FAIRMONT – When Fairmont mentor Mat Mahoney’s Cardinals play host to Tri-City United head coach Ken Helland’s Titans in Friday night’s home football opener at Mahoney Field, it literally will be a clash of prep titans.

Fairmont (2-0) climbed two spots to the No. 5 spot in this week’s Minnesota Associated Press’ Class 3A state poll, while TCU (2-0) inched from No. 2 to the top spot in the same class.

Junior running back Marty Kalina produced a pair of rushing touchdowns last Friday, while senior running back Mason Rutt broke free for a 70-yard scoring scamper to steer the Titans to a 22-6 victory over New Ulm in Montgomery. TCU also is comprised of Lonsdale and LeCenter.

“Rutt looks like a strong running back who sees the field well,” Mahoney said in reference to the 6-foot, 180-pounder.

Unfortunately for Rutt and the Titans’ two-quarterback offense, 204-pound senior standout Jordan Simonette likely will miss the rest of the season due to a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee.

“Simonette’s a hard-nosed football player, who’s a two-year starter for them,” said Mahoney. “TCU will miss him on both sides of the ball, whether it’s making the lead block from his fullback position or making the tackle from his linebacker spot.”

John Washa, a 6-0, 190-pound senior, will fill Simonette’s vacancies at both fullback and inside linebacker in the Titans’ 4-4 defensive alignment.

“We had to replace 20 of 22 starters going into the season, so this will be another situation of where we’ll need some guys, who were standing on the sideline last year, to step up when they get the opportunity to start,” said Helland. “Fortunately, they saw a lot of playing time last year as subs, and now get their turn to show us what they can do.”

Helland puts the offense in motion with a two-back set and a six-player rotation at wide receiver to keep opposing secondaries on their collective toes.

Junior Jack Skluzacek will get the start and take snaps from 231-pound center Dominic D’Amato, with sophomore quarterback Peyton Collins also figuring into the signal-calling mix.

“We’ve rotated those two guys at quarterback during the first two games, so we’ll probably stick with it,” said Helland. “We’re looking for one of them to step up and take the job, but until that happens, we’ll keep rotating the two.”

Skluzacek and Collins will have wide receivers Zach Mikel and Evan Wood to catch passes, in addition to Zach Sexe, Justin Kopet, Jaymin Vargo and Kyle Hintz.

Ironically, Jordan limited Fairmont’s potent ground game to 100 yards on 45 carries during Week 2, while junior quarterback Nate Kallenbach amassed 205 yards and three TDs through the airwaves en route to a 37-20 victory.

“Fairmont runs a lot of formations offensively, so we’ll have to be prepared for a lot of different looks,” said Helland. “It looked like they used five different receivers to move the chains last week.”

Tight end Brady Allen garnered a game-best six catches for 57 yards and two TDs for the Cardinals, while split end Sam Schwieger pocketed five receptions for 59 yards.

“We’re going to have to play good defense – that’s been our m.o. (modus operandi) in the past,” Helland said in reference to his 4-4 alignment. “It’s a simple formula – stop the run on defense, and run the ball on offense to take time off the clock.”

“TCU is definitely physical defensively, and know how to apply a lot of pressure on your backfield,” said Mahoney. “We’ll have to execute upfront and stick to our assignments to create some time and open holes.

“Offensively, they just don’t make mistakes and that’s a mark of a great program.”

Defensive end Hunter Cox will look to put his 6-7 frame to use again after tipping seven passes and blocking three punts during Fairmont’s first two games of the season, sure-handed senior inside linebacker Cory Lyons will look to shut down the running game, while cornerback Christian Engeman will patrol the secondary after making two interceptions last Friday night in Jordan.

TCU created six turnovers during the two teams’ first football game ever a year ago en route to a 40-0 victory.

“I thought we left the field with our heads down last year,” said Mahoney. “We didn’t play our kind of game, and that wasn’t who we were as a team.

“We just have to stick to our game plan and limit our mistakes, and it should be a great game.”