The John L. Smith era is over, but the players he left behind are determined to continue the building process of Fort Lewis College football.
When Smith arrived on campus before the 2013 season, he inherited a team that had gone 0-10 the previous year and was more than used to losing. In his third and final season, Smith led the Skyhawks to a 7-4 overall record and 6-3 mark in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The team ended on a three-game winning streak and captured its first winning season since 2006. But Smith said goodbye to friends Dene Kay Thomas, the FLC president, and FLC athletic director Gary Hunter and went to Western Kentucky, another Division II program undergoing a rebuild.
The longtime college football coach who made stops at six major Division I programs handed over the reigns of the Skyhawks to defensive coordinator Ed Rifilato, who is beginning his second stint as the FLC coach.
“It’s been a pretty seamless transition,” senior linebacker Shane Nelson said. “We have a few new guys, so we’re just getting on the same page and up to speed of where we want to be.”
Even under Smith, FLC struggled to become relevant in Durango, a town without a college football fan base. Rifilato hopes to take the momentum built from a year ago and continue to grow the once dying program.
Rifilato had a record of 22-41 as Fort Lewis’ head coach from 2004-09, but he helped the team to its first winning season in 20 years in 2005 and led the 2006 team that went 7-4. He also served as head coach at New Mexico Highlands, leading the Cowboys to the RMAC title in 1999.
Rifilato himself is a product of Smith’s coaching from his playing days at Idaho, and he was a member of Smith’s staff at Louisville as well as Smith’s defensive coordinator at FLC the past three seasons.
With the departure of Smith and 19 seniors from last year’s team, other key players such as star defensive back Kaimon Ontiveros and quarterback AJ Thigpen transferred. Thigpen was the team’s third leading rusher a season ago and played in all 11 games. He also was a valuable weapon on special teams as a punter.
That leaves redshirt sophomore Bo Coleman of Albuquerque as the team’s most experienced passer. He played in seven games last year but only thew 11 passes. He completed eight of those for 50 yards and zero touchdowns.
Since camp opened Aug. 11, Coleman has been competing with transfer quarterback Larry Cutbirth III, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound junior who came to Durango after one year at Southeastern Louisiana University and two years at Citrus College.
“Bo of course has the edge on everybody because he knows the system,” Rifilato said. “He’s doing a great job and is a great leader, and we love having him out there. Our transfer, if we have to rely on him, we know he will do a great job. We also have a freshman right now with the third group who will be a really good player and could be better than both of them.”
Giving FLC’s offense a weapon to rely on is junior running back PJ Hall, who led the team with 1,128 rushing yards and eight touchdowns a year ago. He became only the third rusher in FLC history to rush for 1,000 yards. He also led the team in rushing as a freshman in 2014.
He and fellow running backs Drake Griffin, Elijah Huff and Gabe Ogbonnaya Jr., will run behind an offensive line anchored by Preseason All-RMAC honoree Kenny Shinley and a stable of fellow seniors.
“The entire starting O-line as of right now are all seniors,” Shinley said. “Three of us are five-year guys, and the others have been here a couple years as transfers. It’s a family feeling on the line.
“I’m very confident in our running backs. We’re just trying to continue what we started last season kicking off the run game we’ve been trying to do for years now.”
FLC’s defensive strength will come on the defensive line and linebacker positions with brothers Austin and Shane Nelson playing alongside All-RMAC preseason award winner Andrew Ike.
Smith introduced a new level of intensity and focus to the special teams unit at FLC over three years, and the players promise nothing has changed this season with Rifilato taking over the special teams play calling.
“We’re working on all the ones that are so important. Punt and PAT are game changers,” Ike said. “We put a huge focus on it and are making sure we’re solid all around.”
FLC will open its season Sept. 3 in Nebraska against Chadron State, as the Skyhawks will immediately open conference play instead of opening with two non-conference games or a game against a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision team such as Montana State a year ago.
With the addition of Dixie State (Utah) and South Dakota Mines to the RMAC, the Skyhawks simply didn’t have room on the calendar for any more games. Rifilato said that brings a sense of urgency to preparation for the opener.
“We have to be ready for that first week,” Nelson said. “We don’t have time to figure out our team. We have to have our starting group ready in all three phases and be ready to win right away.”
FLC’s only non-conference game of the year is against a familiar foe in Western New Mexico, which moved from the RMAC to the Lone Star Conference this year.
It will no doubt be an emotional season opener for Chadron State after 20-year-old freshman defensive lineman Eric Goll of Haines City, Florida, collapsed and died during the first day of practices. An autopsy revealed Goll has an enlarged heart and that contributed to his sudden death.
“We are very saddened by it because he’s somebody in the same profession we are and somebody who is playing the game,” Rifilato said. “We feel for Chadron’s team and coaches for having to go through that, and we feel for the young man’s family. But, once the ball gets kicked off, it’s on.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
Schedule
Fort Lewis College
*–Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference; **–Homecoming
Sept. 3 – at Chadron State*, noon
Sept. 10 – Black Hills State*, noon
Sept. 17 – at Adams State*, 1 p.m.
Sept. 24 – Colorado Mesa*, noon
Oct. 1 – Colorado Mines*, noon
Oct. 8 – Western State**, noon
Oct. 15 – at CSU-Pueblo*, 2 p.m.
Oct. 22 – Western New Mexico, noon
Oct. 29 – at South Dakota Mines*, 1 p.m.
Nov. 5 – New Mexico Highlands*, noon
Nov. 12 – at Dixie State*, 1 p.m.
