The lights were bright, and the stadium was filled to capacity, but Colorado School of Mines drained the energy out of Ray Dennison Memorial Field early.
Five days after pulling off a monumental upset of the previously second-ranked Colorado State University at Pueblo ThunderWolves, the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks couldn’t repeat the magic in front of a national audience tuned into the CBS Sports Network for the first nationally televised game in FLC history.
It was the No. 15 Orediggers (7-0, 5-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) who stole the show, as sophomore quarterback Justin Dvorak torched the Skyhawks for 308 yards and four touchdown passes in just one half, as he led Colorado Mines to a 56-14 win in the first night game played at Dennison Memorial since 2007.
“I’m sorry we played so poorly. That part was not good, but my goodness having a national TV game was huge,” FLC second-year head coach John L. Smith said. “The crowd showed up, and we actually looked like a real school playing with the fans out there, and, gosh, I couldn’t believe it. It was the best I’ve ever seen since I’ve been here.”
Dvorak also rushed for 53 yards and one touchdown in his 30 minutes of action.
“That quarterback, he is something. He reminded me a little of Johnny (Manziel) Football,” said Smith, comparing Dvorak to the former Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner. “He ran around, and he extended the play. We have to give them credit.”
The Orediggers scored a touchdown on their first four possessions, with two big fourth-down conversions in their own territory extending their first two drives.
“I’m really proud, and we knew we had a pretty special group and just wanted to show everybody on national TV just how explosive this offense can be,” Orediggers’ head coach Bob Stitt said. “(Dvorak) is special. He’s one of those guys that I kind of let him go. He makes us go, and it can be very exciting.”
After going down 21-0 early on a Dvorak 1-yard touchdown run, a Dvorak 6-yard touchdown pass to Diamond Gillis, then a Dvorak 1-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Ellis, the Skyhawks (2-5, 1-4 RMAC) responded with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Doyle to Juquelle Thompson, last week’s hero who caught the game-winning touchdown to beat CSU-Pueblo.
“I was just trying to get my team pumped so we could get back in the game,” Thompson said.
But the Orediggers came right back and scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Dvorak to Devin Reaves to cap off a nine-play, 75-yard drive.
FLC finally forced the first Colorado Mines punt of the game halfway through the second quarter, and a good punt return across midfield by Thompson set the Skyhawks up on the Orediggers’ 34-yard line after a 15-yard facemask penalty was tacked on.
Four plays later, Thompson was on the receiving end of a 17-yard touchdown pass from Doyle that cut the Orediggers’ lead to 28-14.
FLC got another chance to make it a one-score game late in the first half, and Doyle led the team down the field with ease with 2 minutes, 33 seconds to work in the half. But the drive ended when Colorado Mines senior linebacker Kole Kadavy tipped an attempted screen pass on the line of scrimmage. Kadavy was able to track the tip and intercept the pass to give Colorado Mines the ball back with less than a minute to work.
“That play was huge. Fort Lewis was driving down the field and going to make it a seven-point game, and Kole intercepts it. Those are things great teams have to do to win games like this,” Stitt said.
Dvorak led a masterful drive that went 67 yards in six plays, spanning just 58 seconds, and, with 3 seconds to go in the half, the Orediggers opted to go for seven points instead of an easy field goal. The gamble paid off, as Dvorak hit Cole Spurgeon, who was wide open in the back of the endzone for a 2-yard touchdown pass at the buzzer to give Colorado Mines a commanding 35-14 halftime lead.
“That was a 14-point turnaround after that. That really kind of decided the game and sealed our fate, more or less,” Smith said. “Everything started rolling downhill right after that. It was a great job moving the ball down there, and you have to compliment (Kadavy). He made a great play.”
The turn of events truly was catastrophic for FLC, who was close to making it a one-score game at the half, with first possession of the second half; instead, the Skyhawks trailed by 21 at halftime.
“I felt like we still had energy coming out to drive again, but when they got that touchdown, and we got down 35-14, I felt like some guys started hanging their heads,” Doyle said.
Dvorak exited the game after one half, as the Orediggers’ chose to protect their star sophomore quarterback after he took two big hits in the first half.
Senior Matt Brown took over at quarterback for Colorado Mines, but the offense didn’t suffer much from the loss of Dvorak, as the Orediggers scored on two more long touchdown drives in the game under his watch.
Brown led the team on an eight-play, 83-yard touchdown drive that concluded with a Reaves 1-yard touchdown run with 4:02 to go in the third quarter, giving Colorado Mines a 42-14 lead. In the fourth quarter, Brown led a nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive and hit Spurgeon on a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 49-14 in favor of the Orediggers.
Colorado Mines third-string quarterback Steven Yoshihara added a fourth-quarter touchdown pass, a 44-yard completion to Drew Kerstetter that gave the Orediggers their 56-14 advantage.
The Orediggers, which used four quarterbacks in the rout, totaled 92 offensive plays for 662 total yards to just 345 for FLC. Brown finished 9-of-11 passing for 120 yards and a touchdown of his own in place of Dvorak.
FLC had just six first downs in the second half and couldn’t get anything going.
“Offensively, we didn’t sustain a lot of things, particularly the second half,” Smith said.
Doyle finished the game 15-of-24 passing for 177 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. PJ Hall led the Skyhawks with 100 rushing yards on 23 carries for his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game. Thompson finished with three receptions for 97 yards and two touchdowns.
FLC will hit the road next week to face Colorado Mesa (4-2, 3-1 RMAC), a night game in Grand Junction.
“We need to come back next week, fight, get over this loss, and learn from it,” Doyle said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
