Box Score

GOLDEN, Colo. – Clay Garcia threw for 353 yards and five touchdowns to lead Colorado Mines (4-1 overall, 2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a 38-11 win over Fort Lewis (1-4, 0-3) yesterday at Campbell.

“I thought we played a lot better today in spurts,” said second-year FLC head coach Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. “We gave up too many big plays and couldn't finish drives on offense, but for the most part I felt a lot better about today than I did last week (a 47-0 loss at Colorado State-Pueblo).”

Garcia, the Preseason RMAC Offensive Player of the Year, completed 31 of 39 passes as the Orediggers amassed 511 yards of total offense – 415 of it through the air.

After getting stuffed by the Skyhawk defense on their first three possessions, Garcia finally connected with a 16-yard touchdown strike to Diamond Gillis with 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Mines extended the lead to 21-0 in the second frame on a 16-yard Garcia-to-Matt Brown touchdown and a 54-yard TD catch and run by Jerrod Doucet.

Adam Romero recovered a fumble deep in CSM territory with nine seconds remaining in the half, which led to a 39-yard Ryan Baldwin field goal as time expired to get FLC on the board and trim the lead to 21-3 at intermission.

Fort Lewis quarterback Tim Jenkins marched the Skyhawks into the end zone 3:07 into the third quarter, finishing with a seven-yard TD strike to Van Gramann. Justin Peters' two-point run cut the lead to 21-11.

Garcia answered back with a six-yard TD pass to Brown and a seven-yard scoring toss to Dan Palmer. In between the two touchdowns was a 42-yard Colin Baker field goal to account for the 38-11 final margin.

Jenkins completed 28 of 45 passes for 295 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception. Gramann was his favorite target, catching seven passes for 45 yards and one score. Jonathan Price caught five passes for 38 yards.

The Skyhawks gained 314 yards in the game, but just 19 came on the ground. FLC's leading rusher was punter Frank Atherton, who gained eight yards on a fake punt in the third quarter but failed to get a first down on the play.

Eric Hills led the FLC defense with 10 tackles (four solo). Cary Purchase sacked Garcia 2.5 times for 14 yards in losses.

Gillis caught nine passes for 55 yards and one touchdown for CSM. Brown added eight catches for 91 yards and two TDs and also completed four of six passes for 62 yards in relief of Garcia at quarterback in the fourth quarter. David Pawelek caught six passes for 102 yards.

After two games on the road, the Skyhawks return to Ray Dennison Memorial Field for homecoming next Saturday when they host Colorado Mesa (1-4, 0-3) at 1 p.m. Skyhawk Gardens, located at the northeast corner of Dennison Field, opens for tailgating at 11 a.m. and will continue to serve food from campus dining through the end of the third quarter. Beverages include Coca-Cola, Coors and Steamworks products, provided by Coca-Cola of Durango, A&L Coors, and Steamworks Brewing Co. The tailgating area is open to the general public (21+ ID required to purchase beer).