The Matchup    
* Fairmont State and Clarion open the 2010 season under the lights at Memorial Field on Thursday night.
* Fans can listen to the game live online at FightingFalcons.com.
* The Falcons return 14 starters, eight on defense and six on offense from a team that finished 3-8 last season.
* Clarion returns 19 starters from a team that finished 8-3 in 2009. The Golden Eagles are 12-36 under head coach Jay Foster.
* Clarion leads the all-time series 10-5 between the two schools. FSU has won two of the last three.
* The Golden Eagles won last year’s meeting 33-21 in Fairmont.
* Three of Fairmont State’s five victories in the series have come at Clarion, including a 23-20 win in 2008. Alex Ashley kicked the game-winner as time expired to lift FSU to the victory.
* Mike Lopez is 2-1 in season openers as a head coach. He is also 2-1 as a head coach against Clarion.
* Since 2000, Fairmont State is 7-3 in season openers.

Scouting Clarion
* Alfonso Hoggard returns for 2010 after leading the Golden Eagle ground attack with 1046 yards on 224 carries with 17 touchdowns in 2009.
* Hoggard, a 5-4, 150-pound, junior, running back, all-purpose player, had a dynamite season for the Golden Eagles. He finished the year ranked No. 1 in the entire PSAC in rushing, scoring, rushing TDs and all-purpose yards in 2009.
* Senior safety Nick Sipes leads the Clarion defense in 2010 after recording 112 tackles including 12 tackles for loss and six sacks.
* Hoggard and Sipes earned All-America recognition by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette.
* Senior Jacques Robinson leads the Golden Eagle receivers coming off a 2009 campaign that saw him catch 70 passes for 819 yards with five touchdowns.
* Kicker Robert Mamula is also back after a 2009 season where he was 12-of-16 with a long of 46 and also 25-of-28 on extra points.
* Sophomore QB Eric Coxon is expected to make his first career start for Clarion against the Falcons.
* Head coach Jay Foster was named the 2009 PSAC-West “Coach of the Year” by a vote of the Western Division coaches. Foster was previously at Slippery Rock where he spent 18 seasons mostly as the defensive coordinator.
* Clarion received votes in the first AFCA national poll. The Golden Eagles finished just outside of the NCAA playoffs in 2009.
 

2010 Preseason Notes
* Fairmont State returns seven letterwinners on each side of the ball.
* The Falcon offensive line is anchored by left tackle Matt Khouri. Khouri, a senior out of Pittsburgh, Pa., was slowed by injuries as a junior but was a first team All-WVIAC pick and the team’s highest rated offensive lineman as a sophomore.
* On defense, the Falcons have talent and experience on the line and in the secondary. Up front is junior defensive end Luke Black who was a first team All-WVIAC pick a season ago. In the secondary is free safety Dewey McDonald who turned heads as a freshman by earning first team All-League honors.
* The linebacking corps is one that needs to be fleshed out in camp. Senior Dan Dario is one of the only Falcons who has seen significant regular action over the past few seasons.
* On special teams, FSU kick returner Zack Page headlines one of the top units in the country. Page is just shy of a pair of NCAA Division II records as the season begins. The Falcons have a new face in place kicker Frank Keenan, an established rugby player from England, and welcome back punter Ben Landis who missed 2009 with a knee injury.
* The Falcons were picked to finish seventh in the WVIAC in a vote conducted by the league coaches.

Dewey Does It
* Freshman Dewey McDonald had an outstanding freshman campaign.
* McDonald established a new Fairmont State single season record with 161 interception return yards in 2009. He had five interceptions on the year and returned one for a touchdown.
* McDonald, a native of Ranson, W.Va., was a first team All-WVIAC pick.
* His first career interception was last season against Clarion.

Black & Blue
* Junior defensive end Luke Black is continuing the legacy left by his brothers at Fairmont State by being one of the top defensive players in the country.
* Black has 14 sacks to his credit after two seasons and is just shy of cracking FSU’s career top 10 leaders in sacks (one more) and tackles for a loss (six more).
* Black was a first team All-WVIAC selection and a second team all-region pick in 2009.
* Black had 11 sacks as a freshman and was a second team All-WVIAC pick.
* His brother Vince (2004-07) was a two-time first team All-WVIAC selection and the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year. His other brother Nate (2006-09) was also a two-time first team all-conference selection.

