Last week, the Skyhawks broke their losing streak.
This week’s attempt at building a winning streak, however, fell short.
New Mexico Highlands used a handful of big plays to hold off the Fort Lewis College football team 31-20 on Saturday in both team’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener in Las Vegas, N.M.
Three of the Cowboys’ four touchdowns went for 56 yards or more. Akeelie Mustafa opened the scoring in the first quarter by taking a punt 72 yards for a score and a 7-0 lead for Highlands (2-1, 1-0 RMAC).
Dewaun Wesley, the reigning RMAC and National Football Foundation and Colorado Coaches’ Offensive Player of the Week, evened the score at 7 late in the first quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run. He finished with 112 yards rushing on 21 carries as FLC ran for 170 total yards.
Zach Tapia’s 24-yard field goal in the second quarter put Highlands up 10-7 at halftime, then Emmanuel Lewis connected with Michael Harrison from 4 yards out to put the Cowboys up 17-7 in the third quarter.
Lewis then struck big, hitting Tyler Slavin for a 68-yard score with 5 minutes, 43 seconds left in the third quarter, giving Highlands a 24-7 lead.
The Skyhawks (1-2, 0-1 RMAC) would try to mount a rally from there, with Jordan Doyle throwing his first touchdown pass in an FLC uniform to Doyle Bode from 4 yards out to cut the lead to 24-14 with 14:09 to play, but just 1:01 later, Lewis connected with Lajuante Hicks for a 56-yard touchdown to push the lead back to 17 points.
The Doyle-to-Doyle connection hit paydirt again with 5:17 to play as Doyle hit Bode for a 50-yard touchdown pass, but the Skyhawks could get no closer.
Doyle completed 20-of-38 passes for 241 yards and the two scores against one interception.
Bode had 71 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Lewis completed 19-of-36 pass attempts for 365 yards and three scores and ran for 40 yards for the Cowboys. Josh Nobles caught nine passes for 134 yards, and Slavin had 147 receiving yards.
The Skyhawks will attempt to halt a 10-game RMAC losing skid at 1 p.m. Saturday when they host Western New Mexico at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
