Football | 11/7/2018 5:59:00 PM

GameDay Central
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Complete Game Notes: Fairmont State | West Liberty

The Matchup

- Fairmont State will close out regular season play Thursday at 7 p.m. when it visits West Family Stadium for a Mountain East Conference battle with West Liberty University.

- Fairmont State is 8-2 overall and 7-2 and tied for second in the current MEC standings. West Liberty, on the other hand, is 3-7 overall and 3-6 and in a three-way tie for seventh place in the league.

- Fairmont State enters this weekend's matchup winners of four in a row and five of its last six games.

- West Liberty has lost two games in a row and five of its last six outings. Fairmont State has won four in a row and five of its last six.

- The Falcons lead the overall series between the two schools 42-38-5. Fairmont State has won the last three meetings with the Hilltoppers, but all three wins have been by six points or less. In the last 10 meetings the schools have split with each program recording five wins apiece.

- The Falcons also remained in the NCAA Division II Super Region One rankings on Monday afternoon at No. 10.

- The Falcons have won each of the last four games by at least 21 points, scoring 38 points or more in each of the games. Defensively, the Falcons have also held each of their last four opponents to 17 points or less.

- In Saturday's victory over Concord, Fairmont State rolled up over 300 yards on the ground for the second-consecutive game. Fairmont State has now rushed for 673 yards and nine TD's in the last two games.
 

Offensive Notebook

- Fairmont State's 56 points in its 56-17 win over Concord Saturday allowed the 2018 Falcons to set a new school record for points scored in a single season. The Falcons now have 372 points in 10 games for an average of 37.2 per outing. That breaks the old record of 346 points which was set in 1999 by a Doug Sams-coached Fairmont State team which finished 8-2.

- The 2018 Falcons are also 8-2 with one game remaining. Fairmont State has been a balanced team this fall. The Falcons have amassed 2,201 yards on the ground this season and 2,191 yards though the air. Heading into its regular season finale with West Liberty, Fairmont State has compiled 4,392 yards of total offense. The school record for total offensive yards in a season is 4,690 and was set in 2016. Fairmont's 2018 offense needs 299 yards of total offense Thursday night against West Liberty to set a new school record.

- Fairmont State sophomore running back Khalik Hamlin, one of the leading rushers in NCAA Division II, saw limited action in Saturday's win over the Mountain Lions. He finished with just 43 yards and one touchdown on seven carries. Hamlin now has 1,167 rushing yards for the season which is the seventh-best, single-season rushing performance in school history. He also currently ranks ninth in NCAA Division II in rushing.

- Redshirt freshman Tyree Randolph became the second Falcon running back this season to rush for over 100 yards when he carried the ball 16 times for 103 yards and a TD against Concord in week 10.

- True-freshman Tim Smith also recorded a season-high 71 yards on five carries in the victory, which included a 60-yard TD run.

- As a team Fairmont finished Saturday with a season-high 340 yards and five touchdowns on 44 attempts.

- For the season Fairmont State has run for 2,201 yards and 23 touchdowns. The school record for team rushing yards in a single season is 2,537 and was set 40 years ago in 1978. The last time a Fairmont State team ran for more than 2,200 yards in a season was 30 years ago in 1988 when the Falcons finished with 2,365 yards on the ground.

- With his 132 passing yards in Saturday's win over Concord Fairmont State junior quarterback Takwan Crews-Naylor became only the sixth quarterback in school history to throw for 2,000 or more yards in a season for the Falcons.

- Crews-Naylor currently has completed 136-of-220 passes for 2,096 yards and 20 touchdowns. He's only been intercepted six times.

- Crews-Naylor joins Jarrod Furgason (1994-97), Bryan Harman (1998-01), Cooper Hibbs (2013-16), Luc Tousignant (1978-81) and Bobby Vega (2012) in achieving that feat. Furgason, Fairmont State's all-time leading passer, and Harman, who is third in school history in career passing yards, did it three times during their careers. Hibbs, who is second in school history in career passing yards, did it twice, while Tousignant and Vega both achieved it one time.

