By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT —
Game week has arrived for Fairmont State’s football team.
Saturday morning the Falcons began preparations for their 2010 opener Thursday night on the road against Clarion (Pa.) University. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
“The high school season opened up Friday night and I went to a game and one of the first things I noticed is that no matter where you are, who you are or what level you’re playing at you're going to have those first-game jitters and you’re going to make first-game mistakes,” said FSU head coach Mike Lopez. “They’re going to happen and one of our goals this week as we prepare for our opener with Clarion is to keep those mistakes to a minimum and make sure they’re just minor errors and not critical ones. You can’t turn the ball over and you can’t commit stupid penalties so one of our first points of emphasis this week is to play smart as a football team.”
Mistakes last year by the Falcons in their opener with Clarion proved to be very costly. FSU turned the football over four times in that game, two of which were interception returns for touchdowns, as the Golden Eagles rolled to a 33-21 victory.
The win helped set the tone for Clarion’s season. The Golden Eagles, who prior to last year had gone a combined 4-29 in the previous three seasons, finished 8-3 overall last fall, 6-1 and in second place in the tough Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s West Division. The Golden Eagles ended the season eighth in the final NCAA Division II Super Region I rankings and just missed making the national playoffs.
Clarion returns 19 starters and 38 lettermen from that squad, including eight starters on offense, nine on defense and both its kicker and punter.
“We’ve got to play well in all three phases Thursday night — offense, defense and special teams,” said Lopez. “We’ve got to play smart and we’ve got to play together as a team. Our install is all in. This week it’s a matter of us refining it, eliminating our mistakes and getting ready to play. We wish we had two more weeks to prepare, but we don’t.
“The bottom line is we’re going to face a very good Clarion football team Thursday night. It’s the season opener and there’s a lot of excitement up there for them coming off of their 8-3 season.”
The Falcons worked out in shells Saturday morning after taking a break from the practice field on Friday and overall Lopez says he was pleased with his team’s effort yesterday.
“We’re trying to get better each day and I think we are,” he said. “Today we had a little more energy than we had the last time we were out which was a good sign to me.
“To be quite honest. I don’t know what to expect out of our offense, out of our defense or out of (punter Ben) Landis (who is returning from a knee injury which sidelined him all of last season). I think we have an idea of what could happen, but you know expectations are dangerous. That’s one thing I’ve learned in this business.”
