The Fort Lewis College football team took strides forward Saturday, compiling more than 300 yards of offense and playing toe-to-toe with Black Hills State University through the game's opening half.
Unfortunately for the Skyhawks (0-5 overall, 0-4 RMAC), a run of 21 unanswered points by the visiting Yellow Jackets between the third and start of the fourth quarters created the cushion in a 45-17 loss to a surging BHSU team (4-1 overall, 2-1 RMAC).
“Black Hills is building its football team in the same model how I’d like to build this football team where, regardless of travel or budget, they have a bunch of fighters out there, and we knew that going in,” said FLC head football coach, Darrius G. Smith. “No one likes losing. The players don't like losing, I don't like losing, and no one on my staff likes losing. And I don’t like moral victories, but I do have to acknowledge some of the positives and growth I’ve seen in our team. This team is growing. It’s not growing as fast as they would like or we would like, but you can see the growth and potential there.”
Fort Lewis played with a lead the majority of the first half, marching down the field on its opening possession for an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Junior wide receiver Dylan Holt capped the drive, toe-dragging in the end zone on an 8-yard connect with sophomore quarterback Brayden Miller.
The Skyhawks held that 7-0 lead until the end of the first quarter, when BHSU pulled even on a 5-yard scamper by quarterback Chance Eben as time expired.
On the ensuing possession, the Skyhawks responded with a nine-play, 61-yard drive ending in the first career field goal for freshman Hunter Villavicencio to go back on top, 10-7, with 11:34 remaining in the half.
Black Hills State retook the lead on another short touchdown run by Eben at the 7:23 mark and added a 40-yard field goal with 3:12 remaining to take a 17-10 lead into halftime.
The Yellow Jackets, ranked No. 1 in the RMAC in rush yards per game at 252.8, received the second-half kickoff and promptly went to their ground game to set up scoring drives on three of their next four possessions to build a 38-10 cushion.
Black Hills State finished the afternoon with 59 rush attempts for 363 yards.
“We knew earlier in the week that this game was going to be won or lost in the trenches,” Smith said. “Bottom line, defensively we need put up a winning battle in the trenches. And if you’re not winning at the line of scrimmage, it’s hard to win a ballgame.”
Fort Lewis put together its second touchdown drive of the game early in the fourth quarter when Miller scrambled into the end zone from 5 yards out to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
Miller finished 15-of-26 through the air for 184 yards and a touchdown while running for 36 net yards and a score in his third career start.
As a team, the Skyhawks racked up a season-high 311 total yards of offense.
Redshirt junior running back Jeff Hansen rushed for 70 yards on nine attempts and was second on the team in receiving – just behind junior tight end Zach Russell (3-for-46) with two catches for 45 yards.
Fellow redshirt junior running back Emmanuel Nwosu also showed off his pass-catching ability with two catches for 32 yards to go with his 20 rushing yards on two carries.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore defensive back Jayden Helms recorded a career-high 18 tackles, including 12 solo, and true freshman Ayden Madrid made 13 tackles.
Junior defensive lineman Thomas Chiazor tallied his first sack, and junior defensive back Jalani Blade nabbed his first interception for the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis will next play South Dakota School of Mines (3-2 overall, 1-2 RMAC) at noon Saturday in Rapid City.
