Box score

DURANGO, Colo. —Colorado State-Pueblo hosted the NCAA Division II track & field championships last spring. Today, it appeared that Fort Lewis College was the host.
 
The two teams combined for 985 yards of total offense and 71 points as the No. 3-ranked ThunderWolves emerged with a 50-21 over a scrappy Skyhawk squad today at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
 
“We've got to give credit to Pueblo for having a solid team and a solid program,” said third-year FLC head coach Cesar Rivas-Sandoval. “They're a first class program and well-coached. They're the number three team in the country and they played like it.”
 
Colorado State-Pueblo (5-0 overall, 3-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) built a 21-7 halftime lead and 36-7 lead midway through the third quarter, stymieing the Skyhawks several times in the red zone to keep the lead comfortable.
 
 Surprisingly, it wasn't the vaunted ThunderWolf running game that did in the Skyhawks. Rather, it was quarterback Ross Dausin, who completed 29 passes for 275 yards and five touchdowns on just 26 attempts. An early, 27-yard score to Trent Thompson gave CSUP a 7-0 lead just 11:05 into the game. A 19-yard hookup with J.B. Mathews extended the margin to 14-0 on the first play of the second stanza.
 
He later hit tight end Roger Pfannenschmid with a 9-yard pass over the middle midway through the third to open the floodgates. Josh Sandoval was the beneficiary of Dausin's last two strikes — a 35-yard bomb in the late third and a 10-yard catch early in the fourth. The latter made the score 43-14.
 
But the unheralded Skyhawks would never quit.
Quarterback Tim Jenkins had a career day, completing 36 of 58 passes for 501 yards and three touchdowns — the third most passing yards in school history (Andrew Webb threw for 638 yards at Mesa State on Nov. 16, 2002, and 560 at Western New Mexico on Nov. 2, 2002).
 
“Tim had a great day. He has total command of our offense,” said Rivas-Sandoval.
 
With the Skyhawks trailing 14-7 in the second, Jenkins found Doyle Bode for an 18-yard score with 8:03 remaining in the first half.
 
Once CSUP had built a 36-7 lead, Jenkins again marched his team downfield, finding Micah Young open on a long route to the corner of the endzone for a 35-yard strike.
 
Jenkins added a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Price late in the fourth quarter.
 
He also led Fort Lewis on three long drives into CSUP territory that failed to yield points. Fort Lewis failed to cash in on first and goal early in the game that would have tied the score. Running back Van Gramann was stuffed at the one on fourth-and-goal from the CSUP 2. Midway through the third, Buster Thede intercepted a tipped ball at the CSUP 16. And midway through the fourth, a Jenkins pass to an open Price bounced off the receiver's shoulder pads into the arms of CSUP defensive back C.J. Roberts, who raced to the outside and down the sideline for a 95-yard pick six.
 
“Both interceptions were on tipped balls and we've got to come down with the ball,” said Rivas-Sandoval.
 
Skyhawk miscues weren't limited to the two tipped-pass interceptions. Fort Lewis committed an uncharacteristic 20 penalties for 182 yards — many of which extended CSUP drives on pass interference, roughing the passer, and unsportsmanlike conduct calls.
 
“We were so energetic to try and make plays that we just stepped out of line too many times,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “Up to this point, we're one of the top teams in the conference in terms of not committing penalties. In this game, we just tried to do too much. I love our kids because of how hard they play, but you just can't make this many mistakes against a great team. You can't commit 20 penalties and commit two turnovers in the red zone and expect to win … and that's on me.
 
“Great teams take advantage of other teams' miscues,” he added. “They did that to us today. We've got to be able to do the same thing against our opponents. It's a process, but we can coach that. We can coach those miscues and clean up the penalties. The one thing that is tough to coach is fight … and our kids have fight in them. That's tough to teach.”
 
Finding balance on offense will also help the Skyhawks. Fort Lewis picked up 501 of its 570 yards through the air. The running game produced just 69 yards on 28 carries. Gramann led the way with 49 yards on 19 rushes to augment his four catches for 36 yards.
 
“We still need to be able to hit the holes when we see them to pick up first downs,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “When we're in the red zone near the goal line, inside the five, our running game needs to improve. Whether it's the right personnel or the right schematics, we can't just rely on our quarterback's arm.”
 
That arm, coupled with a career day by wideout Bode (14 catches, 168 yards, one TD) enabled the Skyhawks to find production.
 
“Doyle is one of those guys that is the ultimate team guy,” said Rivas-Sandoval. “He never has a negative thing to say … he's just so positive. He just knows his role within our offense. In this offense, we throw to who's open and today he was open. He picked up a lot of yards and worked to get open.”
 
The Skyhawk skipper was enamored with his defense's play, even though they yielded a lot of yards and 43 points (the last seven came off an interception return).

“Defensively, the final score makes it look like our defense might have given up a lot, but we did a heck of a job,” he said. “You can't shut down that running game, but you try to slow it down … and that's what our defense did. If we can start scoring points in the first half, that will help our defense out immensely. Because they had to start playing outside themselves, Pueblo was able to beat us with play action. It still comes back to us scoring in the first half.”
 
The coach singled out the efforts of Phil Odell, Terry Perkins, Brett Barnes, and Cary Purchase. Odell led the way with eight tackles (four solo). Perkins had seven (five solo, including an 8-yard tackle behind the line of scrimmage) and a pass breakup; Barnes had seven stops (one solo); and Purchase had six assisted tackles from his defensive line spot.
 
Still, the day belonged to the nation's number three team.
 
Sandoval caught five passes for 118 yards and two scores. Mathews rushed for 65 yards and one touchdown and caught three passes for 32 yards and another score. He was also electric in the return game, bringing back three punts for 86 yards (and a spectacular long of 46) to finish with 183 yards of all-purpose running.
 
Roberts paced the CSUP defense with eight tackles (six solo) and his 95-yard interception return. Jarrod Lacy had seven tackles (four solo), one fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.
 
Even CSUP punter Brandon Kliesen had a big day, averaging 47.7 yards per kick with three inside the 20 and a long of 67.
 
Fort Lewis will try to turn two moral victories (last week's 42-34 loss to Western New Mexico came after a furious second-half FLC comeback) into an on-field win during next Saturday's homecoming game. The Skyhawks (0-4, 0-3) host Colorado Mines (3-2, 1-2) at 1 p.m. at Dennison Field. The Orediggers were throttled by Western New Mexico 54-28 today in Golden, ruining CSM's homecoming.