Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Jeff Hansen 11.16
Peyton Rutkowski
FLC redshirt sophomore Jeff Hansen rushed for a career-high 177 net yards on Saturday.
27
Winner S.D. Mines SDSMT 3-8 , 2-8
17
Fort Lewis College FLC 3-7 , 3-7
Winner
S.D. Mines SDSMT
3-8 , 2-8
27
Final
17
Fort Lewis College FLC
3-7 , 3-7
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
SDSMT S.D. Mines 0 7 3 17 27
FLC Fort Lewis College 0 14 3 0 17

Game Recap: Football | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Skyhawks fall by a 27-17 final to S.D. School of Mines to conclude 2019 season

DURANGO, Colorado — On an emotional Senior Day afternoon at Ray Dennison Memorial Field, the Fort Lewis College football team was unable to get the desired victory to close out the 2019 season as it fell by a 27-17 final to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

After striking for two touchdowns in the second quarter and building a 17-7 lead midway through the third quarter, the Skyhawks (3-7 overall, 3-7 RMAC) were unable to shut the door on the visiting Hardrockers (3-8 overall, 2-8 RMAC).

"It's my job as the head coach to get these guys prepared and that's what I told them after the game, made sure they weren't pointing the finger at each other but pointing it at me," said Fort Lewis head coach, Brandon Crosby. "Offensively, we didn't do what we needed to do to win."

Fort Lewis built its early lead with a pair of touchdown strikes from junior quarterback Erik Ornduff to freshman tight end Zach Russell.

The first 14-yard connection came at the 10:32 mark of the second quarter to open the game's scoring, while the duo hooked up again on a 20-yard flag route with 4:16 remaining in the half to cap a five-play, 63-yard drive.

Ornduff finished the day 13-of-28 through the air for 171 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while Russell, a walk-on player this year, set single-game career highs in catches (8), receiving yards (72) and touchdowns.

"That guy just landed in our lap. He's an amazing player and truly has next level talent," Crosby said of Russell. "To come in as a freshman, be physical and do the things we need him to do, he'll only get better. We'll find more ways to use him and get him the ball."

A fellow underclassmen also had a big day for the Skyhawks on offense as redshirt sophomore running back Jeff Hansen shredded the Hardrockers on the ground, running for a career-high 177 net yards on 25 attempts.

As a team, FLC finished with 334 total yards of offense on Saturday, but it was short-yardage situations that would be the Achilles' heel.

Following a 27-yard field goal from freshman Hogan Keasler with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter, the Skyhawks' next three possessions ended in a punt, turnover on downs and interception in succession; all three drives presenting third-and-short or fourth-and-short situations that FLC was unable to capitalize on.

"I'm not sure how many third-and-one, fourth-and-ones we converted all year. It's been a scary call for me. We haven't been able to line up and get a yard," Crosby said. "We've had a problem all year trying to get short yardage. We've tried to be creative and work other things in some different ways, but we came up short."

South Dakota Mines took advantage of the added time of possession, tying the game at 17-17 with a one-yard touchdown pass at the 12:45 mark of the fourth quarter, then taking the lead five minutes later on a 22-yard run with 7:13 remaining.

The backbreaker for FLC came on the ensuing possession when the Hardrockers jumped an out route on fourth-and-one and returned the interception down to the Skyhawks' 13-yard line, setting up an eventual 25-yard field goal to bump their lead to 27-17.

"I liked the play call, but what I didn't like was we didn't coach the guys well enough to run it the right way," Crosby said. "When you get a Zero-Coverage look or Cover-One, sometimes it's hard to get a yard. I chose for us to sprint out and when you run versus man in any man route, you're suppose to lean into the defender, get separation and work your way back to the quarterback and that's not the way it looked from my quick view. The ball was a little bit behind and we ended up with a really bad play."

Defensively, Fort Lewis was led by junior defensive end Lorenzo Tanner and senior linebacker Max Scott with 11 tackles apiece. Tanner added a sack and three tackles for a loss, while Scott recorded his first career interception in his last appearance as a Skyhawk.

Fellow seniors Ka'Lonn Milton and linebacker Darrian Stickney each added nine tackles, as well, highlighting an emotional day for the 14 FLC graduating seniors.

"There's so much work that goes into football that we have a lot of love and respect for each other," Crosby said of the senior class. "The reason I do this (coaching) is a lot of these kids don't have support outside of Fort Lewis College. I didn't have a father growing up and I try to treat these guys like if I had a kid. They know I love them and care about them. It hurts me to see us end the season that way."

The Skyhawks will now head into their first full offseason with Crosby and look to add depth to a strong crop of returners.

"Oh, yes. And we have a few guys on the sideline who haven't played all year," said Crosby when asked about if he is excited about the returning core in 2020. "Building depth at a small school like this is hard, so we need to figure out how to build the program from freshmen and find a good pipeline for incoming freshmen, get them to redshirt, so we can build a program with guys who have been around and know what we're looking for."
 
Print Friendly Version