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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

JeffHansen
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC redshirt sophomore Jeff Hansen finished with 144 total yards in Saturday's loss to Black Hills State
7
Fort Lewis College FLC 2-2 , 2-2
13
Winner Black Hills State BHFB 1-3 , 1-3
Fort Lewis College FLC
2-2 , 2-2
7
Final
13
Black Hills State BHFB
1-3 , 1-3
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
FLC Fort Lewis College 0 7 0 0 7
BHFB Black Hills State 7 0 6 0 13

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

Missed opportunities plague Skyhawks in 13-7 road loss to Black Hills

SPEARFISH, South Dakota — The Fort Lewis College men's football team suffered a tight 13-7 road loss to Black Hills State University on Saturday in a windy and bitter cold afternoon out in Spearfish, South Dakota.

It's a game the Skyhawks (2-2 overall, 2-2 RMAC) will lament as they had numerous opportunities to come home with the victory.

"It's kind of been the story of the year; not taking advantage of the opportunities we have and then kind of shooting ourselves in the foot," said Fort Lewis head coach, Brandon Crosby. "We have to get back to the drawing board, come home and try to fix it, and get ready for Adams State."

Fort Lewis dominated time of possession, holding the football for 40:17 of game clock, and showed the ability to move the football against the Yellow Jackets (1-3 overall, 1-3 RMAC) defense as the team racked up 321 total yards of offense.

It was efficiency in the red zone that proved to be the difference Saturday.

The Skyhawks had seven possessions drive inside the Black Hills State 25-yard line, but came away with just one touchdown; a four-yard run by junior quarterback Erik Ornduff, in relief of injured Jake Lowry, that pulled FLC even with the Yellow Jackets at 7-7 with 31 seconds remaining in the first half.

Fort Lewis had two drives end in missed field goals and its final two drives of the afternoon resulted in turnovers on downs.

"You lose a lot of momentum when you can't get a score down (in the red zone)," Crosby said. "We missed two field goals that really hurt us and when we did get down there, close is not close enough. We have to figure out a way to put the ball in the end zone and help our defense out."

The Skyhawks nearly produced the game-tying score with 6:31 remaining in the fourth quarter, courtesy of a drive set up on the forced fumble by sophomore Dakota Helms, recovered by his brother Jayden Helms at the Yellow Jackets' 10-yard line.

Four plays later, facing a 4th-and-goal, Ornduff found senior wide receiver Arealous Hughes on a slant, but Hughes was stood up just shy of crossing the goal line, giving the ball back to Black Hills State on its one-yard line.

"We took two shots and the slant was open on one play, so we went back to it and I thought we were in," Crosby said. "But he was ruled short and it just didn't work out in our favor. Looking behind the play. I thought he was in, but it was a bang-bang play. You can win and lose games by a couple inches and that's just the way it goes."

Ornduff finished the afternoon 10-of-17 with 70 passing yards, adding 60 yards and a touchdown with his legs to help pace the Fort Lewis offense.

While Ornduff performed admirably in relief of Lowry, who exited with a knee injury on the Skyhawks' first possession of the second quarter, Crosby said the switch at quarterback did impact what FLC could dial up over the final 40 minutes.

"That was a big impact. Obviously, we game planned for Jake and his legs. When Ornduff went in, it dialed back the playbook a little bit. But we feel confident in Erik moving forward," said Crosby, who added that Lowry will be day-to-day heading into next week. "We're not sure about Lowry's injury yet. We'll just have to come home and get it checked out and see where he's at."

On the ground, redshirt sophomore running back Jeff Hansen continued his solid start to 2019, leading the rush attack with 96 yards on a season-high 28 carries. He added four catches for 48 yards in the passing game, as well.

"He's been a machine. He works very hard and is a very strong, physical human being who can handle a lot of carries," Crosby said of Hansen. "I've got to do a better job of finding ways to get him in the end zone."

Defensively, senior linebacker Darrian Stickney recorded a team-high nine tackles. Fellow senior Max Scott was close behind with eight tackles from the cornerback position, and the trio of Jayden Helms, Ka'Lonn Milton and Blayke De La Rosa, the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, each added five tackles.

As a team, Fort Lewis held Black Hills State to 89 passing yards and just 13 first downs as the defense continued to flex its muscle through the first month of the regular season, finishing September ranked third in the RMAC in points allowed at 16.5 per game.

The Skyhawks will now turn their attention toward their Homecoming matchup against Adams State University, scheduled for 12 p.m. Saturday at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.

Saturday's clash will also be the 54th annual Musket Game in the rivalry between Fort Lewis and Adams State. The Skyhawks and Grizzlies, who are 4-4 against each other in the past eight years, will battle for bragging rights and the chance to fire off the .45-70 caliber military issue rifle traveling trophy.

"It'll be another opportunity to play a home game and hopefully rectify some of the mistakes we made (Saturday)," Crosby said. "We want to show our fans we can be a good football team and move this thing in the right direction. A 2-2 record is not the worst, but it's not the best record either. We've got some things we need to fix and that's our plan."
 
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