5 Sports Sit Down: Fairmont Senior Football Head Coach Nick Bartic

FAIRMONT, W.Va (WDTV) - Fairmont Senior head football coach Nick Bartic joins this week’s 5 Sports Sit Down to talk about the season after a state title, expectations, building confidence and momentum early and more!

The Polar Bears returned to the gridiron this year on the heels of their third state title in the last four years, “You get the first two under your belt and it give you something to build int hats something when you’re coming in from august you always have that worry if you’re doing enough in terms of preparation to handle the start of the season so winning the first two games, not that it takes away from the pressure of the rest of the season, but it puts you in a good sport to build and how you approach the next section of the season,” said Bartic.

With that type of success, expectations are high, “It’s gonna be you know a lot more than just two games to prove anything but these two wins, these are good, good quality wins to have and feel that our guys are in a position to continue to build on what they’ve accomplish in the past and we thought this group you know they lost four regular season games last year, even in winning a state championship, we felt like we had something to prove this season,” Bartic said.

Building momentum early is key for the confidence of a team, “You know once they have two wins to start the season especially from looking at where we were at this time last season to this season we had to handle a lot of different types of adversity and we were not in the typically condition we were normally in, not in a typically place we would be in so I think that has given our guys confidence here going forward,” said Bartic.

Fairmont Senior is at a better position right now than they were in 2021 at this time, it seems the reigning state champs haven’t missed a beat, “Absolutely, its not even close were in better position but that’s the thing in a season it can all change real quick week to week so you still cant become complacent, you sill have to be able to handle adversity you still have to be able to make a quick decision, quick changes and adjustments and as the season plays on wee will see ho well we handle that,” Bartic said.

Bartic has had a few weeks to see his players in game action, giving him an opportunity to see what the Polar Bears have up their sleeve and are capable of this season, “I just think our guys battle, they don’t quit, they’ve played hard in both of these first two contests, Lewis County you know they are a solid squad, they’re gonna win some games and our guys really responded well, bad a solid second half, the Linsly game was a physical battle, team with a lot of athletes and ability and our guys were able to stay disciplined and handle those things and its part of what excites me most, we have pretty good focus right now, where it needs to be and i really feel like well be able to maintain that through the season.”

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