Falcon Football Notebook

By: By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com
garnett
Joseph Garnett

Football | 10/26/2015 12:51:00 PM

Terrell Charles, Devon Garnett and Johnny Dearstine all played significant roles offensively for Fairmont State in its 41-32 homecoming victory over Virginia Wise Saturday afternoon at Duvall-Rosier Field.

Charles, a 5-8, 180-pound sophomore running back from Elk Ridge, Md., enjoyed his best day as a Falcon rushing for a career-high 130 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 28 carries. Charles scored on runs of 46 and three yards to help FSU's offense set the tone early and open a 14-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

Charles is the only Fairmont State running back to crack the 100-yard mark in a game this season and so far in 2015 he's done it twice. For the season Charles currently leads FSU with 401 yards and three touchdowns on 102 carries. He's averaging 3.9 yards per carry.

Charles has shown marked improvement from his true freshman season when he played in six games and finished with 147 yards and one touchdown on 45 carries. He hits the hole a lot quicker this fall and runs with more power.

"There's no doubt I've grown up a lot as a player from last year to this year," Charles said. "I've learned a lot from the people around me. My coaches here have believed in me since the beginning and that's really helped me believe in myself. Right now I'm taking it all in stride and trying to improve every week.

"Our running backs coach, coach (Anthony) Arellano tells us all of the time that every day is an opportunity for us to get better. This week I was really focused on playing better. I just felt like my work ethic this week was better and that showed up once I got on the field on Saturday. It's really not a hard plan to follow. If you work hard, good things will happen."

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Garnett, a 5-11, 185-pound junior receiver from Dunedin, Fla., is another player who has stepped up big for FSU not only Saturday, but also the past few weeks. In the win over Wise he caught three passes for 64 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown in double coverage from quarterback Cooper Hibbs with just 41 seconds left in the first half to give the Falcons a 34-20 lead.

"We run that route in practice every day," said Garnett, who has caught nine passes for 164 yards and two scores the last three weeks. "It was just like it was drawn up and it's cool to see it executed pretty much to perfection on game day.
"I was double covered, but I appreciate Coop having faith in me there and giving me a chance to go up and get the ball."

Hibbs, who has thrown for 1,706 yards and 13 touchdowns this season and has completed 14 or more passes to four different receivers, says he has faith in all of his pass catchers and that Garnett is unheralded for all he does for FSU's offense.

"The thing about Devon is you know what you're going to get from him," said Hibbs. "He's a very steady player, but then he's also capable of making an extraordinary catch like he did there in the end zone right before the end of the first half.

"Something he does very well that often goes unnoticed is block. He does a great job with that when we throw receiver screens or when our backs get on the edge."

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Dearstine, FSU's 5-9, 170-pound senior place kicker from Frederick, Md., was a perfect 5-of-5 on extra points and 2-of-2 on field goals in the win over Virginia Wise.

Dearstine's five extra points give him 104 for his career. He needs just three more to pass John Huff (106) and move into second place all-time in FSU history in that category.

His two made field goals Saturday from 41 and 30 yards give him 27 made field goals for his career which tied him for first place in Fairmont State history with Nathan White. White holds the FSU career record for made PATs with 132.

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Fairmont's defense, which had performed admirably in recent weeks, struggled in the first 30 minutes Saturday against Virginia Wise. The Cavaliers scored on four of their five offensive possessions in the opening half and went to the break trailing by just eight, 34-26. Wise ran for 57 yards and threw for 190 in the first 30 minutes.

The second half, however, Fairmont's defense clamped down. FSU limited Wise to negative one yard rushing, 143 yards passing and just six second-half points. The Falcons' defense also came up with four second-half turnovers including three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Senior linebacker Darius Lee recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass for FSU, while junior cornerback Jacob Jean-Charles and junior safety Emanuel Ivey also recorded picks. Jean-Charles also had a team-high 11 tackles in the win.

"I honestly wanted to score on the fumble recovery, but I picked it up wrong," said Lee, who also had five tackles, including a sack in the win. "I didn't have the ball secured and I knew I need to do that first so I just kind of rolled over, laid down and made sure I had it.

"On the interception coach (Zach Crissup) is always telling us to swarm to the ball and I was just going to the ball, it got tipped by Jacob (Jean-Charles) and I laid out and got it. We knew as a defense that we had to start making plays in the second half. Our offense was playing really well and we needed to get some stops. Thankfully in the second half we did that and got the win."

Sophomore linebacker Marcus Porter finished with eight tackles, while true freshman cornerback Siddiq Kanneh recorded six tackles and a career-high four pass breakups. Junior defensive tackle Jordan Adderly recorded a pair of sacks in the win and forced the fumble that Lee recovered, while redshirt freshman linebacker Antonio Harris forced a fumble on special teams and blocked a Wise extra point attempt.

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Fairmont State is plus-12 in the turnover department this season which leads the Mountain East Conference.

FSU's offense has fumbled the football six times and lost four. The school record for the fewest lost fumbles in a single season is five and was set in both 1959 and 1960.

Fairmont also became the last team in the MEC to suffer an interception this season when Virginia Wise's Andre Hamilton picked off a tipped Cooper Hibbs pass Saturday midway through the fourth quarter.

Hibbs threw 224 passes this season without suffering an interception. Dating back to the 2014 season, Hibbs threw 238 consecutive passes without an interception. He played in six games for FSU last fall before a season-ending injury sidelined him for the final three contests. His last interception prior to Saturday came on Oct. 25, 2014 on the last play of the first half for FSU in its come-from-behind 35-31 win over Urbana University.

The FSU school record for the fewest number of interceptions thrown in a season is two and was set in both 1952 and 1959. In both of those seasons the Falcons only attempted 40 total passes as a team.

Fairmont State's defense has forced 10 fumbles and recovered six this fall. The Falcons have also recorded 11 pass interceptions. Ironically all 17 of FSU's takeaways this fall have come in the last five games – a span in which Fairmont State has compiled a 4-1 record.
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Players Mentioned

Terrell Charles

#2 Terrell Charles

RB
5' 8"
Sophomore
Johnny Dearstine

#38 Johnny Dearstine

K
5' 9"
Senior
Devon Garnett

#89 Devon Garnett

WR
5' 11"
Junior
Antonio Harris

#52 Antonio Harris

LB
6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
Cooper Hibbs

#14 Cooper Hibbs

QB
6' 3"
Junior
Emanuel Ivey

#5 Emanuel Ivey

DB
6' 1"
Junior
Jacob Jean-Charles

#9 Jacob Jean-Charles

DB
6' 2"
Junior
Marcus Porter

#44 Marcus Porter

LB
6' 2"
Sophomore
Darius Lee

#1 Darius Lee

LB
6' 2"
Senior
Siddiq Kanneh

#6 Siddiq Kanneh

DB
5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Terrell Charles

#2 Terrell Charles

5' 8"
Sophomore
RB
Johnny Dearstine

#38 Johnny Dearstine

5' 9"
Senior
K
Devon Garnett

#89 Devon Garnett

5' 11"
Junior
WR
Antonio Harris

#52 Antonio Harris

6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
LB
Cooper Hibbs

#14 Cooper Hibbs

6' 3"
Junior
QB
Emanuel Ivey

#5 Emanuel Ivey

6' 1"
Junior
DB
Jacob Jean-Charles

#9 Jacob Jean-Charles

6' 2"
Junior
DB
Marcus Porter

#44 Marcus Porter

6' 2"
Sophomore
LB
Darius Lee

#1 Darius Lee

6' 2"
Senior
LB
Siddiq Kanneh

#6 Siddiq Kanneh

5' 10"
Freshman
DB