Football | 11/9/2016 1:43:00 PM

By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

It's a little hard to fathom now but following the high school football careers of both Cooper Hibbs and Fabian Guerra no college other than Fairmont State University was interested in obtaining their services on the gridiron for the 2013 season.
 
With both feeling a bit like they ventured to West Virginia from the Island of Misfit Toys or rather in their cases the pool of misfit football players, Hibbs and Guerra can still fondly recall their first-ever meeting.
 
"We were all in the Pence Hall Dorm, some of us to stay there and others to pick up keys for other places and there were a lot of guys milling around and a lot of them were from Florida," Hibbs said. "He (Guerra) was with that group. I remember him being somewhat skinny and shy, but he eventually told me he was a receiver. He stood out to me because he was the only guy of Cuban descent on the team."
 
Guerra, on the other hand, already had an agenda when he initially met Hibbs.
"That is where we first met and when he first introduced himself to me he said he was a quarterback from Maryland," Guerra recalls. "Being a receiver my first thought was 'Quarterback, well this is a guy I need to get to know.'"
 
The foundation had been laid and a lifelong friendship between the two quickly formed. Just over three years later the pair of football misfits head into their final regular-season football game Thursday evening for the No. 22 Falcons at 7 p.m. against Glenville State at Duvall-Rosier Field on "Senior Night" both having left indelible marks on FSU's football program and record books.
 
Hibbs, who is from Odenton, Md., also starred in baseball at Arundel High School as a pitcher and shortstop and opted to forgo college offers to pitch on the diamond to come to FSU and play quarterback.
 
"When I visited here I just felt like the coaching staff and the players that were here at the time took a genuine interest in me," Hibbs said. "I had guys I met from here afterward texting me and blowing my phone up just to check on me, stay in touch and talk. I felt wanted here. That was hard to turn down. I also liked the school a lot too. I didn't see myself going to a really big school.
 
"Also, Fairmont was recruiting my teammate Evan Jones to play linebacker and we've been lifelong best friends since second grade so that helped me make my decision."
Unlike Hibbs, Guerra, who is from Miami and played at Christopher Columbus High School, didn't have another option. He never thought twice about leaving his close-knit family and making the 1,100-mile trek North to play in a state and town he knew virtually nothing about.
 
"Fairmont was the only school which offered me a chance to continue playing the sport I love," he said. "For me there was no other option. I came here and was determined to try to do something special. I had goals and I've tried as hard as I can to achieve those goals. I think there were some people who thought I wasn't serious about them or maybe laughed at me at times, but I never let that get in my way. This is my life and I love doing it.
 
"I love it here too. Fairmont is a second home to me. The people are great. My teammates are great. Heck, I've spent a lot more time in Fairmont the last three-and-a-half years than I have in Miami. It's a special place.
 
"When I made that catch my sophomore year (a spectacular one-handed TD grab against Concord which was featured on ESPN's Top 10 Plays of the Day and garnered Guerra instant national fame) there were rumors after that season that maybe I was going to transfer. Could I have shown my highlight tape around and maybe have gone somewhere else? Maybe, but I didn't. Fairmont was loyal to me from day one and I'm loyal to Fairmont. I wanted to be known here as someone who made more than just one great catch."
 
Together Hibbs and Guerra, who both played as true freshmen, have combined to become one of the most prolific passing combinations in FSU history. Over the course of the last four seasons they've hooked up 192 times for 2,375 yards and 15 touchdowns.
 
Individually they've both excelled and together along with guys in fourth-year head coach Jason Woodman's first recruiting class like Jordan Adderley, Zack Hoover, Emmanuel Ivey, Jacob Jean-Charles, Calvin Pringles, Cody Wilburn and Evan Jones (who used to play but had his career cut short due to concussions and now serves as a student coach), have resurrected a football program which had been somewhat irrelevant for years and now is on the brink of earning its first-ever NCAA Division II Playoff berth if it can defeat Glenville Thursday evening.
 
