FAYETTEVILLE — During his days at Chowan, or in last year’s debut at UNC Pembroke, when Mark Hall’s teams have faced Fayetteville State the result has always seemed to be a close, low-scoring contest that comes down to a play or two in the final minutes.

It’s applied to the Two Rivers Classic rivalry between the Braves and Broncos too, even predating the tenures of Hall or FSU’s Richard Hayes, as four of the last five meetings have been decided by four points or less with both sides tallying less than 20.

Both Hall and Hayes expect more of the same on Saturday when the teams meet at 6 p.m. at Luther “Nick” Jeralds Stadium in Fayetteville.

“I just think it’s two really good teams competing,” Hall said. “When you get two teams that are really good competing, it’s hard for one team to separate from the other unless one team just has an off day. I think it just finds its way into that low-scoring, one-score type of game, so that’s kind of what you’re anticipating.”

Last year’s matchup, which was the season opener for both teams, came down to a late field goal by UNCP’s Ty Woods, who converted his fourth of the day to give the Braves a 19-17 lead.

This year, UNCP (0-1) is coming off another one of those type of games against Wingate, a 17-12 loss on Saturday; Fayetteville State is playing its season opener.

“They’re going to be good. Always tough, always big, play great defense,” Hall said. “So they usually do a good job trying to control the line of scrimmage, play a physical style, and just usually do it the way they play.”

Fayetteville State was 8-3 last season, with an 8-0 record in the CIAA leading to a South Division title, the program’s sixth straight. The Broncos won the CIAA in 2022, beating Hall’s Chowan team to do so.

Three quarterbacks played significant snaps for the Broncos last season, and all three return, including likely starter Joe Owens. Over two-thirds of the Broncos’ offensive yardage last year came on the ground, and every significant rusher returns for the 2024 season.

“For us it’s always being able to score in the red zone,” Fayetteville State coach Richard Hayes said. “Last year we got down there and couldn’t get in the box, and we lost by two points. But just being there to get them off the field, try to keep their offense off the field and try and minimize their opportunity to score; coach does a great job with the offense and you never know what’s going to come, so we have to be on our Ps and Qs as it relates to that. But we’ve just been focusing on ourselves and making sure we’re sharp in what we do. We feel like if we take care of the football, get off the field on third down and play outstanding special teams, nobody can be us, that’s how we feel.”

UNCP faces that Fayetteville State offense coming off a good showing on the defensive end against Wingate, holding the Bulldogs to 17 points on Saturday.

“I think our defense will be ready to go,” Hall said. “We’ve got a lot of veteran guys, a lot of guys that have played a lot of college football. I think we’re just going to have to play well up front. That’s one thing, Fayetteville is going to try to run the football, we’ve got to try and make them one-dimensional. We’ve got to do a good job on third down. I think those guys will be ready to go on defense.”

The Braves offense will look to improve on its 12-point performance against Wingate in which UNCP only punted once, but struggled to finish drives.

“If you would’ve asked me before the game, if we would only punt one time, I would’ve felt like we would’ve scored,” Hall said. “We had six drives inside the 25-yard line and scored 12 points, and I think that’s the difference in a lot of these games. You look at last year with Fayetteville, we had four or five red-zone chances, we kicked field goals and it was enough to win the game. But when you play good teams, good defenses, you’ve just got to put the finishing touch on some of them drives and that’s what usually can kind of put you over the top.”

The Broncos defense allowed just 15.9 points per game last year, and has four of its top six tacklers back; this includes Kolby Merritt, who led the team in tackles, an rare feat for a defensive back.

UNCP leads the all-time series 9-1; the Braves won the first eight meetings from 2009-16 before the series was discontinued for several years. Fayetteville State won 15-13 when the teams reacquainted in 2022 before the Braves regained the Two Rivers Classic trophy with last year’s victory.

Saturday’s game marks the final nonconference contest of the season for UNCP, which is idle next week before traveling to Charleston to open Mountain East Conference play on Sept. 21.