silas Day 1-(-1); (Notre Dame-GP) Aaron Gordon 9-98, TD; Jonathan Striba 11-57, TD; Faustie Capobianco 14-66, TD; Matt Bodnar 3-(-21).

Passing: (Palisades) Trickel 19-35-1, 273 yards 3 TDs; (Notre Dame-GP) Bodnar 19-32-0, 277 yards, 2 TDs.

Receiving: (Palisades) Lincoln Cook 8-115, 2 TDs; Fitzgerald 6-20; Woerner 2-13; Mason Schultz 4-125, TD; (Notre Dame-GP) Striba 7-106, TD; Alex Clark 2-21; Drew Boyd 6-95; Capobianco 1-3; C.J. Diaz 2-46, TD; Jason Frederick 1-7.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/10/10/notre-dame-gp-football-rallies-past-valiant-palisades/