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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Markez Boykin 11.2
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC junior Markez Boykin had 79 receiving yards and a touchdown in Saturday's 21-13 loss to No. 13 ranked CSU-Pueblo.
21
Winner CSU-Pueblo CPFB 8-1 , 7-1
13
Fort Lewis College FLC 3-6 , 3-6
Winner
CSU-Pueblo CPFB
8-1 , 7-1
21
Final
13
Fort Lewis College FLC
3-6 , 3-6
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
CPFB CSU-Pueblo 0 14 7 0 21
FLC Fort Lewis College 0 7 0 6 13

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

Skyhawks provide late scare in tight 21-13 loss to No. 13 ranked CSU-Pueblo

DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College football team pushed No. 13 ranked Colorado State University-Pueblo to the brink on Saturday, striking for a late touchdown and getting the ball back with an opportunity to tie, but had its upset attempt fall just shy as the ThunderWolves held on for the 21-13 final.

Fort Lewis (3-6 overall, 3-6 RMAC) had defeated CSU-Pueblo (8-1 overall, 7-1 RMAC) in each of the two teams' previous meetings at Ray Dennison Memorial Field, the lastest coming in 2017 when the Skyhawks claimed a 35-24 victory over the RMAC perennial powers.

"I'm really, really proud of the guys for fighting and doing the things we can do on the field with the resources that we had," said Fort Lewis head football coach, Brandon Crosby. "I'm stoked for the players. They understand they put a decent product on the field with room to grow moving into our last game to understand that we can compete and not look dysfunctional with all our injuries."

The Skyhawks put themselves in position to deliver another scare on Saturday when junior quarterback Erik Ornduff rifled a dime to redshirt freshman tight end Zach Russell on a five-yard out route with 3:12 remaining, cutting the deficit to 21-13 after a missed extra-point. 

As they've done much of 2019, the FLC defense stood firm on the ensuing CSU-Pueblo drive, giving the Skyhawks the ball back with 1:25 remaining and a timeout in hand.

Unfortunately for Fort Lewis, which was down three wide receivers in the second half, the team was unable to mount a potential game-tying drive and ended up turning the ball over on downs with 43 seconds remaining, clinching the 21-13 road win for the ThunderWolves.

"The first play I called a sprint out to the boundary. CSU-Pueblo runs what we call a four-read, so the corner bites on the first out and we had the corner route open all day, but we didn't wait for the guy to get open," Crosby said. "The next three plays, we had two guys in positions they've never played and routes they hadn't run all week… the plays were there, but we were dealing with a lot of variables and just trying to do the best we can."

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise strong effort by the Skyhawks as they limited the high-powered ThunderWolves, the fifth-best scoring team in the RMAC at 32.1 points per game, to 21 points and 342 total yards.

The Skyhawks produced 293 total yards and were forced to do all the heavy lifting through the air as the team finished with -3 net rushing yard. Ornduff finished the afternoon 19-of-28 for the 296 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ornduff's first touchdown of the game came at the 11:08 mark of the second quarter when he hit junior wide receiver Markez Boykin in stride for a 50-yard touchdown over the top of the CSU-Pueblo secondary, tying the score at 7-7 all following the extra point from freshman kicker Matthew Waid. Boykin finished with three catches for a season-high 79 yards.

"That was an emotional high for everybody," Crosby said of Boykin's touchdown. "Boykin has elite speed and he's going to be able to get behind people over and over again… We did some good things and should expect to do this on a weekly basis."

CSU-Pueblo struck for a late touchdown right before the half on a 36-yard connection between Jordan Kitna, son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, and Nick Williams with 37 ticks remaining to go into the break up 14-7.

The game took a drastic change early in the third quarter when the Skyhawks, facing a 1st-and-5 from the CSU-Pueblo 35-yard line, had an Ornduff pass ruled an interception as the ThunderWolves' Amu Aukusitino dove for the ball and corralled it at the CSU-P 23-yard line.

CSU-Pueblo took advantage, marching 77 yards on six plays the ensuing possession, capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass by Kitna, to go up 21-7 at the 10:48 mark of the third quarter.

"I'll take the bullet on that one for sure. Because of the struggles we've had offensively, we were looking to take a shot and I figured, with it being 1st-and-5 because of the penalty, we'd maybe steal an easy one," Crosby said. "But (CSU-Pueblo) dropped into coverage and it was just an unfortunate play. I don't think (Aukusitino) caught it, but it is what it is."

The score remained 21-7 until the Skyhawks' mounted their comeback attempt late in the fourth. Redshirt junior tight end Sam Kullberg set up the Russell score with a 63-yard catch and run, shedding multiple tackles down to the 8-yard line of CSU-Pueblo.

"The play wasn't there, but Kullberg actually adjusted to it," Crosby said. "You worry when people are running and shedding tackles that someone is going to come and knock the ball out for a fumble, so I was more hoping he'd go down so nothing bad would happen. But he's a heck of a kid. He's been a starter, he's been a backup, but he shows up to work and does what he's suppose to do."

For Kullberg, the three catches on Saturday tied his career high while his team-high 86 receiving yards set a new career-high for the Brighton native, obliterating his previous high of 37.

Russell added a career-high seven catches for 47 yards and a touchdown to compliment an outstanding afternoon for the FLC tight end corp.

"Our tight ends make our offense go. And when we can run the ball, they really make it go because then people have to start coming down and play man coverage," Crosby said. "CSU-Pueblo ended up playing some zone and base defense and able to stop the run with five-man boxes. We had to resort to the pass game and some rolls and came out with some big plays."

Defensively, linebacker Darrian Stickney continued his strong senior season with a season-high 13 tackles including a sack. Sophomore safety Jayden Helms added 10 tackles and a pass breakup, while senior Max Scott, redshirt freshman Austin Anderson, and Jayden's twin brother Dakota Helms each followed with seven tackles.

Junior transfer Fanon Vines, previously at the University of Nevada, finished with six tackles and his first sack in a Skyhawks' uniform, as well.

"They just fought and they fight every week. They're a very tough group of individuals," Crosby said of his defense. "Those Helms twins fly around and are not afraid to hit somebody. When you have a defense as solid as we do, if we can get the offense going, we should have a good showing this last game against South Dakota School of Mines."

Fort Lewis will look to build off the many positives from Saturday's game when, after a Bye Week this week, it takes on South Dakota Mines on Saturday, Nov. 16 for the 2019 regular season finale. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.

"It's been a long season, so we're going to try to get back in the weight room, get healthy and just get ready to send these seniors out the right way," Crosby said. "I have no doubt in my mind that we should be able to do that."
 
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