Box Score

DURANGO, Colo. – Colorado School of Mines (4-1 overall, 3-0 RMAC) used strong special teams play to defeat Fort Lewis College (1-3, 1-2) 38-28 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football action today at Ray Dennison Memorial Field. The Orediggers returned one kickoff for a touchdown, blocked a pair of Skyhawk field goal attempts and dominated the punting game.

“I made the special teams decisions,” said first-year Skyhawk head coach Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. “It's all on me. I'm a special teams coach by trade and I need to do a better job.”

Jerrod Doucet returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for touchdown that gave Colorado Mines (4-1 overall, 3-0 RMAC) the early 7-0 lead and proved to be an omen for things to come. Doucet finished the game with three kickoff returns for 162 yards.

Another special teams hero was Blaine Sumner, a 6-foot-2, 330-lb. defensive end who doubles as fullback in short yardage situations. Sumner blocked two short field goal attempts by Richard Rodriguez and also scored a touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the second quarter.

“The kid was nearly unstoppable,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “We were making great plays on the goal line, but he was very good.”

Sumner only had three carries for five total yards, but all three runs resulted in either first downs or touchdowns. He also duped the Skyhawk defense in the third quarter, with nearly every player keying on him at the goal line, allowing quarterback Clay Garcia to lob a two-yard pass to running back Dan Palmer for an easy score.

Oredigger punter Taylor Accardi also had a big day, averaging 49 yards on three kicks, including a long of 59 and another that was downed at the FLC five-yard line.

Mines' special teams offset a big day by Skyhawk offense, which gained 435 yards. Skyhawk quarterback Tim Jenkins completed 40 of 55 passes for 390 yards and four touchdowns. His first-quarter touchdowns to Justin Garman (77 yards) and Justin Johnson (5 yards) gave the Skyhawks a 14-7 lead with 6:35 remaining in the opening frame.

Garman and Johnson each had 100-yard receiving games. Garman caught 11 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns, while Johnson snagged 15 passes for 128 yards and a pair of scores.

“Justin Garmin had a great day,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “Everybody expects it out of Justin Johnson every week – and he delivers. He got banged up, nicked up, and still came through. It's nice to start to see some of the others come along.”

Oredigger quarterback Clay Garcia completed 21 of 41 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns. Doucet was his favorite target, finishing with eight catches for 97 yards. Cody Renken caught six passes for 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Fort Lewis defense, victimized often in the first three games of the year, limited the Orediggers to 85 yards on 29 carries. Palmer had the bulk of the carries, finishing with 64 yards on 20 carries.

Rivas-Sandoval found many things to praise after the game.

“We're a football team that is growing and we're going to find something new every week that we're going to struggle with,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “We just have to minimize the things we struggle on a week by week basis.”

One change from last week's 49-14 loss to CSU-Pueblo was FLC's new-found ability to put mistakes and big plays behind them.

“We talked all week about growing as a football team, but we wouldn't know how that message was received and how much we grew until the end of the game,” he said. “We weren't good enough to win today, but now we have a better idea of how much we improved.”

Fort Lewis travels to Mesa State (1-3 overall, 1-2 RMAC) next Saturday for a 7 p.m. game at Stocker Stadium.