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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Jayden Helms 9.11
Angela Roberts, FLC Athletic Communications
FLC defensive back Jayden Helms (#25) led all Skyhawks with 14 total tackles on Saturday (File Photo)
7
Fort Lewis FLC 0-2 , 0-1
54
Winner Tarleton State TSU 1-1 , 0-1
Fort Lewis FLC
0-2 , 0-1
7
Final
54
Tarleton State TSU
1-1 , 0-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
FLC Fort Lewis 7 0 0 0 7
TSU Tarleton State 7 23 14 10 54

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

Skyhawks hang tough with Tarleton State early, fall on the road to Division I foe

STEPHENVILLE, Tex. — Playing deep in the heart of Texas, the Fort Lewis College football team showed positive strides forward when it clashed against NCAA Division I program, Tarleton State University.

Fort Lewis played the hometown Texans to a draw in the game's first 20 minutes, but were unable to keep up the early efficiency as the Skyhawks fell by a 54-7 final.

"It was a very competitive first quarter, going into the second quarter, and I cannot take that away from my players nor will I. But it's just one of those things where we need to learn how to play four-quarter football," said FLC head football coach, Darrius G. Smith. "The best thing about this team, and even New Mexico Highlands and the athletes they had on the field, is that it'll prepare us for this long stretch we have in conference play. Unfortunately, what ended up happening is what happens when a NCAA Division II team plays against a FCS squad. You play as long as you can before you run out of ammo. Then their extra bodies, extra dollars, extra scholarships take over."

The Skyhawks (0-2 overall, 0-1 RMAC) came out of the gates strong, forcing two punts on the first three drives for Tarleton State (1-1 overall, 0-1 WAC), while piecing together a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive to even the game at 7-7 with 5:13 remaining in the first quarter.

Redshirt junior running back Jeff Hansen had a 13-yard run and a 15-yard reception on the drive to help FLC move into the red zone.

Following a seven-yard quarterback keeper by freshman Jack Hanenburg that placed the ball inside the Tarleton 10-yard-line, redshirt junior Emmanuel Nwosu capped the drive with a powerful touchdown rush from eight-yards out to get the Skyhawks on the scoreboard.

Nwosu finished with 16 yards rushing and the score, while Hanenburg was 10-of-25 for 101 yards and six net yards rushing in his first collegiate start.

"I owe that drive to my staff. We did a good job, Jeff Nady and Beau Worpell, of putting together a game plan where we saw some weaknesses in the Tarleton State defense and they were things we thought we could take advantage of early," Smith said. "Once Tarleton State made adjustments, we had plans for the adjustments, which is why we were able to stay competitive in the second quarter, but it just became manpower and rotation after that."

Fort Lewis was still within a touchdown late in the second quarter when a pivotal nine-point swing shifted momentum into the Texans' favor with six minutes and change remaining in the half.

On a 2nd-and-10 play from FLC's one yard-line, Hanenburg just missed a throw high to senior wide receiver Markez Boykin, who was alone along the right sideline with room to run. On the next play, Hanenburg was tackled in the end zone for a safety, bumping the Tarleton State lead to 15-7.

After receiving a short kickoff following the safety, TSU scored a touchdown on its next drive just 2:15 later to balloon its lead to 23-7.

"Anytime you put yourself in a position to give up nine points in 2:15 of game clock, that's going to be detrimental," Smith said. "Those are the mistakes we have to avoid because, as we're building this program, those are situations of adversity that I'm use to seeing, my staff is use to seeing, but these young men are not. We need to teach them how to battle through those moments and not let them be down trotting and snowball moments."

Defensively, the Skyhawks had four players finished with nine or more tackles, led again by redshirt sophomore Jayden Helms with 14 total tackles, including 11 solo tackles. Helms now boasts 27 tackles through the team's first two games.

Joining Helms in double-digits was junior Clayton Rutz with 10 tackles, while the trio of Max Hyson, Jordan Brown and Fred Mady III all finished with nine tackles.

Hyson led the FLC defense with 1.5 tackles for a loss.

"Last week was a case of too many opportunities being squandered up front and it was forcing helms and our secondary players to make a lot of tackles. This week we saw dispersity," Smith said.

Offensively, Fort Lewis finished with 189 total yards as it struggled to regain its footing after the early touchdown drive. But the Skyhawks did not turn over the ball and finished with 22:51 time of possession.

"Ball security and trying to maintain possessions was a pivotal thing and focus of this week's practice," Smith said. "It's a rarity that you can go into a ballgame of this magnitude and not turn the ball over with a freshman quarterback. It was a bright spot."

The Skyhawks will look to build off the positives as they head back to practice next week in preparation for a Week 3 clash against current RMAC leaders, No. 8 Colorado School of Mines (2-0 overall, 1-0 RMAC). Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Ray Dennison Memorial Field in Durango.

"We need to learn how to play four quarters of football and we need to keep on improving on the successful things that we are doing, like moving the ball in the run game and not turning the ball over," Smith said. "We continue that — I want wins — but those are improvements that I can enjoy."
 
 
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