West Virginia State made the long trip to Shepherdstown to face Mountain East Conference foe Shepherd Saturday, but the trip back seemed a little longer.
The Yellow Jackets trailed just 23-10 at the half before the unbeaten Rams (6-0) put the game away with a big second half to capture a 46-17 win.
State dropped to 4-3.
Junior quarterback Jeff Ziemba led the Rams with 215 passing yards and added TD passes to Jabre Lolley and Jamie Deason. Lolley and Allen Cross also had two rushing TDs each for eighth-ranked Shepherd.
State cut the Rams' lead to 23-17 early in the third quarter when Dionta Brown hauled in a 13-yard TD pass from Matt Kinnick, but the Yellow Jackets' offense ran out of steam down the stretch.
Kinnick had 229 passing yards for State, but the Yellow Jackets managed just 28 total rushing yards.
Shepherd outgained the Yellow Jackets in total yards 351-257. Kelvit Barrett led State with 25 rushing yards and pulled in an 18-yard TD pass from Kinnick, while Dionta Brown finished with 24 rushing yards and a TD.
Sophomore defensive back Ayinde Warren had a team-high eight tackles for the Jackets.
Notre Dame 23, Concord 21: The Falcons jumped to a 17-0 first-half lead and then held off the Mountain Lions down the stretch to earn the home win. Notre Dame improved to 2-5, while Concord dipped to 4-3. Kyle Perkins had a first-half TD reception for Notre Dame, while Malik Grove had a 6-yard TD run.
Concord finally got on the board with 11:37 left in the third when Calvinaugh Jones scored from 12 yards out. Jones finished with 139 yards and became Concord's all-time leading rusher during the game. Shaun Workinger scored on a 1-yard run to make it 17-14 midway though the quarter.
After a Notre Dame field goal, Concord took its first lead at 21-20, when Workinger scored again from 1 yard out with 10:42 to play. Notre Dame's Kyle Kaplan answered with his third field goal of the game with 6:33 to play to finish the scoring.
Concord had one last chance to win the game, but senior kicker Andy Ellington's 39-yard field goal attempt with 1:10 to play sailed wide right.
West Liberty 30, Virginia-Wise 6: The Hilltoppers scored 30 unanswered points to post the easy road win. It was the fourth time in as many games that the Cavaliers failed to hold onto a first-half lead. Wise dropped to 0-7, while West Liberty improved to 4-3.
The Hilltoppers defense limited Wise to just 14 rushing yards on 24 attempts, but Wise did manage 322 passing yards. Dakota Conwell paced the Hilltoppers with 284 passing yards and 86 rushing yards, while accounting for four TDs. Anton McCallum had a game-high 107 recieving yards for West Liberty.
West Virginia Wesleyan 34, Urbana 7: The Bobcats broke open a 7-all halftime game with 27 unanswered points in the second half to earn the home win. It was the first win for Wesleyan, which improved to 2-5, while Urbana dropped to 2-5.
Five different Bobcats scored with Anthony Okray, Stephen Rogalski, Marcus Smith and Ryan Gumbita pulling in TD passes, and Michael Anderson scoring on a 3-yard TD run. Wesleyan held a 432-149 edge in total offense.
For Urbana, Cedric Presley scored on a second quarter 8-yard run.