The Fort Lewis College football team put together its best offensive performance of the season on Saturday, but was unable to pull a road upset over former RMAC turned NCAA Division I foe Dixie State University, falling by a 62-21 final.
The 21 points were a season-high for the Skyhawks (0-11 overall, 0-10 RMAC), as were the team’s 194 rushing yards and 403 total yards of offense.
Redshirt junior Emmanuel Nwosu continued his success on the ground against Dixie State (1-9 overall) as he racked up a career-high 153 yards on 18 attempts, averaging 8.5 yards per carry. His previous career high of 69 net yards on 14 attempts came last spring out in St. George against Dixie State’s Trailblazers.
Adding to his evening, Nwosu hauled in two catches for 7 yards and a touchdown; one of three touchdowns through the air for junior quarterback Armon Hickson, who finished 21-for-37 with three scores, three interceptions and 195 yards.
Senior wide receiver Alex Motler continued his late-season surge, hauling in a career-high four catches for 60 yards and a touchdown; a 51-yard strike in the first quarter that pulled FLC within a score at 14-7 with 10:12 remaining. Motler, previously a special teams specialist, has now tallied nine career catches for 113 yards all coming over FLC's final four games.
Freshman wide receiver Kieran Fry added three catches for 52 yards, and senior Isaac Leppke nabbed a season-high five grabs for 27 yards to lead the FLC receiving corp.
After hanging with the Trailblazers through the game’s opening 15 minutes, Dixie State was able to build its gap in the second quarter, outscoring FLC, 35-0, to take a 49-7 lead into the locker rooms.
The Skyhawks would go on to outscore DSU, 14-13, in the second half. Nwosu caught a 5-yard touchdown pass and sophomore wide receiver Jordan Cummings hauled in a nine-yard score with 6:19 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, redshirt freshman Fred Mady III lead all FLC players with nine total tackles and one sack, giving him 95 total tackles on the season for the fourth best mark among RMAC players.
Redshirt sophomore Jayden Helms, the RMAC leader and No. 2 in NCAA Division II football in tackles entering the weekend, finished with four tackles to bring his season total to 117. It’s the 12th most tackles in a single season in FLC football history, eight shy of Mark Meng and Ron Wells (125). Helms finishes his 2021 season currently leading all NCAA Division II football players with 73 solo tackles.
Fort Lewis will lose 12 seniors to graduation – Isaac Leppke, Clayton Rutz, Markez Boykin, Charles Roberts, Jack Harper, Shawn Garcia Jr., Oscar Oliva, Devon Taylor, Austin Anderson, Migel Garcia, Alex Motler and Max Peets – and will now turn its attention toward the off-season in preparation for the 2022 campaign.
