By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

A white sheet of paper hung on a wall in one of the meeting rooms for the Fort Hays State University football team after Saturday's 45-20 victory against Western State (Colo.) College. The sheet read "Black Swarm" across the top and listed the Tiger defense's five goals for each game.

First, hold each team under 100 yards rushing. Second, "Win the Money Down" (third down) and stop teams at least 70 percent of the time on third down. Third, allow no explosive plays (runs over 15 yards, passes over 20 yards). Fourth, make at least seven big plays per game (big hits, sacks, interceptions, tackles for loss, takeaways). Lastly, hold teams to one-half of their season scoring average.

"We have talked about that from Day 1 of camp," senior defensive lineman Jacob Crossman said. "Those are mainly our main goals. We have a few other goals. We also have individual goals, but the main goals are right there on that list. We just talk about them and press them and get them into our mindset and just do them."

The Tigers' "Black Swarm" delivered a solid first contest, their first game in the old 4-3 defense after they ran a 4-2-5 last season and set a school record with 402 points allowed. FHSU ran the 4-3 under former defensive coordinator Shawn Mennenga; the 2010 defensive coordinator, Greg Bryant, is a former assistant under Mennenga.

The Tigers have their final non-conference game of the year Saturday when they play host to East Central (Okla.) University at Lewis Field Stadium. Game time is 7 p.m.

This is ECU's season opener.

"It's huge," junior linebacker Alex Whitehill said. "We live by (Black Swarm). It's all 11 men to the ball. As soon as the ball is thrown, if it's run, everybody is there. That's a big thing that we push to everybody. Freshmen coming in, they all know it's Black Swarm now. It kind of goes back to when coach Mennenga was here. We were running our old 4-3 and we were Black Swarm then. We got away from it a little bit last year, but we got back to it. That's us. That's kind of our staple right there."

FHSU went 4-for-5 with its goals in Week 1. Last year, it never accomplished at least four goals in a single game. The Tigers allowed 33 yards rushing and held Western State to 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) on third downs. Western State's longest pass play was 19 yards and its best run went for 12 yards.

"I thought they played pretty decent," coach Kevin Verdugo said. "We have got to continue to get better in all facets on defense and I thought it was a good starting point."

The Tigers didn't force any turnovers, but collected eight tackles for loss, including two sacks.

The only goal they didn't meet was scoring average. WSC averaged 18.4 points in 2009; FHSU had to hold the Mountaineers to nine points or fewer.

"I think everybody just feels more comfortable doing this 4-3," Whitehill said. "The defense that we ran last year was a great defense. I think it was maybe a little bit of a change for everybody. People didn't feel as comfortable with it. What we are running now, we have run it previously, so that helps. It enables us to fly around."

The defense returns plenty of experience at nearly every position, including seniors and four-year players in the defensive line (Jacob Crossman, Garrett Nikkel) and safety (Seth Blackwell), veterans that help with communication and pre-snap reads. Crossman delivered a sack, while Blackwell saw a reverse, stayed home and made an eight-yard tackle for loss. The experience also helped in the linebacking corps with Whitehill. Whitehill had played in 22 career games, but Saturday yielded his first career start and seven tackles, tying for the team lead -- and helped the Tigers enjoy a strong defensive start.

"I think just game speed and understanding everything a lot better," Whitehill said. "I used to get real nervous and I would forget everything. I would get about game time and I would (think), 'Man, what did we go over this week?' Now, it's just relaxing and playing football like I know how to."