Football | 11/14/2016 1:26:00 PM

By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

Fairmont State's thrilling 37-30 victory over Glenville State Thursday evening in the annual "Battle for the Bit" and regular-season finale for both schools at Duvall-Rosier Field helped the Falcons finish 10-1 overall and 9-1 in the Mountain East Conference.

More important is the fact that the victory, which set a school record for the most wins by the Falcons during a regular season, secured an NCAA Division II Playoff berth for the team for the first time in school history. FSU earned the No. 4 spot in the final Super Region 1 rankings and will play host to No. 5 Indiana (Pa.) University Saturday, Nov. 19 at 12 p.m. at Duvall-Rosier Field. The Crimson Hawks finished the regular season 9-1.

California (Pa.) University (10-0) claimed the No. 1 ranking in Super Region 1 and earned an opening-round bye. The Vulcans will host the FSU-IUP winner on Saturday, Nov. 26 at Adamson Stadium in California, Pa.

IUP's lone loss this season was a 31-28 setback against Cal back on Oct. 8. Fairmont State's only loss came against No. 3 ranked Shepherd (10-0), 27-17, on Nov. 5.

The Rams will tangle with No. 6 Assumption (9-2) Saturday, while second-seeded LIU-Post (10-0) will square off the same day with Winston-Salem State (9-2), which ended up ranked eighth, but moved into the No. 7 spot bumping Edinboro (Pa.) because of the NCAA's Earned Access Rule.

Saturday's playoff appearance will be the first for Fairmont State since the Falcons made the field in the 1988 NAIA Playoffs and were eliminated in the opening round on the road against Hillsdale, Mich., 42-7.

It will be Fairmont's first home playoff game since 1981. That season FSU was also eliminated in the NAIA Playoffs by Hillsdale, 12-7.

Fairmont's last wins in the playoffs both came 49 years ago in 1967 when the Falcons defeated Northern Michigan, 21-7, in the NAIA Semifinals and then claimed the NAIA National Championship with a 28-21 victory over Eastern Washington in a game played at West Virginia University's old Mountaineer Field.

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Mike Roscoe's 29-year-old school record finally fell Thursday evening in Fairmont State's seven-point win over Glenville State.

Roscoe, a single receiver in coach Wally Hood's Wing-T Offense at FSU in the mid-to-late 1980s, set the school record for catches in a single season in 1987 when he hauled in 75 receptions for 946 yards and eight touchdowns.

Thursday night FSU true freshman receiver Laurence King finished with nine catches for 82 yards giving him 81 catches for the season for 869 yards and five touchdowns.

"To be honest until I saw you write about it I didn't even know I was close to a record this year," King said. "When I saw I was like three or four catches away from breaking it I was determined to go get it. The best thing about breaking a record is being able to do it in a win and that was the case tonight. That just made it a whole lot better for me. That, plus we also locked up a playoff berth with this win."

It's also impressive that King, a 5-7, 180-pounder from Greenbelt, Md. who was playing high school ball last fall, did it surrounded by a corps of outstanding receivers including Fabian Guerra, FSU's all-time leader in career receptions with 227, fellow true freshman Andre Hall, junior Brandon Boyd and sophomore Jeff Iweh.

For the season Guerra has 70 catches for 787 yards and six touchdowns. Hall has 40 catches for 539 yards and three scores. Boyd has 31 catches for 259 yards and Iweh, who will miss the rest of the season due to a broken hand suffered in the Shepherd game, has 18 catches for 288 yards and two TDs.

"I'm blessed because I am surrounded here by a great group of receivers on this team," King said. "Tonight I felt like Glenville was trying to take me out of the game, but when you try to do that to any one of us others are going to step up. Any one of us can and will catch the ball given the opportunity.

"You know I don't really pay a lot of attention to stats. I came into this season focused on doing a job for this team and just looking forward to playing football because I love the game so much. Like I said I'm blessed. I'm on a very good team and we've accomplished some great things this season as. I love these guys."

FSU coach Jason Woodman says King, who also leads the Falcons in both kickoff and punt returns, has been a great team player for the Falcons this entire fall.

"Laurence's athletic ability is ridiculous," Woodman said. "There's nothing you can say to describe it. You just have to watch it. The thing about him is he's fought through some injuries and has played a little banged up all year long, but when he has the chance to make a play for this team he does it and he does it for the team. He's not in any way a selfish player. He really cares about the team and wants to play his best for it. For me as a coach that's really rewarding to see. He plays with the right attitude and mindset."