- Harman and Hibbs are the only Fairmont State quarterbacks to throw for 3,000 or more yards during a single season.

- Crews-Naylor's 20 TD passes this fall tie him with Furgason and Hibbs for the fifth-most touchdown passes in a single season at Fairmont State. For his career Crews-Naylor has thrown 25 touchdown passes which ranks him seventh all-time in school history.

- Wide Receiver Javon Hayes ranks second in the league in receiving touchdowns with eight this season.

- In addition, Shawn Harris has hauled in 36 receptions for a team-high 646 yards and 5 TD's this season. Harris ranks ninth in the league with 646 receiving yards this season.

- Fairmont State also ranks 11th in the nation in 3rd-down conversion percentage (.492).
 

Defensive Notebook

- Fairmont State's defense ranks 15h in NCAA Division II in turnover margin at plus-10. The Falcons are also 19th in the country in points allowed per game (17.5), 40th in total defense (324.1), 38th in passing yards allowed per game (185.7) and 63rd in rushing yards allowed per contest (138.4).

- The Falcons have performed very well in the defensive redzone, allowing opponents to score on just 72.7 percent of attempts – which ranks 44th in the country.

- The Fairmont State defense has also forced 22 turnovers this season, including 10 interceptions and 12 fumble recoveries. The Falcons rank in the top 20 in the country in turnovers gained and fumbles recovered.

- Six different players have picked off a pass this season, led by Michael Porter with three and Stephen Turner and Malachi McMillan with two apiece. Porter returned an interception for a TD against Shepherd.

Fairmont State has 20 different players with double-digit tackles this season.

- Senior linebacker Jerry Iweh is leading the Falcon defense with a team-high 74 total tackles (44 solo) this season. Iweh also has 7.5 tackles of loss, a sack, an interception and seven pass break-ups this season. Iweh also has forced and recovered a pair of fumbles this season.

- Iweh ranks 11th in the conference in total tackles (7.4) and solo tackles (4.4) per game and is tied for third in the league in fumble recoveries this season (2).

- Antonio Harris is second on the team with 57 total tackles (30 solo).

- Junior cornerback Michael Porter ranks fourth in the league in interceptions and seventh in passes defensed this season.

- Josh Ballard is leading the Fairmont State defensive front with 46 tackles and 3.5 sacks this season.

- Fairmont State also ranks 43rd in the country in tackles for loss, averaging 7.4 per game.

- However, after ranking in the top 30 in the country in sacks the last two seasons, the Falcons currently rank 123rd in sacks this season, averaging 1.50 per game. The Falcons have just 15 quarterback sacks this season, compared to 30 in 2017 (2.72) and 38 in 2016 (3.16).

Special Teams Notebook

- Fairmont State redshirt freshman kicker Colin Harvath shattered a pair of school records Saturday in the Falcons' 56-17 victory over Concord University at Duvall-Rosier Field.

- Harvath, who has been perfect all season for Fairmont State on PATs, kicked eight Saturday to give himself 48 for the season breaking the old school record of 42 set by Sam Keil in 2016. He also eclipsed Nathan White's school record of 43 consecutive made extra points set from 2000-01.

- Harvath is 48-of-48 on extra points and 10-of-16 on field goals this fall. He leads Fairmont State in scoring with 78 points and is currently tied for 40th in the nation in NCAA Division II in scoring. His 10 made field goals tie him for sixth place with Frank Keenan (2011) and Randy Whited (1981) for the most made field goals in a single season in school history.

- Harvath is currently seventh all-time in Mountain East Conference history in PATs made in a single season (48) and his 10 made field goals have him tied for 16th in the conference in a single season.

- Since the MEC formed in the fall of 2013 only one kicker has completed a season perfect on PAT attempts. That was Virginia-Wise's Trevor Owens who went 24-of-24 in 2017. Owens is currently 18-of-18 on PATs this fall.

- Three-time MEC Special Teams Player of the Week Lyrics Klugh currently leads the country in punt return average (26.9) and combined kick return yards (958). The senior also ranks second in the country with a pair of punt return TD's and ranks 28th in the country in kickoff return average (26.4).