Fort Lewis football coach Johnny Cox has preached patience since he became the Skyhawks head coach. Cox has talked about building the program the right way by retaining players. Skyhawks fans’ patience first paid off on Sept. 14 when FLC snapped a 40-game losing streak. But that was against an NAIA opponent.
On Saturday, FLC fans’ patience paid off in a big way with a win against a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponent. FLC scored 17 points in the second half to beat Adams State 27-17 on the road.
“I'm very excited,” Cox said. “The guys really worked hard. We had a goal that we set in the locker room last year when we lost a really close game to them. It's good to see that, a year later, to accomplish that goal and avenge that loss that was a really close loss a year ago.”
FLC improved to 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the RMAC with the win. It was FLC’s first RMAC win since the Skyhawks beat Adams State on Oct. 5, 2019. Adams State dropped to 0-9 overall and 0-7 in the RMAC.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Stone Walker finished 10/19 for 122 yards and a passing touchdown for the Skyhawks. He also rushed for 56 yards and had a rushing touchdown.
The Skyhawks dominated on the ground, finishing with 236 yards as a team and two touchdowns. Junior running back Cameron Mack had 17 carries for 91 yards. Freshman Orlando Guevara had 15 carries for 77 yards. Junior wide receiver Jamille Humphrey had a carry for 5 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Guevara was the leading receiver for FLC. He finished with two receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown.
“Orlando’s speed is very effective,” Cox said about Guevara. “He's going to run track here too. He's a dual-sport athlete and... as a true freshman, being able to do that in a college football game really shows his talent and him taking that opportunity. So he's maturing every single week. Hopefully continue this path to get him more consistent. He has a natural knack for finding openings and really good speed. So that combination makes it exciting to watch.”
Adams State quarterback Alexander Grado finished 20/34 for 163 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Grado also had 70 yards rushing.
The first quarter ended in a 3-3 tie thanks to chip shot field goals from both teams. Humphrey’s 5-yard run gave FLC a 10-3 lead before a 16-yard touchdown pass from Grado tied the game at 10.
In the second half, Walker had a 6-yard rushing score and a field goal by senior Hunter Villavicencio gave FLC a 20-10 lead with 14 minutes left in the game.
Adams State responded with a 10-yard rushing score to cut the deficit to 20-17 with 10:15 to go. Guevara had a 43-yard touchdown reception to seal the victory with eight minutes left.
FLC returns home to play New Mexico Highlands on Saturday at noon.
Men’s soccer sweeps season series with Colorado Mesa with 2-0 win
In any sport, teams want good momentum at the end of the season to carry into the playoffs. FLC’s men’s soccer team has that after three consecutive wins.
The latest victory for the Skyhawks was a 2-0 win at home against Colorado Mesa on Sunday. FLC previously beat Colorado Mesa 1-0 on the road on Sept. 29.
“This time around, obviously getting the second goal to get some separation was helpful, but I didn't feel like it was a game where we were ever really threatened or too uncomfortable,” FLC men’s soccer head coach David Oberholtzer said. “We were really solid defensively. Lucas (Martin) only had to deal with two shots on goal the whole game. As a group, we did a really good job of just staying compact, not getting stretched and not allowing them to play through us. We just made it really difficult defensively. We were really good in possession, on the ball and forced them to have to chase a lot of the game.”
FLC improved to 10-2-5 overall and 6-2-1 in the RMAC with the win. Colorado Mesa fell to 5-9-2 overall and 2-6-1 in the RMAC.
The Skyhawks outshot the Mavericks 16-9 and had an advantage of 8-2 with shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin finished with two saves.
Fifth-year midfielder Gabriel Legendre opened up the scoring for FLC with a goal in the 10th minute, assisted by freshman midfielder Fabrizio Augilera. It was Legendre’s fourth goal in the last two games.
“The only difference between this weekend and every other game he's played in is he's been able to put things on target,” Oberholtzer said about Legendre. “He's always been able to put himself in really dangerous positions. He's a tireless worker and is a constant threat.”
Junior Casey Stracher scored in the 56th minute to put FLC up 2-0.
The Skyhawks conclude the regular season with a home game against Adams State on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Men’s basketball loses second game in Florida to Carson-Newman University
The FLC men’s basketball team finished its time in Lakeland, Florida and in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic with a 94-75 loss to Carson-Newman University on Sunday.
Carson-Newman couldn’t miss as it finished the game shooting 61% from the field and 52% from 3-point range.
“They returned all of their guys and shot it really well,” FLC men’s basketball head coach Jordan Mast said. “We knew what they were going to do, but that experience showed and that's what I took away from this weekend. The experience of the two teams we played was the difference, especially Carson-Newman … We learned a lot. I actually came away more encouraged than less encouraged from the weekend, mainly because you got to see the top teams … the difference to me was that the top teams knew their roles, they knew where they were good at and they executed at a high level. Whereas we were still figuring it out. We were good at times and at other times, we were very new, meaning a lot of guys trying to figure out their roles.”
FLC fell to 0-2 overall after shooting 41% from the field, 25% from 3-point range and 80% from the free-throw line in the loss. Carson Newman improved to 1-1 overall.
Carson-Newman was led by Jack Browder who finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds. John Zhao had 23 points and Trey Hubbard had 22 points for Carson-Newman.
For the second consecutive game, FLC was led by senior forward Chuol Deng. He finished with 21 points on 8-18 shooting from the field, 2-7 from 3-point range and 3-4 from the free-throw line. He also had 11 rebounds.
Senior guard Biko Johnson finished with 21 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, 3-8 from downtown and 2-2 from the free-throw line.
“He got in foul trouble the first game and just kind of was out of rhythm,” Mast said about Johnson. “He showed when he's doing the simple stuff, he's really good. Where he gets out of character is when he tries to kind of make tougher plays that he doesn't really need to. When he just simplifies his game, he's a really good player and he shows why he played Division I.”
FLC trailed 45-31 at halftime after being down by as many as 18 points. Carson-Newman led by as many as 22 points in the second half before the final buzzer.
The Skyhawks return home to play Eastern New Mexico on Friday at 7 p.m.
Women’s soccer ties MSU Denver on road 0-0
FLC’s women’s soccer team battled one of the top teams in the RMAC on Sunday and tied MSU Denver 0-0 on the road.
The Skyhawks moved to 7-5-4 overall and 4-4-3 in the RMAC. MSU Denver moved to 9-3-5 overall and 8-2-1 in the RMAC after the tie.
“It was a pretty fair result,” FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke said. “That's a really good team and they've had some problems in front of goal. But realistically, we felt pretty good in the mentality of the team which was required after such a difficult game against (Colorado) Christian. The psychological part of it for us, we walked away feeling pretty happy with it as a whole.”
FLC moves on to face Western Colorado at home on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
