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Game Notes: Fairmont State


The Matchup

- Fairmont State (2-0, 1-0) returns to action Saturday when it visits Cebe Ross Field in Buckhannon for a 1 p.m. Mountain East Conference game with West Virginia Wesleyan.

- Fairmont State leads the overall series with Wesleyan, 44-22-1. The Falcons have won the last three meetings between the teams, but two of those games were not decided until the fourth and final quarter.

- Both of Fairmont State's games this season have been completed in 2:40 or less. Last week's blowout victory over Urbana lasted just 2:26.

- In last season's 35-10 runaway victory over the Bobcats, Fairmont State opened up a 29-7 first-half lead and never looked back in the victory. The Falcons outgained Wesleyan 405-206 on offense in the victory.

- The Fairmont State defense also forced four Bobcat turnovers in the victory.

- During the last matchup in Buckhannon back in 2016, Fairmont State came away with a 31-17 win at Cebe Ross Field on a cool and rainy day in Buckhannon.

- With the score tied at 17-17 after three quarters of play, Fairmont State sealed the win with 14-unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

- Wesleyan's last win in the series came back in 2014, a 34-13 Bobcat victory at Cebe Ross Field.

- Fairmont State is looking to start the season 3-0 for the second time in three years.

- Fairmont State is riding a six-game winning streak into Saturday's game at Wesleyan.

- With the victory over Urbana last Saturday, Fairmont State has now won 26 of its last 33 games dating back to Sept. 17, 2015. The last time the Falcons enjoyed a string of success like that was during Dave Ritchie's tenure as coach at the school. Ritchie's teams won 27 of 34 games from the end of 1978 until the end of the regular season in 1981.

Offensive Notebook

- Fairmont's offense is 40th in the nation in total offense with an average of 436.0 yards per game. The Falcons are averaging 277.0 passing yards per game and 159.0 rushing yards per contest.

- The Falcons have also been excellent on third down this season, ranking eight in the country in the category (.542).

- Fairmont State redshirt junior quarterback Takwan Crews-Naylor is leading the nation in NCAA Division II in completion percentage in 2018. In two games Crews-Naylor has completed 39-of-48 passes (.813 percent) for 510 yards and four touchdowns. He has not thrown an interception this season and has only been sacked one time.

- In Crews-Naylor's last six starts dating back to last season, the junior has been picked off just twice. He has not thrown an interception in three-consecutive games.

- Fairmont State has been able to spread the ball around to 10 different receivers during the first two weeks of the season. Junior Shawn Harris, sophomore Javon Hayes and senior Alquawn Vickers all have over 100 receiving yards for the Falcons. - Harris, who caught a game-high seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown in the 38-point victory over Urbana last Saturday, leads Fairmont with 12 receptions for 156 yards and one score. Hayes has 10 catches for 155 yards and a team-leading two touchdowns and Vickers has caught nine passes for 128 yards.

- The Falcons have also had multiple contributors in the running game this season, as three different players have scores TD's on the ground. Khalik Hamlin leads Fairmont's ground attack with 33 carries for 191 yards and 3 scores. Hamlin totaled 130 yards on 23 carries at Stonehill in week one.

- Tyree Randolph is second on the team with 18 carries for 67 yards and a TD, followed by freshman Timothy Smith with 13 carries for 45 yards. Rakeem Darden also has nine carries for 21 yards and scores a touchdown in last weekend's win over Urbana.

Defensive Notebook

- In Fairmont State's week one victory over Stonehill College the Falcons lost the turnover battle to the Skyhawks 2-1.

- Saturday against Urbana University the Falcons were committed to changing that and did so with two interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries to win turnover battle with the Blue Knights 4-1.

- Senior outside linebacker Jerry Iweh had a fumble recovery and two forced fumbles, while senior inside linebacker Antonio Harris had one fumble recovery and an interception which he returned 16 yards to help set up a touchdown. Senior safety Stephen Turner also had an interception in the win which led to a TD.

- Turner was recognized by the league as the MEC Defensive Player of the Week after recording five tackles to go with an interception and a blocked field goal return that both led to scores.

- Iweh also had a big day for the Fairmont State defense in week two, totaling a team-high seven tackles to go with two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.

- Iweh is leading the Fairmont State defense this season with 17 total tackles.

- After being ranked in the top 30 in the country in sacks during the last two seasons (2016, 2017), Fairmont State has yet to record a sack this season.

- Fairmont State also ranks 123rd out of 167 ranked teams in rushing defense this season, giving up 204.5 yards per game on the ground.

- However, against the pass, the Falcons rank 17th in the country in passing yards allowed (119.5).

- The Falcons also rank 33rd in the country in turnover margin (1.00) and 25th in turnovers gained (5).

Special Teams Notebook

- Lyrics Klugh earned MEC Special Teams Player of the Week honors in week two after returning a punt 69-yards for a touchdown against the Blue Knights.

- Klugh finished the afternoon with two punt returns for 71 yards, one kickoff return for 28 yards and a pair of solo tackles on defense against UU.

- The punt return for a TD was the first for the Falcons since 2012 and the first for Fairmont State at home since 2011.

- Already this season, Klugh has four punt returns for the Falcons for 111 yards (an average of 27.8 yards per return) and one touchdown and five kickoff returns for 129 yards (an average of 25.8 yards). Last season Fairmont had just 61 total punt return yards on 14 attempts as a team.

- Klugh, who started on defense and as a return man for Towson the past two seasons, is currently third in the nation in NCAA Division II in punt return yardage.

- In addition to Fairmont's success on kick and punt returns so far this season, the Falcons' Special Teams unit also forced two UU turnovers last Saturday.

- The first was a blocked field goal attempt by Michael Porter that was recovered and returned 24 yards by Stephen Turner – setting up a Fairmont State score.

- The second was forced and recovered by Jerry Iweh on a kickoff return in the third quarter.

- In addition this season Fairmont junior punter Sam Tucker has punted just five times in two games, but is averaging 44.0 yards per punt and redshirt freshman kicker Colin Harvath has been perfect thus far. He's 10-of-10 on PATs and 3-of-3 on field goals, including a long kick of 36 yards in the win over Urbana Saturday.

- Harvath is tied for the lead in NCAA Division II in both field goal and extra point percentage. Tucker, on the other hand, does not have enough punt attempts to qualify to be ranked nationally yet, but if he were ranked he'd be tied for 21st in the nation.

Scouting WV Wesleyan

The Bobcats are 0-2 both overall and in the league … Wesleyan has lost a pair of three-point games to Concord in week one and West Liberty in week two … Against Concord, the Bobcats raced to a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter before the Mountain Lions rallied for a 34-31 victory. In the West Liberty game Wesleyan held an early 10-7 lead before the Hilltoppers reeled off 30 of the game's next 33 points to open a 37-13 advantage late in the third quarter … The Bobcats, however, never quit. Wesleyan rallied and scored 21 unanswered points to close the final gap to 37-34 … Bobcat quarterback Luke Casey is 10th in the nation in NCAA Division II in passing yards with 614. He has five touchdown passes, but has been intercepted three times. No less than 11 different players have caught passes for Wesleyan this fall led by Jujuan Linzy, who has nine receptions for 151 yards and one TD.