Box score

ALAMOSA, Colo. — Adams State (6-3 overall, 4-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) returned three fumbles for touchdowns en route to a 55-9 over Fort Lewis (0-8, 0-7) today at Rex Stadium in the annual Musket Game between the two schools.
 
Brent Lush and Thomas Newton each had 68-yard fumble returns, while Derek Mathiason added a 20-yard runback as the Grizzlies forced six Skyhawk turnovers — five fumble recoveries and an interception.
 
Fort Lewis — playing without the services of starting quarterback Tim Jenkins, who suffered a shoulder injury in last weekend's 18-6 loss to Western State Colorado — alternated Cougar Beaubien and Jason Fitzpatrick as signal callers.
 
The Skyhawks were the team to benefit from turnovers first. Kaulana Waalani-Arroyo forced a fumble by ASU quarterback Trevor Eggleston on the Grizzlies' second drive, which Cody Miles scooped up and returned 30 yards to the ASU 11. Three straight Beaubien rushes resulted in a quick 7-0 lead for the Skyhawks with 9:15 remaining in the first frame.
 
Waalani-Arroyo recovered Chaz Butler's fumble on the ASU 15 on the Grizzlies' next drive, giving the Skyhawks a golden opportunity to take a 14-0 lead.
 
But Connor Stevens tackled Beaubien for a loss on FLC's first play, forcing the fumble that Lush returned 68 yards to knot the score at 7-7.
 
“Our defense played hard and kept creating turnovers in the first half,” said third-year FLC head coach Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. “They're doing a great job of it. Unfortunately, we kept giving the ball back to them. We were just careless with the ball. They were coming in and stripping the football, scooping and scoring.”
                                                 
Fort Lewis drove into ASU territory on its next possession, but was stopped at the 35 when Beaubien fumbled again. The Grizzlies turned that turnover into a 39-yard David Van Voris field goal to take a 10-7 lead that they'd never relinquish. By quarter's end, the lead was 16-7 after a four-yard Justin Juda touchdown run (Van Voris missed the PAT).
 
Special teams got the Skyhawks two points closer when the ball was snapped over Van Voris' head on a punt. The ASU punter fell on the ball in the endzone for a team safety, cutting the margin to 16-9.
 
Adams State's offense then took over, as Eggleston engineered successive scoring drives of 80 and 72 yards in the second quarter. One was capped off by a one-yard Juda plunge, the other by a 12-yard Dominique Matthews run. The Grizzlies missed two-point attempts after both scores, but pushed the lead to 28-9.
 
Juda added his third rushing TD on a 7-yard run with 38 seconds remaining in the first half to stretch the lead to 34-9 (this time, Scott Kellogg missed the PAT kick).
 
The Grizzlies scored three more touchdowns in the second half, with a 42-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Cody Davies to Kellogg sandwiched between the fumble returns by Mathiason and Newton.
 
Adams State gained 396 yards, amassing 200 through the air and 196 on the ground.
 
The Skyhawks gained 245 yards, including a season-high 134 rushing. Freshman Josh Beacham nearly had the first 100-yard game of his career, gaining 97 yards on 23 carries. Van Gramann had 44 yards on nine carries.
 
“He ran the ball hard and was able to find some seams,” Rivas-Sandoval said of Beacham.
 
But he was frustrated with his team's inability to maintain drives. “The plays were there, it was just a problem of finishing them,” he said.”
 
Fitzpatrick completed seven of 20 passes for 81 yards, while Beaubien went 4-of-10 for 30 yards with one pick. Micah Young led FLC's receivers with five catches for 53 yards.
 
Phil Odell had a big day for the Skyhawk defense, recording 14 tackles (13 assisted) to move closer to the Skyhawks' career tackling record (356, set by FLC Athletic Hall of Famer Shane Voss from 1990-93). Odell sits in third place in the Fort Lewis record book, just three tackles behind Richard Johnson (339, 2002-05).
 
Butler rushed 10 times for 103 yards to lead the Grizzlies. Eggleston completed 10 of 21 passes for 132 yards. Lush led ASU's defense with eight tackles (two solo).
 
Adams State improved to 32-13-1 in the Musket Game series and 36-14-1 in the overall series with Fort Lewis.
 
The Springfield .45-70 military issue rifle that serves as the traveling trophy between Fort Lewis College and Adams State was donated in 1966 by Mahlon “Butch” White, who was involved with the First National Banks in both Alamosa and Durango, in memory of William White. The rifle is retained by the winning school at their annual football game. Traditionally, seniors from the winning team get to fire the rifle at the conclusion of the game.
 
Rivas-Sandoval remains upbeat about his team's resolve to continue working toward improvement. “There's a lot of fight in them and they're trying to stay positive,” he said. “They're maturing every week as they try to deal with adversity. Our coaches are doing a really good job of keeping them positive, continuing to coach them, and the players are receptive to being coached.”
 
Fort Lewis finishes its home schedule when it hosts Chadron State (7-2, 6-1) at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field. The game is the final home contest for 13 FLC seniors: Joe Abeln, Antonio Alicea, Terry Begaye, Eric Hurd, Jenkins, Estevan Lucero, Arturo Mata, A.J. Miko, Zach Moisey, Tim Muhovich, Odell, Jonathan Price and Cary Purchase.
 
The Eagles lead the all-time series with Fort Lewis 24-3 and are 10-2 all-time at Dennison Field. Chadron State has won the past six meetings.
 
The Bent Urban Sports Bar tailgate party begins at 10 a.m. in the parking lot east of the stadium.