For the amount of offensive possession the Fort Lewis College football team had, it was only able to get seven points despite a plethora of late chances to steal a road win Saturday afternoon against Black Hills State in Spearfish, South Dakota.

The Skyhawks had two key turnover on downs deep in Yellow Jacket territory late in the fourth quarter and were unable to capitalize on outstanding starting field position in the 13-7 loss to the Yellow Jackets.

On top of a frustrating afternoon for Fort Lewis, starting quarterback Jake Lowry was injured midway through the second quarter after he had a strong start to the game.

“It seems to be Groundhog Day offensively for us,” said Fort Lewis head coach Brandon Crosby. “We had 40 minutes time of possession, and it’s just a few things here and there that keep us from scoring. We missed two huge field goals that would have at least helped us get some red zone momentum. Offensively, we are searching, we are absolutely searching.”

In the first quarter, Black Hills (1-3, 1-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) took an early lead after Kielar Harpham took a handoff 52 yards down the right sideline and waltzed in for the score, which gave the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 lead with 9:33 remaining in the first quarter.

The Skyhawks (2-2, 2-2 RMAC) had the ball first, and Lowry drove down to Black Hills’ 20-yard line, but he was intercepted by Black Hills’ Brady Morris in the end zone, and Morris was tackled for a touchback. Later in the first quarter, FLC kicker Hogan Keasler missed a 24-yard field goal attempt that hit the left upright.

The Skyhawks’ defense came up with a huge turnover late in the first half, as Black Hills backup quarterback Chance Eben, a redshirt freshman from Greeley, coughed up the football after he looked to extend the drive on second-and-15 from inside the Yellow Jackets’ 20-yard line. Lorenzo Tanner forced the fumble, and Darrian Stickney recovered at the 25-yard line.

With Lowry still finding his groove under center, Jeff Hansen answered the bell on offense, as he had 20 carries for 83 yards in the first half. The FLC running back finished the game with 101 yards on 28 carries and added four receptions for 48 yards.

The Skyhawks drove the ball well with Lowry under center, and he ran for 34 yards on eight carries. He would be forced out of the game after he sprained his knee just over 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter after he was brought down awkwardly by BSU’s Cole Miller.

“(Lowry) went down, which, offensively, it’s a struggle to re-gameplan,” Crosby said. “Erik (Ornduff) came in and did a good job of filling in, but we just couldn’t find too many answers after that.”

Two Fort Lewis possessions later, Ornduff tied the game, as Fort Lewis went 25 yards in five plays and Ornduff scored on a four-yard touchdown run. He ran for a key 13-yard gain on fourth-and-3, as Crosby opted to keep the offense out on the field rather than try a long field goal.

The first drive of the third quarter, Eben led the Yellow Jackets on a seven-play, 66-yard drive that took 2:34 off of the clock. On second-and-goal, Eben rolled out to the left hash, saw a hole and took it into the end zone. The extra point was blocked by Fort Lewis’ Nathan Aguilar, but the Yellow Jackets regained the lead at 13-7 with 12:21 remaining in the third quarter.

On the Skyhawks’ first drive of the half, they had the ball for nearly nine minutes, but after Ornduff led the Skyhawks to the Black Hills 22-yard line, Keasler missed his second field goal of the game when his 39-yard kick into the wind was well short. It was 13-7 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Fort Lewis’ defense made two key defensive stops to keep the Yellow Jackets from tacking on more points. On fourth-and-six, Blayke De La Rosa found a gap in the offensive line and sacked Eben. Later in the quarter after a punt from FLC’s Matthew Waid pinned the Yellow Jackets inside their own 10-yard line, the Skyhawks’ defense came up with a stop. Dakota Helms hit Nick Susel at the 10-yard line, and he fumbled, as Helms’ brother, Jayden, recovered.

With 8:33 remaining in the game and the Skyhawks inside the Black Hills 20-yard line, the offense was unable to capitalize. Ornduff was sacked on two consecutive plays by Black Hills’ backup defensive end Sampson Rich. On fourth-and-goal, Fort Lewis went for it. Ornduff found Arealous Hughes at the 1-yard line, but Josh Gurnaby made a game-saving hit as Hughes caught the ball and did not let the Skyhawks’ star receiver stretch across the goal line for a potential score.

“We ran a wing personnel and were running double slants, and the first one, Hughes was open.” Crosby said. “We then tried a quarterback sneak. On fourth, we went back to that route, and Arealous was open and was called just short. We deal with a lot of personnel in our offense, and there’s only a few things we can deal with our receivers, and I thought we had some really big open plays.”

After the Skyhawks’ defense forced another three-and-out, Fort Lewis had one drive left with 4:32 remaining. On second down from their own 37-yard line, Ornduff found Parker Strahler just before he was hit for a 38-yard gain to put FLC in striking distance.

Fort Lewis had the ball in the red zone for the fourth time of the afternoon, but the Skyhawks faced yet another key fourth down. Ornduff overthrew Hughes by a good margin, but Crosby insisted Hughes was tackled before the pass arrived and both looked for pass interference. No flags were on the field, and the Skyhawks came up empty.

“Hughes was about to go up for it, and he easily would’ve been able to get to it, but he was pushed so early that it looked like it was way over his head,” Crosby said. “Ornduff put it on a line, it was a good ball, the right read, just unfortunately things happen like that. It was a bang-bang play.”

With all three timeouts, the Skyhawks were hoping to get the ball with one more chance, but a 67-yard run from Susel down to the four-yard line sealed Fort Lewis’ fate.

Ornduff finished 10-of-17 for 70 yards, while Lowry was 5-of-9 for 61 yards and an interception. Strahler finished as the lead receiver for FLC with six receptions for 51 yards. Hughes had one catch for nine yards. Black Hills’ Eben finished 5-of-8.

Black Hills finished with 239 rushing yards on 39 attempts, while FLC finished with 190 yards on 50 attempts, and the Skyhawks’ defense held Black Hills to just 89 yards in the air.

“Until our offense starts to click and starts making the plays that they need to make, it’s going to be a long season,” Crosby said. “I do believe we have the capability of turning it around. This week is a big week for us with Adams State coming into town. We’ve got another opportunity to fix the things that are broken, and get better.”

The Skyhawks will host Adams State at noon Saturday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.

bploen@durangoherald.com