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Senior safety Manny Ivey came up just short in his bid to establish his own school record Thursday night in the Falcons' win over Glenville. Ivey, a 6-foot, 210-pounder from Richmond, Va., recorded three interceptions in the victory over the Pioneers, including the game-sealing one at Fairmont's 41-yard line with 21 seconds left to play.

Ivey, who had four solo tackles in the win, also picked off a pass in the end zone midway through the second quarter and returned it 17 yards to thwart a potential GSC scoring threat and intercepted another pass at the FSU four-yard line early in the fourth quarter to squelch another possible Pioneer scoring drive.

"I was just trying to do my job tonight to help us get the win," said Ivey, who now leads FSU with five interceptions for the season. "I'm not an individually-oriented guy. What I do is for the good of our team and to try to put our program back on the map.

"It feels good though. We came from the bottom to the top. In my years here we were 3-7, 3-7, then 6-4 and now 10-1. That's pretty sweet."

The school record for interceptions in a game is four and was set by Mike Argabrite way back in 1971 in a 17-12 win over Concord.

Ivey now has eight interceptions for his career at FSU. This season he's tied with fellow safety Stephen Turner for second on the team in total tackles with 53.

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Senior quarterback Cooper Hibbs finished 26-of-41 passing for 275 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Glenville. He was intercepted twice.

Hibbs' 275 passing yards allowed him to pass Bryan Harman, a two-time league offensive player of the year, for second place in Fairmont State history in career passing yards. Hibbs, a four-year starter from Odenton, Md., now has 8,664 passing yards in his FSU career. Harman, who starred for Fairmont State from 1998-2001, finished his career with 8,580 passing yards.

Fairmont State's all-time passing leader is Jarrod Furgason, who ended his stellar career with 9,856 passing yards and a school record 101 touchdown passes. Hibbs trails Furgason by 1,192 yards.

Hibbs' two touchdown passes Thursday allowed him to tie Harman for second place in school history behind Furgason with 64 touchdown passes.

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Junior running back Terrell Charles enjoyed his best performance as a Falcon in Thursday's 37-30 win over Glenville. Charles, a 5-8, 190-pounder from Ellicott City, Md., rushed for a career-high 149 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. He also caught one pass for 13 yards and another score.

He's the first Falcon player since running back Daniel Monroe in 2012 to score four touchdowns in a single game. The school record for touchdowns in a single game is five and is held by three individuals – running back Darrin Liggins (1990), receiver Mike Dunsworth (1997) and receiver Perry Baker (2008).

Charles finished the regular season third in the MEC in rushing with 853 yards and 12 touchdowns on 187 carries. His 13 total touchdowns this fall are the most for a Falcon player since Monroe scored 14 in 2011.

He needs 147 rushing yards to become the first FSU back since Doug Brazil to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season. Brazil did that back in 2007 when he finished with 1,137 yards.

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Fairmont State's special teams came up with two big plays against Glenville that helped lead to the win. First, with just over 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter backup redshirt freshman safety Jordan Schaeffer blocked a punt which rolled out of bounds at the Pioneers' 11-yard line. On the next play Terrell Charles ran it in from 11 yards out for a touchdown to put FSU ahead 35-10.

Then, late in the third quarter after GSC scored to make it 35-16, Fairmont safety Stephen Turner picked up a botched PAT attempt after a high snap and returned it 61 yards for two points to make it 37-16. It was the first return for two points after a failed PAT attempt for Fairmont since Denial Anglin returned one 90 yards in a 51-21 victory over Concord way back in 2000.

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Junior defensive end Quincy Redmon had the only sack for FSU in Thursday's victory giving him a total of 12 for the season. The school record for sacks in a single season is 14 and was set by standout defensive lineman Randy Jones in 1981.

This fall Redmon is fourth on the team in total tackles with 50, including a team-high 15 for losses. For his career Redmon has 17 sacks and 36.5 tackles for losses. Redmon is currently tied for ninth in school history in career sacks and is eighth in FSU history in tackles for losses.

As a team Fairmont finished the regular season first in the MEC in total quarterback sacks with 38. Sophomore defensive tackle Josh Ballard is second on the team this fall with seven sacks, junior defensive tackle Dalton Inman is third with 3.5 and redshirt freshman defensive end Abu Kai Kai is fourth with three.