Football | 10/2/2017 12:46:00 PM

By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

In every football season there are a couple of plays made which are memorable and quite possibly the difference between winning a game and losing one.
 
Saturday afternoon on homecoming at Fairmont State's Duvall-Rosier Field Falcon standout senior defensive end Quincy Redmon turned in one of those plays and it completely changed the course of FSU's game with visiting Virginia-Wise and helped lead to a 34-6 win by the Falcons.
 
FSU, which has won four straight since a season-opening loss to East Stroudsburg, is now 4-1 overall and 4-0 and tied for first place in the Mountain East Conference standings with Shepherd.
 
Late in the first half Saturday with FSU clinging to a 7-6 lead a Cavalier punt took a weird bounce away from Falcon return man Laurence King at the Fairmont State 15-yard line. King instinctively stuck his hand out in an attempt to field the ball, but couldn't control it because of the sideways bounce. As a result, it rolled away from him and came to rest at Fairmont's three yard line where Wise's Joe Addison recovered it with 1:11 remaining in the half.
 
It appeared that the Cavaliers would take the lead going into the break, but a first down run by quarterback Jarome Johnson was stuffed at the two by FSU linebackers Marcus Porter and Trevon Shorts and Redmon alertly stripped Johnson of the football. The ball popped up into the air and was gathered in by Redmon, who outraced everyone 96 yards to the other end zone for a Fairmont touchdown giving his team a 13-6 lead at the half.
 
"We had a mishap there on special teams," said Redmon, who finished with five tackles in the victory. "It happens. It doesn't matter what yard line we're on everyone on our team and on our defense just said at that point 'Let's come together and make a play.'
 
"I saw Marcus and Tre hit him and the ball stayed out. I thought here's my opportunity. I yanked at it, it came free and I was off. Give credit to my blockers and to the fact that what immediately went through my head was if I got caught it was on me. I had to get in for us. Coach G-Rich (FSU defensive line coach Greg Richmond) always tells us if you get an opportunity you better take advantage of it. That was my opportunity to make a big play for us and I did it."
 
Buoyed by Redmon's huge play, Fairmont State's defense dominated the final 30 minutes against the Cavaliers. Junior linebacker Antonio Harris intercepted a pair of second-half passes and senior cornerback Demonne Cox picked off another on Wise's first four possessions of the half and all three of those turnovers resulted in short touchdown drives by FSU's offense.
 
"We call those plays sudden changes," Cox said. "On Quincy's play there at the end of the first half we went back out on the field and I swear to you in the huddle we all said 'Let's show why we're a great defense. Let's make a play' and Quincy did. That's no lie.
 
"In the second half Antonio and I were both able to make plays for us and our offense was able to cash in on all three of those picks. Honestly, we play very well together as a unit on defense. We've got a lot of guys capable of making plays. Every week someone is going to step up for us. Relentless effort, four-to-six, A-to-B is what we preach every day. When you give that, good things will happen. It's what happened today."
 
Harris, whose 83 return yards on his two interceptions were just 10 yards shy of tying Vince Mitchell's school record of 93 interception return yards in a game, agrees.
 
"We compete every time we're on the field, we play with a lot of energy and we all feed off of each other," Harris said. "We're one as a unit out there. Everyone on our defense has the ability to make a big play for us and when someone does we're all happy. I love playing on this team and this defense. We're all brothers out there working toward achieving a common goal."
 
Fairmont State's defense forced Virginia-Wise to commit a season-high five turnovers and held the Cavaliers to a season-low 193 yards of total offense – 179 yards below their season average of 372 coming into Saturday's game. In the second half Virginia-Wise was limited to just five first downs and 84 total yards and only crossed midfield once.
 
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The goal of every football player during the off season should be improvement in all areas. For FSU junior outside linebacker Jerry Iweh the hard work he put in the last several months is definitely paying dividends for him and his team on the field.
 
Five games into the 2017 season the 6-3, 220-pounder from Baltimore, Md., who was a second-team All-MEC selection last fall, is second on the team in total tackles with 27, including 3.5 tackles for losses and 2.5 sacks.
 
In Saturday's win over Virginia-Wise Iweh finished with three tackles, but he had 1.5 sacks, partially blocked a punt and intercepted a pass – his third of the season which ties him with sophomore cornerback Michael Porter for the team lead. He also has one forced fumble and one fumble recovery this season.
 
