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Skyhawks snap 40-game losing streak, beat Arizona Christian 17-12

Fort Lewis head coach Johnny Cox wins his first game
The Fort Lewis College sidelines and fans celebrate their first touchdown against Arizona Christian University on Saturday at FLC. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Tough times never last. The Fort Lewis College football team now knows this.

After 1,806 days without a win, FLC broke its 40-game losing streak which spanned different presidents, decades and a pandemic. The Skyhawks beat Arizona Christian 17-12 Saturday afternoon at Ray Dennison Memorial Field at FLC.

On Oct. 5, 2019, FLC beat Adams State 28-9. Little did FLC fans know that would be the last win they would see for almost five years and that FLC supporters would see their football team have the nation’s longest losing streak in college football.

But on Saturday, the Skyhawks looked like the best team all day long. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball the whole game, including for one final first-down run by Skyhawks sophomore running back Jamal Johnson late in the fourth quarter. After that, redshirt freshman quarterback Stone Walker took a few knees and the party was on.

FLC improved to 1-1 overall after the win. It was FLC head coach Johnny Cox’s first win in his third year as head coach. He is now 1-22 as the head man.

Arizona Christian fell to 0-1 with the loss.

“We worked really hard for this opportunity to put ourselves in the opportunity to win this game,” Cox said. “We knew that Arizona Christian was a quality opponent and we felt like we could win, be victorious, but it was a hard-fought thing. We paid full price for this victory. It took a lot of the things that we had to build in the program that really came out today, as far as sticking together, playing as a family, forgiving ourselves for the mistakes and sticking with the plan … I'm just excited that a group of seniors and everybody on the team, they can finally say, ‘we did it.’ They're a part of history.”

FLC had 291 yards of total offense. It rushed for 134 yards as a team and had 157 passing yards. The Skyhawks only punted three times, had possession for 32 minutes and 44 seconds and went 7-14 on third down.

Walker led the Skyhawks by completing 12-20 of his passes for 124 yards and a passing touchdown. He also led FLC with 15 carries for 57 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

Fort Lewis College quarterback Stone Walker runs the ball for a touchdown against Arizona Christian University on Saturday at FLC. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

“We’re just barely at the tip of the iceberg of Stone Walker,” Cox said. “Stone Walker is freaking sweet, man. He knows the offense, he can execute it in the past game. It's a process though. I know he has so much potential, but he's still a freshman. So every year and every game, you're going to see him keep blossoming into the really great player he can be.”

Walker said it meant everything to him to bring this victory to the school and the city.

Johnson also had 57 yards on the ground on only 10 carries. Junior wide receiver Jamille Humphrey had three receptions for 54 yards. Junior wide receiver Christopher Thomas Jr. had four receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jacob Penney led the Skyhawks with 14 total tackles. Senior linebacker Jack Hanenburg had seven total tackles and 1.5 sacks. Hanenburg said he’s one of the only members remaining at FLC from his original recruiting class and it meant everything to him to see the look on his teammates’ faces celebrating after the game.

Arizona Christian quarterback Johnny Herrera finished 11-22 for 111 yards passing. AJ Sibley had 67 yards rushing for the Firestorm and Chase Tompkins had two rushing scores on the ground for Arizona Christian.

Two penalties brought the Skyhawks into the red zone in the middle of the first quarter. Walker then completed a pass and rushed in for the score to give Fort Lewis a 7-0 lead with 3:28 to go in the first. It was FLC’s first lead since Nov. 4 against Western Colorado.

FLC continued to run the ball well in the second quarter. The Skyhawks got deep into the red zone and Walker threw a nice ball to Thomas at the left corner of the red zone. FLC led 14-0 with 4:43 left in the second quarter.

The Skyhawks put redshirt quarterback Sam Jones in to get him some reps. Jones made some nice throws to get FLC into the red zone again. Then Jones got sacked and senior kicker Hunter Villavicencio missed the field goal. FLC took a 14-0 lead into halftime.

“When I walked in, they were screaming and hollering so it wasn't silent,” Cox said about halftime. “They wanted it so it wasn't me pepping them up. They were ready to go. I wanted them to realize that it's a close game. It actually shouldn't have been as close as that if we capitalized on all the opportunities. We could have had a bigger lead, but that was the situation that we were in. We really focused on finishing.”

Arizona Christian then found some success running the ball and throwing quick passes in the flat with space. Arizona Christian got to fourth-and-2 at FLC’s 25-yard line with 2:50 to go in the third. The Firestorm got the first down and more as it got inside the 5-yard line.

Thompkins scored to put the Firestorm on the board. But Arizona Christian bobbled the PAT snap and the Firestorm trailed 14-6 with 1:15 to go in the third.

In the fourth, Arizona Christian got pushed into a third-and-19 after two penalties. Hanenburg dropped Herrera for a big loss. Then the Firestorm punter shanked his punt about 25 yards.

Jack Hanenburg of Fort Lewis College goes for a tackle while playing Arizona Christian University on Saturday at FLC. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Walker quickly took advantage by rolling out to his right and throwing a dart to Humphrey at the 10-yard line. FLC was stopped at the 2-yard line and Villavicencio hit a 19-yard field goal to put FLC up 17-6 with 9:15 to go.

Arizona Christian got the ball back and moved it into Skyhawks territory with quality running. The Firestorm got it to the goal line with a pass interference call in the end zone. Thompkins ran it in for the score to make the score 17-12 and Arizona Christian failed to hit the two-point conversion with 4:40 to go.

“I was thinking about the win, time and possession, being smart with the football and holding on to the football,” Walker said. “I know they're coming in, trying to strip the ball, so two hands on the ball at all times. I was reminding everyone to breathe because we haven't won yet. A lot could happen in four minutes.”

The Firestorm then attempted an onside kick which was unsuccessful and ended up at the 30-yard line. Walker converted a key first down to Humphrey to continue to chew the clock. Johnson ran up the left side and picked up the final first down FLC needed to take a few knees to win the game.

Fresh off a historic win, the Skyhawks will travel to Black Hills State to play next Saturday at 2 p.m. to open up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.

bkelly@durangoherald.com