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Frostburg State aims to flip script
At first look, this season has looked a lot like the movie Groundhog Day for the Bobcats.

Like last season, Frostburg State has won five of its first six games and are contention for the New Jersey Athletic Conference title. However, in 2015, they lost their last three games by a total of 15 points. This year, they are looking to flip that script.

It has been a time of renewal for the program since coach DeLane Fitzgerald took over the reins in 2014. They have posted 16 wins in just over two and half seasons. A playoff caliber program throughout most of the 1990s, they had won just 17 games over the previous eight seasons.

So when the Fitzgerald arrived the cupboard was pretty bare. The team was coming off a 1-9 season and went winless in the Empire 8. The fastest way to turn around a football program is to bring in good players and one guy kept standing out as he watched recruiting film.

It was Niles Scott, a 6-3, 250-pound defensive lineman from Elkton, Md.

Scott, now a junior, has played a key role on a defense that currently 11th in D-III in total defense and 14th in scoring defense. The unit allows just 13 points and fewer than 250 yards a game. From an interior line position, Scott has registered 5.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for losses.

"He's been a leader since the day he stepped on campus," said Fitzgerald. He fondly remembers Scott scooping up a fumble during his freshman season and returning it 30 yards for a touchdown against Ithaca in 2014. It was a key play in the Bobcats' double-overtime victory over the nationally ranked Bombers.

It might have also been the point where you could tell that the program was headed in a different direction.

"Niles scoops and scores and makes like four guys miss on his way to the end zone."

That athleticism has helped make him maybe the best interior defensive lineman that you haven't heard about. As he grew to 280 pounds and dedicated himself in the weight room, he moved from end inside to a three-technique tackle.

"He was a better player as a sophomore, though the stats didn't show it," Fitzgerald said. "Playing inside, he was getting double- and triple-teamed."

"Now, he's adjusted as a junior. They're having a hard time blocking him with two people."

It took a while for Scott to adjust, but according Scott "now he just reacts." Traditionally, interior linemen just take up blockers, but the design of the Bobcat defense is different.

"They beautiful thing about this defense is that they let the D-line get after it," Scott said. It's a whole lot of freedom. We're able to make some plays."

That freedom has allowed Scott, senior Will Sewell and others to make a ton of plays in the backfield. The Bobcats are currently fourth in D-III in tackles for loss. Sewell leads the team with 16.5 (fourth in the nation) and junior Jordan Proctor has added 9.5.

"We push each other every single day in practice to see who can make the most plays," Scott said. "It's not just him and me, it's the whole front four."

"They're as good as defensive end and interior lineman as there is in the conference," Fitzgerald said of Sewell and Scott.

So as the Bobcats enter the final three games of this season, what did they learned from the disappointing three-game losing streak to end last season. It included a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to archrival Salisbury in the season finale. The Bobcats led 27-7 entering the fourth quarter.

"We learned we're not a finished product yet," said Scott. "We've challenged ourselves as unit to finish what we started.

"We have the blessing to be able to come back and be in the same situation as last year. You don't get a lot of second chances in life. We're trying to take full advantage of it. We're going to practice hard every day and take in it one game at a time."

Game one will be against a Rowan team, that started their season ending skid last season by beating them 15-6 last season in Glassboro.
"They have great tradition are well-coached and as tough and physical as anybody on our schedule," Fitzgerald said.

After that they travel to Montclair St. and then get another shot at Salisbury to end the season.

"You never forget that feeling," said Scott of last year's Salisbury game.

Maybe this year the rivalry game with the Sea Gulls will determine the NJAC title. But whether it does or not, this program is definitely relevant again.