FAIRMONT — In many ways the football teams at Fairmont State University and Clarion (Pa.) University and their respective head coaches Mike Lopez and Jay Foster mirror one another.

Foster is entering his fifth season as the head coach of the Golden Eagles, while Lopez is starting his fourth as the Falcons’ boss and both have desired to build their programs with good football players who, in addition, are good people and good students.

For Foster his renovation of Clarion’s program paid huge dividends in 2009. After going a combined 4-29 in his first three seasons, Foster’s Golden Eagles turned the corner last fall finishing 8-3 overall, 6-1 and in second place in the always-tough Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Western Division. Clarion ended 2009 with six straight wins and wound up eighth in the final NCAA Division II Super Region I rankings narrowly missing the postseason playoffs.

Lopez, on the other hand, is 14-19 in three seasons at Fairmont and after making some major staff changes this past winter he hopes this is the year the Falcons can change their fortunes.

Tonight at 6 p.m. the first chapter in the 2010 football season for both FSU and Clarion will be written when the teams battle in the season opener for both squads at 6 p.m. at the Golden Eagles’ Memorial Stadium.

Clarion leads the overall series between the two schools which dates back to 1982, 10-5. Fairmont State, however, has won two of the last three meetings. Last year, though, Clarion used a pair of interception returns for touchdowns and four field goals from Robert Mamula to help topple the Falcons 33-21 in Fairmont and begin its run toward its impressive 8-3 finish.

“More than anything our mentality changed last year,” said Foster. “I’m thankful for the administration here for being patient with us and understanding what we were trying to do and to the guys who we recruited early on who stuck with us, believed in us and what we were doing and wanted to see things change. They made the big difference.

“Also, I think we had some luck last year. Things just seemed to fall into place for us. I think we were a good football team last year, but even when you are a good team you’ve got to have some luck and some things go your way and we did.

“Now the challenge for us this year is to build on last season and to continue to get things done. It’s not going to be easy because I think this year team’s are going to be gunning for us. I’m sure Fairmont is looking at us completely differently than they did last year.”

The Golden Eagles have a plethora of talent returning on both sides of the football. Clarion has 19 starters returning, including eight on offense, nine on defense and its kicker and punter.

Two big threats for Clarion on offense are senior running back Alfonso Hoggard and senior receiver Jacques Robinson.

Hoggard, who was a third-team Don Hansen Football Gazette All-America selection, a first-team All-Region pick and the PSAC-West Offensive Player of the Year, led the conference last fall in rushing (1,046), rushing touchdowns (17), overall touchdowns (19), points scored (118) and all-purpose yards (1,798).

The 5-2, 150-pounder was injured early on against FSU in last year’s game and carried the ball just eight times for 24 yards.

“He’s one of the most explosive players in Divison II,” said Lopez. “He’s the type of back who will get two yards, three yards, two yards and then he’ll bust one and go 80 yards on you. He’s a Dervon Wallace, Jerry Seymour-type of back who is capable of scoring any time he touches the ball. We’ve got to get a hand on his cloth because he’s hard to find and it’s very hard to get a hit on him or form tackle him. We’ve got to get our hands on his shirt.”

Foster agrees.

“Fairmont didn’t really get to see him at his best last year because he got hurt and really didn’t bounce back from that and come into his own until about the third game of the season,” said Foster. “He’s small, but he’s tough and he’s very hard to see behind our big offensive line. By the time most people see him he’s past them and on his way to a big gain.”

Robinson, on the other hand, is a 6-3, 200-pounder who was second in the PSAC in receiving last fall with 70 catches for 819 yards and five touchdowns.

“He’s one of the best receivers we’ll face,” said Lopez. “He’s got Perry Baker’s abilities, but he’s about 200 pounds. He’s definitely a game-breaker.”

FSU will unveil its new offense in tonight’s game which is under the direction of former Robert C. Byrd head coach and new offensive coordinator Bryan Fisher. Foster admits that’s been a concern for his team as it prepares to face the Falcons tonight, but he also notes that he would be much more concerned if the Golden Eagles were facing FSU in week seven instead of week one.

“Obviously it’s a concern anytime you haven’t seen someone on film, but perhaps the one saving grace for us is they’ve only had the spring and a couple of weeks here in the fall to install that offense and try to get comfortable with it,” said Foster. “They also, from what I understand, are going to start a true freshman quarterback (Logan Moore) so he’s only been running that offense for about three weeks.

“Neither one of us are going to line up Thursday night and throw a bunch of crazy things at one another. We’ll both have one or two wrinkles, but after that you really have to play basic football because it’s too early. You can’t put everything in, in three weeks. You can try, but usually what ends up happening in that situation is you end up making mistakes which kill yourself. As the season goes on you can add things and continue to build upon them.

“With them starting a young quarterback we think that’s an advantage for us because it’s going to be his first college game. If we were playing them in week seven or week eight I’d be a little more wary, but because it’s week one it doesn’t hurt us nearly as much. Now we know they have some talented players and some talented newcomers. Believe me we YouTubed those guys and they’re impressive.”

FSU Notes: Fairmont State senior return man Zack Page needs just three kickoff return yards to become the all-time leader in that category in NCAA Division II. Page, who has been the Falcons’ return man the past three seasons, has 105 career kickoff returns for 2,628 yards and two touchdowns.