Record Page
* Senior kick returner Zack Page is one of the top return men in the country, and statistically speaking, may be one of the best ever in Division II.
* Coming into the 2010 season, Page needs only three more kick return yards and 12 more kick returns to set the NCAA Division II records in each of those categories.
* Page owns every single season and career record for kick returns at Fairmont State.
* Last season he had 1,221 kick return yards and two touchdowns despite missing one game.
* For his career, he has 105 kick returns for 2,628 yards.
* As a receiver, Page caught his first career touchdown pass against Clarion back in 2008.

Baker On The Rebound
* After a breakout sophomore season, WR Perry Baker suffered through injuries on his way to a disappointing junior campaign.
* In 2008, Baker caught 34 passes for 589 yards and nine touchdowns. He also rushed for 258 yards and a pair of scores. He was a first team All-WVIAC selection in that year.
* In 2009, Baker scored on a 54-yard end around in his first touch of the season against Clarion. Unfortunately, he suffered a high ankle sprain on his second carry which plagued him throughout the year. He had just 16 catches for 233 yards a season ago.
* Baker is the brother of Dallas Baker who starred at the University of Florida.  Dallas Baker was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 2007 draft and was a member of the squad until 2009.

Bruising Brazill
* Senior RB Doug Brazill burst on to the scene as a freshman for the Falcons putting up 1,137 yards -- the eighth most in a single season at Fairmont State.
* Brazill nursed a sore season as a sophomore and shared time running the ball as a junior. Nonetheless, Brazill has 2,253 career rushing yards which is seventh-best for a career at Fairmont State.
* Brazill is 309 yards shy of sixth place for career rushing at FSU.
* Brazill found the end zone a career-high seven times in 2009.
* He had a career-high 219 rushing yards against Clarion as a freshman in 2007. He had just 45 yards in 2008 and 58 yards on the ground last season.

Under-Rated Underwood
* Plenty of attention is given to free safety Dewey McDonald, but junior Greg Underwood is also a key component to the Falcon secondary.
* Underwood plays the bandit position in the 3-3-5 scheme.
* As a freshman, Underwood racked up 80 total tackles -- the second most on the team -- and picked of a pass and recovered five fumbles.
* Last season, the versatile Underwood registered 68 tackles, eight tackles for a loss and three interceptions.
* He is a two-time All-WVIAC honorable mention selection.

Dan In The Middle
* Senior Dan Dario has been a consistent presence for the Falcons on defense during his career.
* Dario has played in all 33 games FSU has played over the last three years.
* He has 131 career total tackles, including 21 for a loss.

2009 Recap Notes
* Fairmont State is coming off of a 3-8 record in 2009. FSU finished sixth in the conference with a record of 3-5.
* The Falcons strength of schedule in 2009 was rated 20th in the country.
* FSU had three players earn first team All-WVIAC selections in Nate Black, Luke Black and Dewey McDonald. Luke Black will be a junior and McDonald will be a sophomore for the Falcons in 2010.
* Luke Black also was named second team all-region.
* The Falcons struggled offensively ranking eighth in the league scoring (19.5 ppg) and total offense (300 ypg). FSU’s defense, however, was third in the league in total defense (361 ypg) and fourth in scoring defense (27.8 ppg).
* Fairmont State’s kickoff return unit was first in the league and third in the country in average kickoff returns with 26.2 yards per return.
* Zack Page’s 232 return yards against West Liberty were the most in Division II in 2009. He had two 89-yard returns that game, one that went for a touchdown.
* FSU was second in the conference in interceptions picking off 17 passes in 2009. The Falcons also had a league-best 298 yards on of interception returns.
* After going 5-1 against non-conference opponents in 2007 and 2008, FSU was 0-3 against non-conference foes in 2009.