The Fort Lewis College football team’s struggles continued on Saturday.
Facing off with Colorado State University Pueblo, the Skyhawks trailed the Thunderwolves 53-0 at halftime and lost 73-0.
“CSU Pueblo is a team that has shown dominance on the Division II ranks, and though this year might be a down year by their standards, they are a very high level RMAC team,” said FLC head football coach Darrius G. Smith.
The Skyhawks made a big stop on CSU-Pueblo’s opening drive, forcing incomplete passes on second and third downs to force the Thunderwolves to try a 40-yard field goal. The kick missed wide, and Fort Lewis took over at its own 23.
Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, it would be their only stop of the half. CSU-Pueblo scored on its next six possessions. The Thunderwolves also returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown and intercepted a pass and ran it back 30 yards for a touchdown to build a big halftime lead.
In the second half, CSU-Pueblo returned a second punt 69 yards for another score.
The Thunderwolves scored on touchdown passes of 50 yards, 29 yards and 38 yards in the game. They also rushed into the end zone from 5 yards, 21 yards, 31 yards, 58 yards and 34 yards.
For most of the game, Fort Lewis was without injured defensive back Jayden Helms, who entered the game as the second leading tackler in NCAA Division II. Fred Mady III led the team with nine tackles, including 1.5 for a loss.
On offense, Armon Hickson got his first start of the season at quarterback for Fort Lewis. Kieran Fry was his top target, catching five passes for 58 yards and a couple first downs. Hickson completed 11-of-37 passes for 89 yards in the game. He was also intercepted twice.
Jeff Hansen led FLC’s rushing attack with 28 yards on 11 carries. Emmanuel Nwosu rushed seven times for 19 yards.
The Skyhawks also picked up 13 first downs in the game, but were outgained in total yardage 617 to 119.
The Thunderwolves missed four extra-point attempts, which is the only thing that kept them from handing FLC its worst loss of the season. The Skyhawks fell to the Colorado School of Mines 76-0 earlier in the year.
Fort Lewis (0-9, 0-8 RMAC) will play at Adams State (0-9, 0-8) Saturday and conclude their season at Division I Dixie State (0-8) the following Saturday.
