FAIRMONT, W.Va. — In Mark Sampson’s first year as Fairmont Senior’s head coach last fall, the Polar Bears posted an 8-2 regular season record, which included quality victories over Wheeling Park and North Marion. The Bears earned the No. 3 seed in the Class AAA playoffs. However, an upset loss to conference rival Robert C. Byrd in round one left Fairmont without a playoff win for the first time since 2014. Sampson says his returning players responded quickly in their offseason work.
“It still crosses our minds, certainly,” Sampson said. “We’re using it as motivation. The guys were itching to get started in the weight room this offseason a little earlier. Typically, we don’t start until after the Super Bowl. This year, we were in before January ended.”
“We just use it as fuel throughout the offseason and make sure that doesn’t happen again and push through the postseason as we should,” said FSHS junior RB/DB Christian Hrapchak.
One of the state’s top quarterbacks returns for his second season leading the Polar Bear offense. As a sophomore, Division I prospect Anthony Smith tossed 26 touchdown passes against just five interceptions. He accounted for 2,560 total yards and 35 total touchdowns.
“I think just becoming more of a leader,” Smith said. “Making calls at the line and doing all the audible-type stuff. I am just becoming a better passer. Mentally, I am learning plays and coverages. I think that has helped me a lot.”
“We’re definitely going to let him make more decisions,” Sampson said. “There will be more RPO options and read options in the run game for him. When you’ve got a player like Anthony, you kind of build everything around him. That’s what we’re doing.”
Christian Hrapchak will take on added carries at running back after an injury-shortened sophomore season. Hrapchak averaged 86 yards per game while playing in six contests.
“Christian gets cleared on July 4th. So we are calling that ‘Hrap, White and Blue Day’. We are very excited to get him back. Isaac Barksdale, Lynex Williams, Ryder Moran will also get time in the backfield. All four are really great players. So we are excited about them.”
New linemen will be pressed into the starting lineup after some notable graduations.
“We’ve got a lot of depth,” said FSHS senior lineman Cooper Keener. “We’ve got to replace a lot of holes from last year on the line and I think we are doing that so far. We’ve got Taymarr Silvers trying to replace DaeShaun Floyd right now. Obviously, he went off to Morgan State. So that’s a big hole to fill.”
“We had a good, young group come up. They are ready to step up,” Smith said. “And we’ve got a great offensive line coach in Coach Fisher. He is doing a good job on preparing those guys for the season.”
In addition to existing matchups with North Marion, Bridgeport and University, the Polar Bears have added contests against last year’s Class AA runners-up from Bluefield and Class AAA quarterfinalist Herbert Hoover.
“We kind of have a good rivalry with Bluefield. We’ve had a lot of good and meaningful games against them throughout the last ten years. Coach [Fred] Simon does a great job. Same thing with Coach [Joey] Fields at Herbert Hoover. Back at his days to Mingo [Central] to now, we’ve had some big time matchups with them as well. It was fun to connect with those guys. Fortunately for both of us, we were able to have open dates at the same time.”