Photo credit: http://www.mybuffalo.com

I had a chance to chat with first-year St. Francis coach Chris Villarrial Wednesday in anticipation of Saturday’s game between the Red Flash and Liberty at City Stadium. Villarrial was the Red Flash’s offensive coordinator last season and had an extensive NFL playing career as an offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills. One other fun fact: Villarrial was part of the Indiana (Pa.) team that beat Liberty in Lynchburg in 1993. That was the last time the Flames lost at home to a Division II team.

Here’s the transcript of the conversation:

What are your initial impressions of what you’re going to see here with Liberty on Saturday?

CV: Just a very disciplined team, and probably one of the most explosive offenses we’ve seen in a long time. Obviously, with their defensive front, their nose guard (Asa Chapman) is 6-2, 380. That’s probably going to be one of the biggest guys that we’ll see all year. I’m very impressed, and they’re a very well-coached team.

How has this transition gone for you as you prepare for your first game as a head coach?

CV: You know, it’s had its ups and downs. Obviously, we’re a young team and we’ve been left with some good players, but we’re thin in a lot of areas. We’re probably going to be playing three freshmen on the offensive side and maybe one or two on the offensive side. So we’re very young. All in all, though, the community and everything else has backed us really well. Rebuilding and starting from the ground up is what we’re going to have to do.

A lot of the stories I’ve read from up there reference you talking about mental toughness. How do you go about improving that?

CV: I just think it’s repetition, repetition, repetition. It’s conditioning them together, and pushing them through drills when they think they can’t do it. I just think it goes back to the old Vince Lombardi days and the old Knute Rockne days. I just think that type of approach has never changed in football. Obviously, I’ve dealt with some tough coaches in my time. Teams that go through it together, when the chips are down, they pull together and find ways to win the game instead of finding ways to lose the game. I think that’s been my approach this whole preseason.

How does your playing experience, coming from a small-school background, kind of help you get the ear of these guys?

CV: I’ve been through the ropes, really. Hopefully, they can associate with that. I came from IUP, which is a Division II school, and went up the ranks and got drafted into the NFL. So I’ve seen studs, first-rounders, come into the NFL and do nothing. I’ve seen guys that, through their draft position, shouldn’t really be there, and they turn out as superstars. So hopefully, some of the experiences I’ve been through, and some of the guys I’ve played with, these guys can associate with. It’s just knowing to make it at the next level, you don’t have to be a superstar. You’ve just got to be a consistent player, learn from your mistakes, and just keep working hard.

The other thing I always use with them is, coming from Division II, IUP played Liberty ... when they were ranked pretty high. We were a small Division II school and we went down and beat them. Obviously, Liberty has changed a lot since then. But I just tell them, anything is possible on any given day.

You guys were the last DII team to beat them.

CV: (Laughs). I tell you what, that was a fun game. Boy, oh boy, to see the stadium now, and to see the changes they’ve gone through down there, that’s unreal. They’re definitely moving up the scale pretty quickly.

Is playing at sort of a neutral site give you guys any sort of advantage?

CV: For us, it’s not a bad thing. These guys are a top-notch team, and they’re ranked, so anything that can help even out the playing field, we’ll definitely take. I’m sure their coach is going to have them ready to go. Because with everything I’ve seen, and watch of them on film, they’re just a very good, disciplined team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. Offensively, they have a lot of weapons.

You guys went up and played a nationally ranked team in New Hampshire pretty tough in last year’s opener. What kind of lessons did you learn playing that caliber of an opponent that early in the season?

CV: Obviously, for us, it’s just playing base football. Don’t try to get too fancy, try to keep hold of the ball. They had a powerful offense too, so basically, it was keep hold of the ball and keep them off the field. That was my approach going into that game and we did a pretty good job of it. I think Liberty’s offense is probably more potent. To keep the ball out of No. 10’s hands (Mike Brown) will definitely be one of our goals.

Well, he’s going to be playing quarterback a lot more, so that probably won’t be easy.

CV: (Laughs) Exactly. I tell you what, that kid is a tremendous athlete. If we can keep him off the field, it might give us a chance to keep the game close into the fourth quarter, and you never know what can happen from there.

What stands out about their defense that really impresses you?

CV: Their defensive front. They use their hands very well. Whoever is coaching their defensive line, he’s done a tremendous job. They’re very good at getting offensive linemen to lean a little bit, and getting off blocks, shedding blocks. That impresses me. Another thing that really impresses me is their secondary guys, their safeties, come up in run support and fill the holes. Their one kid just graduated (Chris Rocco), but the other guy (Larry Claiborne) is still there. You don’t see that much, those guys coming up and sticking their noses in there. They try to get dirty.

Did you look at tape of the last meeting between the teams (a 68-10 Liberty win in 2007), or is that too far in the past to really help?

CV: No, we haven’t. With what St. Francis used to be running, we’ve kind of tried to put that one in the past. (Laughs).

What’s the offensive philosophy of this team?

CV: We try to run the power-run game. We’re a zone-scheme style offense. Obviously, we want to control the clock and keep the opponent’s offense off the field. We’re a play-action type offense. We want to minimizes mistakes as much as we can. That’s the best way we can do it.

Tell me a little bit about Scott Lewis, your linebacker who has put up some pretty good numbers for you.

CV: Scotty has been a great kid for us. He’s a local kid who came in here a little undersized, but has come in and has met the challenges. He’s worked hard academically and athletically. He’s a role-model kid for us. He’s come in and done a tremendous job. If Scotty stays healthy, he can break the NEC’s all-time tackling record this year. He’s just a quiet leader, not a vocal leader on the field. Just a kid who gives you 110 percent on every play. You wish you had 11 Scottys playing on your defense. He’s going to be a huge part of keeping this young defense together when we come down and play Liberty.

What are your thoughts of matching up with another Pennsylvania guy on the sidelines in Danny Rocco?

CV: I’ve never gotten to meet the guy, but with everything I’ve heard, he’s just a class act. It’s great, you know, I think it’s exciting. It’s always great to see other guys from Pennsylvania doing well, excelling. I think all of us guys from Pennsylvania think that it’s one of the toughest states for football. Always good to see another guy from Western Pa. do well. It really is.

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—Check tomorrow in the News & Advance for a short story about how Liberty CB KaJuan Lee is bouncing back from a tough end to last season.

—Not much in the way of links today:

* Coastal Carolina’s NFL prospects know playing well at West Virginia will be key to their draft hopes, the Myrtle Beach Sun News’ Ryan Young writes.

* The Winston-Salem Journal previews tonight’s Presbyterian-Wake Forest game.

* A Stony Brook student newspaper reporter talks about the Seawolves in anticipation of SBU’s opener at South Florida. Link courtesy of the website Bulls Recon.