'Now, we can say it's a rivalry': Fayetteville State football kicks off 2023 at UNCP

Fayetteville State will start its 2023 football season with a rivalry game that coach Richard Hayes has only recently acknowledged.

“You guys keep saying rivalry but you’re going to hear me say a lot that it was never a rivalry because we had never won a game,” Hayes said earlier this week of Friday's Two Rivers Classic at UNC Pembroke. “It was a series until we won a game last year. … Now, we can say it’s a rivalry.”

UNCP had beaten Fayetteville State in all eight of their matchups prior to last season, when the Broncos won 15-13 and earned Hayes’ nod as a worthy adversary to the Braves.

Another layer of the rivalry comes with first-year UNCP coach Mark Hall, a former conference foe.

The last time Hayes faced a team coached by Hall was in last season’s CIAA championship, which the Broncos won for their first league title since 2009.

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Hall was in his second season of coaching Chowan after spending 11 years as the team’s offensive coordinator. He’s squared off with Hayes six times and five of those games were decided by three points or less, including the CIAA title game, won 31-28 by FSU.

“After last year’s CIAA championship game, I thought I was done with Coach Hall,” Hayes joked. “We’ve been battling for a long time against each other. Great football coach, great football mind. But then he took the job at Pembroke and I said dang, I’ve gotta see him every year now.”

Hayes and Hall shared the stage with FSU’s Dylan Morris (DB) and Mike Todd (OT), and UNCP’s Sean Hill (DB) and Trey Dixon (WR) at the Two Rivers Classic Kickoff event at Wing Company of Pembroke on Monday.

In rivalry fashion, Todd (Lumberton) and Dixon (Scotland) played for local high schools and were recruited by both teams, further building hype for the matchup. And fans love to chatter.

“I might’ve seen a few slick Instagram posts,” Dixon said about the buildup around the game.

Talk won’t win it. But FSU’s defense might.

Hayes is a defensive-minded coach and he’ll look to counter Hall’s offense-oriented attack with two of the CIAA’s best defenders in Cameron Merrell (senior defensive end) and Kentrell Caldwell (junior linebacker), both named to the 2023 Black College Football Player of the Year Award Watch List.

The Classic is a stout challenge of a kickoff for both squads, and it sets up a season of high expectations for Fayetteville State.

Can FSU Broncos repeat as CIAA champs?

After kicking off 2023 at UNCP, Fayetteville State hosts Lenoir-Rhyne in Week 2 before beginning the conference run of its championship reign at home against Lincoln.

Picked to win a second straight title with a No. 1 ranking in the CIAA preseason football poll, the Broncos get a rematch with Virginia Union on the road in Week 4. The Panthers dealt FSU its only league loss last season.

Four All-CIAA first-teamers return to the Broncos roster in Tyler Fleming (senior offensive lineman), Todd, Merrell and Caldwell. Half of them contributed to the league’s top-ranked defense last year, giving up an average of 17.3 points per game while scoring an average of 22.5 (fifth in the CIAA).

That defense also had 11 picks and the CIAA’s best passing defense at 131.8 yards per game. And a stat Hayes values more than most: FSU allowed the lowest third-down conversion percentage on defense in the CIAA last season.

“We have to be sound in what we do and we have to get off the field on third down,” Hayes said Monday when asked about a key to winning.

Key pieces

Quarterback K’Hari Lane, who’d been a major contributor to FSU’s offense the past two seasons, has graduated. But the Broncos return Caden Davis and Demari Daniels, both sophomores who saw considerable playing time last season.

The Broncos have also added Alabama State transfer Joe Owens, a junior.

Barry Elliott, the Broncos’ top receiver in 2022 and a Jack Britt alum, returns for a graduate season. And Derrick Alston Jr., an ECU transfer, returns for his sophomore season as FSU’s leading rusher.

Hayes promises the Broncos still have speed and power in their run game with Mekhi Fenner, Dashawn Hinton and Scotland alum Syheam McQueen returning to join Lincoln transfer Maliq Staten.

The coach said he likes the mix of veteran and youth in his six-deep group of running backs, calling them “dynamic.”

But he’d rather talk about the other side of the ball.

“Defense has always been our strong point,” Hayes said. “We’ve got a lot of depth on defense.”

So, more of the same from FSU on that front.

One thing different is the hardware the Broncos carry into 2023 as conference champs.

Has the team’s mindset changed after checking off those big goals?

“My big thing to the team this year is that we’re not satisfied,” Hayes said.

“We want to continue to build this program and take it as far as we can take it. We want to win a national championship. It sounds farfetched and I’ve heard it all before but I think it’s doable if everybody plays their part and we do what we’re supposed to do.”

Fayetteville State football 2023 schedule

• Friday, Sept. 1 – at UNC Pembroke, 3 p.m.

• Saturday, Sept. 9 – vs. Lenoir-Rhyne, 6 p.m.

• Saturday, Sept. 16 – vs. Lincoln, 6 p.m.

• Saturday, Sept. 23 – at Virginia Union, 6 p.m.

• Saturday, Sept. 30 – at Bluefield State, 1 p.m.

• Saturday, Oct. 7 – at Saint Augustine’s, 1 p.m.

• Saturday, Oct. 14 – vs. Livingstone, 2 p.m.

• Saturday, Oct. 21 – vs. Johnson C. Smith, 2:30 p.m.

• Saturday, Oct. 28 – at Shaw, 1 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4 – vs. Winston-Salem State, 2 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 11 – CIAA Championship, 1 p.m. in Salem, Virginia

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville State football preview: Season kicks off at UNCP