FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Fairmont State's historic 2016 football season came to an end on Saturday afternoon at Duvall-Rosier Field when visiting Indiana University of Pennsylvania opened up a 21-0 lead midway through the opening quarter and never looked back in a 62-13 win over the Falcons in the first round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
 
With the loss, Fairmont State ends the year with a 10-2 overall record and its first-ever berth in the NCAA DII Playoffs. IUP improves to 10-1 on the season and will travel to California (PA) for a second round matchup with the Vulcans next Saturday.
 
On the opening possession of the game, Fairmont State drove right down the field and had a first-and-goal from the IUP 6, but a fumble ended the drive and turned into points for the Crimson Hawks at the opposite end of the field. Chris Temple struck first for IUP by capping a six-play, 95-yard drive with a 58-yard touchdown run.

With the Falcons looking to respond, Cooper Hibbs was picked-off on the first play of the ensuing FSU possession to give the Crimson Hawks the ball at the IUP 46. Four plays and 54 yards later, Mike Pietropola took a handoff nine-yards for a score to put IUP up 14-0. Following a three-and-out by the FSU offense on their third possession, Temple crossed the goal line for the second time of the day, this time capping a five-play, 56-yard drive to put the Crimson Hawks out in front by a 21-0 margin.
 
Indiana (PA) continued to roll into the fourth quarter, opening up a 56-0 lead at the 12:47 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
Laurence King provided the only points of the day for the Falcons, scoring twice in the second half – hauling in touchdown passes of nine and 39 yards. For the day, King totaled seven receptions for 104 yards through the air and had 278 all-purpose yards with eight kick returns fro 174 yards. Fabian Guerra, the all-time school leader in receptions, ended his standout career with six receptions for 62 yards on the afternoon.
 
Senior quarterback Cooper Hibbs' career also came to an end this after by completing 21-of-40 passes for 219 yards and two scores. Hibbs also threw a pair of interceptions.
 
On the ground, Terrell Charles totaled just 34 yards on nine carries as the Falcons were limited to just 77 yards on 23 carries.
 
Prior to this afternoon's game, the FSU defense had limited each of its opponents to 130 yards or less on the ground. This afternoon, IUP rolled up 372 yards on 63 carries and ran for seven scores. Temple led IUP on the ground with 147 yards on 20 carries and crossed the goal line four times.
 
Pietropola completed 10-of-15 pass attempts for 134 yards and a score at the QB position for IUP. Walt Pegues caught six of the 10 IUP completions on the afternoon for a total of 83 yards and a score.
 
Defensively, Keven Clark led the Crimson Hawks with nine total tackles in the win. Steve Franco had an 82-yard, pick-six for IUP as the Crimson Hawks forced six turnovers.
 
Marcus Porter recorded a game-high 12 total tackles for FSU. The Falcons did not force a turnover for just the second time this season.