"We are pretty proud of what we've been able to accomplish here so far, but we're far from finished," Guerra said. "I'm not going to lie. It was tough here in the early days. We lost a lot, but now we jokingly say we've gone from living in a shack here our first two years to constructing a mansion. That's what coach (Matt) Offut our strength coach says. It's not complete yet by any means, but construction the last two years has gone pretty well."
 
Under Woodman, Fairmont was just 6-14 in Hibbs' and Guerra's first two seasons with the team. Since then the squad has gone 15-5, including a 15-3 mark in its last 18 games dating back to last season. This fall Fairmont is 9-1 overall and 8-1 in the Mountain East Conference. FSU hasn't won nine games since 1981 and has never had a 10-win regular season. The most games Fairmont has ever won in a single season is 11 and that came during the 1967 NAIA National Championship season. Two of those wins came in the postseason.
 
"I'm very happy with my decision to come to Fairmont," Hibbs said. "I just wish we could've had more success early on in our careers. At the same time, though, I started as a 17-year-old freshman here and it was a real learning and growing experience for me that first season. My sophomore year was a growing experience too. Even now I still feel like I'm learning, growing and maturing as a player.
 
"In a way maybe it's good going through what we did because I think for all of us who have been in the program for four years now the success we're having is a product of where we've been. Believe me we've seen both sides of things and we've worked very hard not only during the season but in the off season and in the summers on our own to improve and try to take this program to the next level. Fabian was a big part of that. He'd call me every day and say 'Let's throw.' He's the hardest worker I've ever been around and he plays with a chip on his shoulder because I think he never had any college offers but here. That attitude, I think, has rubbed off on all of us. I'm proud of what we've accomplished here recently as a team."
 
For his career Hibbs has completed 702-of-1,185 passes for 8,389 yards and 62 touchdowns. He's been intercepted 34 times. His career completion percentage of .592 ranks second behind Bryan Harman's .594.
 
He currently ranks third in school history in career passing yards and career touchdown passes. He needs just three more TD passes and 192 more passing yards to move past Harman and into second place in both of those categories. He already ranks second in FSU history in career pass attempts and career completions.
 
Guerra, on the other hand, became the school's all-time leader this season in career receptions. He currently has 216 career catches for 2,649 yards and 18 touchdowns. He ranks second in Fairmont State history in career receiving yards and is tied for fifth in career TD catches.
 
Guerra also just recently accepted an invitation to play in the National Bowl, Sunday Dec. 4 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The National Bowl is a non-FBS All-Star game featuring players from Division II and III schools.
 
"It's going to be hard for me to see those two leave when it's all over," Woodman said. "They've been here with me from day one and we've been through a lot together.
 
Believe me we've been through some rough stuff. We really had some struggles early on and not one time were either of those two negative or did they ever have any bad influences on anyone around them. Instead, they just kept working to improve themselves and our program. They understood what I wanted to get done here and they knew it was going to take work and dedication. I'm very proud of them for putting that work in and having the dedication that they have. They're going to be family for me forever.
 
"Really all of our guys who were in that first recruiting class who are still here and the other seniors now who we've brought in along the way have played crucial roles in the development of our program. Those guys are all special and they deserve all the good things that are happening to them now.
 
"I think we brought something like 50 or 60 kids in that first year and not too many of those guys remain, but the ones that stuck it out and didn't bail on us during the tough times are being rewarded now for their efforts. I couldn't be happier for a group of guys than I am those guys. They're resilient, tough, hard working guys who have great character. They've probably done more for this program than anyone realizes."
 
When Hibbs, Guerra and the rest of FSU's seniors and other players take the field Thursday evening for the final regular season game of 2016 they will control their destiny and have a chance to make some more memorable history for Fairmont's storied football program.
 
That's not too bad of a college football regular-season finish for a couple of guys no one else wanted or was willing to take chance on.