The Fort Lewis College football team picked up a win in its final road game of the season thanks to a strong performance in the fourth quarter.
FLC trailed New Mexico Highlands University 14-13 at the start of the fourth and went on to outscore the Cowboys 17-6 behind two takeaways to earn a 30-20 victory Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The Skyhawks (5-5, 5-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and stopped the Cowboys (2-8, 1-8 RMAC) on fourth down once. The Skyhawks turned all five opportunities into points.
“They did a tremendous job,” FLC head coach Joe Morris said of the defense. “I thought we had a good plan, and our coaches did a good job getting everything together, and the players did a great job at executing it. When the ball popped out, we did a good job of hustling to it, and we put ourselves in good positions for some interceptions.”
FLC opened the game with a strong drive that ended with a 41-yard field goal from Ben Raybon, his first of three field goals on the day.
The Skyhawks held onto the 3-0 lead until the second quarter, when Highlands’ Dione Alston capped an 80-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Cowboys a 7-3 lead that they took into halftime.
FLC was held to 121 yards of offense in the first half and had four three-and-out series. It was the second start for redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Lowry, who replaced Bo Coleman after Coleman went down with a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.
“We have a quarterback (Jake Lowry) who hasn’t played a ton for us, but he’s getting better every week, and it was pretty windy,” Morris said of the offense’s struggles in the first half. “We just weren’t able to convert on third down.”
Raybon added another field goal to cut the deficit to 7-6, this time from 43 yards out early in the third quarter after the FLC defense stopped the Cowboys on fourth down.
The Skyhawks quickly took the lead 46 seconds later when Joshua Cuellar pulled down an interception. The 6-foot-3, 321-pound defensive lineman returned the pick for a touchdown to give FLC a 13-7 lead. Cuellar’s pick-6 was the fifth interception returned for a touchdown this season for the Skyhawks.
“I thought that was the biggest momentum swing in the game,” Morris said. “I thought our cornerback Dre Cortez did a great job of triggering on the play. He caused the ball to pop out, and Josh did a good job staying on his assignment to get over there, and he was able to catch it and run on in. I felt like that really sparked our team and the guys really felt like we were going to win.”
The Cowboys retook the lead late in the third quarter on touchdown pass from Danny Cameron to DJ McFadden from 29 yards out.
Christian Woo set up the Skyhawks to take the lead early in the fourth quarter with an interception at the Cowboys’ 17-yard line. A couple plays later, FLC found the end zone when Lowry connected with Ta’Jon Mondy for a 14-yard touchdown pass that gave the Skyhawks a lead they would not relinquish. Mondy led the Skyhawks with three catches for 36 yards.
The Skyhawks quickly made it a 27-14 lead after their second forced turnover of the quarter. On Highland’s first play of its ensuing series, FLC’s Daniel Walker forced a fumble that OJ Thompson recovered at the 27-yard line.
FLC needed only one play to find the end zone, as Brayden Lucero ran 27 yards for a score.
The two TDs were separated by less than 30 seconds of clock.
After Lucero’s touchdown, Raybon added a 29-yard field goal to get the Skyhawks to 30 points.
Highlands scored in the closing minutes of the game on a 10-yard TD pass from Danny Cameron to Dominique Bierria. The 2-point conversion try failed to give the final score of 30-20.
The FLC defense held Highlands to 85 yards rushing and limited Cameron to 17-of-35 passing for 216 yards and two touchdowns to go with his two interceptions.
The Skyhawks saw the return of senior running back PJ Hall, who has missed time this season with injuries. Hall led FLC with 61 yards on 17 carries. Lucero racked up 56 yards on nine carries.
Lowry went 10-of-23 passing for 84 yards and one TD. He didn’t throw any interceptions but was sacked three times.
The Skyhawks will host Dixie State University in the season finale Saturday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
“They’re excited. We have an opportunity this week to play for a winning season on senior day,” Morris said. “It’s our senior day, our last day at home and this will be the closest thing we’re gonna have to a playoff game. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting excited for this one.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
RMAC
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
College Football Standings
Note: AFCA Coaches national rank in parentheses.
Team RMAC Overall
Colo. Mesa (20) 9-1 9-1
CSU-Pueblo (12) 8-1 8-2
Chadron State 6-3 6-4
Colo. Mines 6-3 6-4
Fort Lewis 5-4 5-5
Black Hills State 4-5 4-5
Dixie State 4-6 4-6
S.D. Mines 3-6 4-6
Adams State 3-6 3-7
N.M. Highlands 1-8 2-8
Western State 1-8 1-9
Saturday, Nov. 4
Chadron State 35, Black Hills 14
Fort Lewis 30, N.M. Highlands 20
Colorado Mines 52, Adams State 24
Humboldt State 48, Western 3
CSU-Pueblo 31, Dixie State 10
Colorado Mesa 69, S.D. Mines 7
Saturday, Nov. 11
CSU-Pueblo at Chadron State, noon
Black Hills at Colorado Mines, noon
Dixie State at Fort Lewis, noon
S.D. Mines at Western State, 1 p.m.
N.M. Highlands at Adams State, 1 p.m.
Colorado Mesa at Azusa Pacific, 7 p.m.