"I give the credit to God for what I've been able to accomplish so far," Iweh said. "I take time out of my day and during my pregame routine to glorify and praise him and it's just been working for me.
 
"I also always try to prepare as well as I can with my teammates. After meetings and before the day of games we take extra time to all watch film together and do the little things it takes to make you better."
 
Iweh also spent a lot of time this summer working with his twin brother Jeff, a junior receiver for the Falcons, and his older brother, Chuky, a former running back at Frostburg State University, on his coverage skills.
 
"Coming into this season I wanted to emphasize playing receivers better," Iweh said. "I wanted to work on my cover skills and be more like a DB or a corner in passing situations. I know I can count on coach (Ron) Rankin to teach me to be the best linebacker I can be, but I also have to thank God and my brothers for helping me to work on my cover skills. It's paid off. I can definitely see a difference in my game."
 
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Fairmont State's 122 rushing yards in Saturday's win over Virginia-Wise were a season-high for the team, but 85 of those yards came in the game's final 12:32 after the Falcons had already built a 27-6 lead.
 
Sophomore Rakeem Darden led way with a season-high 73 yards and one touchdown on just nine carries. The 73 yards tied Darden's career-high rushing performance which was set last season in a win over Alderson-Broaddus.
 
As a team FSU is averaging just 2.5 yards per carry this fall and is next-to-last in the 11-team Mountain East Conference in rushing with an average of just 81.8 yards per contest.
 
"It's very frustrating not being able to run the ball like we want to run it and need to run it," FSU head coach Jason Woodman said. "What's really frustrating is us getting ourselves behind the sticks. We'll have penalties or missed assignments which result in bad plays and that's really frustrating because we'll go from first-and-10 to second-and-12 or longer. It's been happening a lot. Another thing is we'll bust a big run and then have it called back because of a penalty.
 
"We knew it was going to take some time with the new guys we have for us to develop some continuity and consistency. We feel like we're getting better in practice and then in the games we're not producing."
 
Fairmont has also struggled recently with its normally-potent short passing game which is causing its offense problems.
 
"If we were more consistent with our short passing game that would help us," Woodman said. "If we could hit some of those it would help us be able to run the ball. When you can throw five and six-yard routes and complete them consistently that'll eventually soften something up on the defense."
 
Fairmont's offense has been efficient in the red zone this fall. The Falcons have scored on 17-of-20 possessions inside of the red zone (85 percent), which is fourth in the MEC.
 
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The game of the week in the Mountain East Conference this week will take place Saturday at noon in South Euclid, Ohio when Fairmont State visits Notre Dame College.
 
Both teams come into the contest 4-1 overall and riding four-game winning streaks. FSU is 4-0 and tied for the league lead in the MEC, while Notre Dame is alone in third place in the conference with a 4-1 mark. NDC's only loss this season came in its season opener to 4-0 Shepherd University, 54-49.
 
Notre Dame's offense is second in the MEC in scoring (39.8), first in rushing (285.6), third in total offense (442.0) and ninth in passing (156.4).
 
FSU's defense is first in the conference in points allowed (15.2), first in total defense (249.0), tied for first in turnover margin (+7), second in pass defense (150.8) and fourth in rushing defense (98.2).
 
As a team Fairmont State has allowed just 76 points this season, but only 61 of those points have been surrendered by the Falcons' defense. Two came on a safety after blocked punt on special teams against Urbana. Seven came on a kickoff return by West Virginia Wesleyan on special teams and six came on a fumble return for a touchdown by the University of Charleston.
 
Notre Dame's potent rushing attack is led by standouts D.J. Greene and Malik Grove.
 
Greene, a 6-foot, 205-pound junior running back, leads the MEC in rushing with 567 yards and six touchdowns on 88 carries. He averages 6.4 yards per carry and 141.8 yards per game. Grove, a 5-11, 200-pound senior quarterback, is fifth in the conference in rushing with 445 yards and six touchdowns on 73 attempts. He averages 6.1 yards per carry and 89.0 yards per game.
 
Through the air Grove has completed 71-of-116 passes for 782 yards and nine touchdowns. He's been intercepted just twice.
 
Last season FSU came up with a fumble recovery at midfield with 44 seconds remaining to seal a thrilling 23-19 win over NDC in a game between two nationally-ranked teams.