Frostburg Uses 22-point Fourth Quarter to Upset Fairmont in Double OT

When Frostburg State University (FSU) football was announced as the newcomers in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) in the summer of 2018, not much was expected of them. Despite having immense success at the Division III level (FSU has lost a total of four games in their previous three season combined), the new kids on the block were projected to finish at the bottom of the conference by a preseason poll. The poll had the Bobcats finishing as the 9^th of 11 teams in the MEC.

Four weeks into their first season in Division II, Frostburg has only one loss, and just pulled off a legendary comeback win against Fairmont State. The Falcons were projected to finish second in the aforementioned preseason poll, and boasted a top 25 national ranking coming into week 3 of the season.

The Bobcats came into Thursday’s road matchup against Fairmont as the clear underdogs. For the first three quarters of the game, the Falcons were in clear control. FSU was down by a score of 28-9 entering the fourth quarter, and was struggling on both sides of the ball.

However, Frostburg got their offense moving and scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Will Brunson to first-year receiver George Richardson. Frostburg found themselves down 28-16 with just under 10 minutes to play in the game.

Sensing the momentum beginning to shift, Head Coach DeLane Fitzgerald called an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff that was recovered by FSU. Coach Fitzgerald pointed to that gutsy call as the turning point of the game. He said “We played better and harder than Fairmont throughout the fourth quarter, but we really grabbed momentum with the surprise pooch kick”.

Soon after they recovered the onside kick, Frostburg scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Will Brunson to Chandler Breeden to cut the lead to just 5. Fairmont kicked a field goal on their next drive to give themselves an 8-point cushion, but once again Frostburg didn’t blink. They drove down the field and scored on a 4-yard touchdown run from Senior running back Gavin Lavat, and tied the game with a successful two-point conversion to send the game to overtime.

Each team scored a field goal on their possessions in the first overtime, but Frostburg scored what would be the game winning touchdown in the second overtime on a 9-yard pass from Will Brunson to Lincoln Ikubuo. The win was sealed on a fourth down stop by the Bobcats defense, resulting in a 41-34 comeback win.

Frostburg’s instant Division II success may cause some to wonder if there’s any secret formula to winning so consistently. According to Coach Fitzgerald, the answer isn’t nearly as complicated as you’d think. He pointed to effort and never giving up as the reason Frostburg was able to win 37 games in the past four years and pull off the comeback win on Thursday. He says, “We expect to play hard each week and to finish everything we start! If you do those two things football and life seem to work out in your favor.”

The Bobcats will be back at home next week to face off against Urbana University (3-1) in their homecoming game. Frostburg and Urbana are currently the third and fourth ranked teams in the conference respectively, so this game should prove to be a good one. Kickoff is slated for 1 pm in Bobcat Stadium.