This past week has been filled with excitement and anticipation for the Falcons as we are preparing to play our first game of the season against Curry College. We are going into the game with a good group of veterans along with some new faces.

The team will led by a group of veterans, starting with our four well-deserving captains. LB’s Frank Famularo and Christian Mello will lead the defense, while OL Frank Flanagan and QB Corey Hetherman will lead the offensive attack.

Some other key offensive players will be RB Brian Milleisen, WRs Justin Sleeper, Caleb McKenzie and OT Pat O’Brien.

In addition to our defensive captains, LB John Sweeney, DL Matt Babcock, and CB Dee Whitehead will lead our defense.

One other person that is important to our special teams’ success is veteran Dave Mahoney. He has been a special teams leader for the past two seasons.

Along with head coach Pat Haverty we have a great coaching staff with a lot of knowledge of the game. We also welcome former teammate Carmy Cesaire as the receivers’ coach.

Back for another year on staff is LB coach Matt Gardner, who is coming off a World Championship season with the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League.

Today we are going to get out on the field for a little while to make sure everyone is all set on what we are doing tomorrow. Then it is rest tonight, and get we’ll get after it tomorrow.

Outside of football I am preparing for my internship which begins Monday morning. I was hoping to start last week, but some scheduling problems prevented that.

Most importantly, I got engaged on Thursday to my girlfriend of almost seven years, Lindsey.

Dear reader:

We’ve asked a few Division III players and coaches to join our blog and give us an inside look into life in Division III football. Introducing Fitchburg State senior kicker/quarterback Treavor Smith:

Well, it’s that time again … For the next three or so months, it is college football season at the Division III level. It’s time for students and fans to come out on Saturday afternoons and root for their favorite team. Fall is also the time of year that many student athletes and college football players enjoy the most, time for all the hard work put into the off season to come out, and to finally enjoy the reward — that is, every Saturday afternoon when we get to go out and perform in front of family, friends, and classmates.

I will be writing every week to give an inside look into what goes on during the season of a Division III football player. I am a senior placekicker at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. I handle all of the kicking duties. I am also on the depth chart as a quarterback. I’m 24 years old and my hometown is Putnam, Conn. Fitchburg State College is a school of about 2,500 students and is located in north central Massachusetts, about 20 minutes north of Worcester, 45 minutes west of Boston.

We are members of the New England Football Conference and play in the Bogan Division. We start this season with targets on our backs as we are the defending Bogan division champs.

We also start the season with some additional adversity. The new sports complex featuring the new sprint turf that will be home to our football, field hockey, and both men’s and women’s soccer teams is not finished yet and we are not sure when it will be completed. Right now we our practicing on the outfield of our softball field. Overall, it’s not that bad. We still get out there and get some good work in, but it will definitely be nice to get off the softball field and onto the new field.

School started on Thursday and it is nice to not have to worry about class. It is almost like the Matt Leinart situation where I can just show up for football and that is it. This is my final semester of school and I am doing my internship with the city of Worcester police department, which starts next Wednesday for me, so right now my only focus has been football.

Good luck to everyone and see you next week.