One team entered on a three-game winning streak and another on a three-game losing streak. Both came to an end Saturday.
The Fort Lewis College football team responded with a 39-24 win at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison to end a losing streak that came at the hands of three nationally-ranked teams.
“We came out and felt real good as a football team,” FLC head coach John L. Smith said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We played well on offense, defense and special teams. All phases struggled at times, because Western is a pretty good football team, but we played as a team.”
Fort Lewis (5-4, 4-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) dominated in the running game with 353 yards while holding Western State’s potent ground game led by Austin Ekeler to a team total of 124 yards.
That helped the Skyhawks control the clock to the tune of 38 minutes, 41 seconds of time of possession to Western State’s 21:19.
“The running backs running the time out on the clock was crucial,” Smith said. “The defense stepped up on a couple fourth-down conversions late and made big plays to get the ball to the offense. My goodness, those were big plays.”
Fort Lewis built a good lead at 33-10 but saw it cut to 36-24 with plenty of time to go in the fourth quarter. But Michael Benabides came up with his fourth interception of the season to end one Mountaineers drive in a critical moment of the third quarter, and the FLC defense twice stuffed Western State (3-6, 3-4 RMAC) on fourth down with less than 6 minutes to play to preserve the win.
FLC did suffer one big loss in the game, though, as senior quarterback Jordan Doyle was injured in the first half. Smith said he believes Doyle suffered a fractured elbow and will likely miss the rest of the season. It is the second consecutive year Doyle has suffered a season-ending injury, as he sustained a broken leg at Colorado Mesa in 2014.
“I hate the fact we’re going to lose Doyle, but it’s part of football,” Smith said. “We have to pull together and have another starter move on.”
Unlike a year ago, the Skyhawks have a capable backup behind Doyle in junior college transfer AJ Thigpen. He came on and rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries and went 5-of-7 passing for 137 yards and another score.
“AJ came in and did a good job for us,” Smith said. “We’re going to have to rely on him the rest of the year. He was one play away from being the starter all year, and he came in and did a good job and got us the win.”
FLC starting running back PJ Hall also battled cramps all day but still rushed for 74 yards on 11 carries. His backup, freshman Gabe Ogbonnaya, had a big day with a game-high 112 rushing yards on 14 carries. He scored the game’s first touchdown on a 73-yard run early in the first quarter.
“Gabe looked good out there, as did all of the running backs,” Smith said.
Western State tied the game at 7 with 2:29 to go in the first quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brett Arrivey to Kyle Adkins.
Doyle marched the Skyhawks down the field early in the second quarter and found Esley Simmons III on a 6-yard touchdown pass to give FLC the lead back for good. The extra point was blocked but wouldn’t come back to hurt the Skyhawks.
After Doyle’s injury, Thigpen led the Skyhawks on a scoring drive capped off by his 5-yard touchdown run, but a 2-point conversion attempt failed to keep it 19-7 in favor of FLC.
Another botched special teams play turned into gold for the Skyhawks early in the third quarter. Durango High School alum Jordan Gillen handled a botched snap on a short field goal try and rolled to his left with the ball, evading one tackler to set up time to throw. He found 6-foot-3, 240-pound freshman defensive lineman Maomao Niko in the end zone and fluttered a perfect pass to him for a Skyhawks touchdown. Gillen is a former Durango High School quarterback and is a junior wide receiver for FLC.
“We practice two different fires incase there is ever a bad snap,” Smith said. “We practice it this last week even. Jordan Gillen ended up doing what he is supposed to do, made a play and made a pass on top of it. It was a great play, and we got a score out of it.
“We plan for the worst in practice and hope to never use it, but once in awhile you do.”
That score gave FLC a commanding 26-7 lead until Western State kicker Ryan Winke drilled a 55-yard field goal to spark the Mountaineers a bit.
But FLC responded with a 76-yard touchdown pass from Thigpen to LyDell Williams to make it 33-10.
Only 55 seconds later, Western State had a big play of its own when Arrivey hit Ekeler on a quick pass he would take 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 33-17.
FLC kicker Kipp Castanha, who had missed five field goals in the previous two games, was perfect outside of the blocked PAT early, converting both field goal attempts of 19 yards and 22 yards to help extend the FLC lead.
The Mountaineers got within 36-24 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Arrivey to Travis Haney but never got closer.
Arrivey finished 21-of-38 passing for 214 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Ekeler, one of the top running backs in the conference, rushed for 102 yards and had another 98 yards receiving to provide most of Western State’s 338 yards.
FLC will look to start a new winning streak next week at home against Adams State in the annual Musket Game.
“It was a good team win, and now we have to regroup and get to work on Adams,” Smith said. “There was a lot of smiling after this game to get the win. We’re sorry to lose one of our teammates here and our team leader and all of that stuff, but the busses are happy coming home to Durango.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
