Fort Lewis College football seeks rare winning season against Dixie State

Friday, Nov 10, 2017 7:40 PM

Coach set to stay as seniors say goodbye

Fort Lewis College running back PJ Hall will run for the Skyhawks one last time Saturday at home against Dixie State. Hall will finish second all-time on the college’s career rushing yards list.

Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

One more game, one win from a rare winning season. That’s what faces the Skyhawks on Saturday.

Dixie State (4-6, 4-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) will visit Fort Lewis College (5-5, 6-4 RMAC) in the regular season finale at noon Saturday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field in Durango.

Fresh off being promoted from interim head coach to head coach going into the 2018 season, Joe Morris will look to lead the Skyhawks to only its 12th winning season since 1963.

Riding a two-game win streak behind stellar defense and with redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Lowry, the Skyhawks can go into the offseason feeling good with one more win against the Trailblazers.

The two teams have played only twice before, with the first meeting coming in 2006 in the Dixie Rotary Bowl in St. George, Utah. FLC won that game 24-14 and erased a 14-3 deficit at halftime.

Last year, Dixie State got the better of the Skyhawks, 16-14. Last year, it was Dixie State that clinched a winning season with the victory.

FLC will have to slow down Trailblazers running back Sei-J Lauago, who has rushed for 734 yards and five touchdowns in seven games to rank fourth in the RMAC in rushing yards per game. He is only 139 yards away from the most rushing yards in a single season in Dixie State history.

Lowry won’t have an easy time passing against Dixie State. The Trailblazers have the second-ranked pass defense in the conference at 165.5 yards per game, and FLC averages less than that per game. Lowry has gone 18-of-42 for 221 yards and three touchdowns in two and a half games this season.

FLC could have a full stable of runners back, though. If the team’s leading rusher, Tyler Telphy, returns to action this week, the Skyhawks can turn to him, senior PJ Hall and Brayden Lucero.

Telphy has rushed for 702 yards in nine games. Hall returned last week after a lingering ankle injury sidelined him for a bulk of the season. He has rushed for 2,834 yards and 13 TDs in his FLC career. Those yards rank second all time in FLC history behind Joe Moore’s 3,566 yards gained between 2000-04.

jlivingston@durangoherald.com