Notre Dame up 14-7 at half: first half recap

Notre Dame might be the No. 1 seed in the Pac-5, but the Knights had to be considered somewhat of an underdog in tonight's matchup against national powerhouse Long Beach Poly.

So far so good for the underdogs.

Notre Dame took an early 7-0 lead on Dayne Crist's 19-yard run 1:47 into the game, then stopped two impressive Long Beach Poly drives by forcing fumbles.

Long Beach Poly got on the board when Bryshon Nellum returned a punt 42 yards for a touchdown. The Knights answered when Crist found Mike Stanton on a 55-yard strike late in the second quarter.

So far, Notre Dame looks good. They haven't run the ball particularly wel, but Crist has been moving the offense on every drive and the defense has done a good job containing Long Beach Poly's speed.

The Jackrabbits have had several impressive drives, but aren't going to win if they can't hang onto the football. Still, you can never count them out when they have gamebreakers like Nellum, Randall Cox and Donovan Warren.

Should be a good second half.