The Skyhawks looked primed to turn Saturday’s game into a laugher after the first 15 minutes.
In the final 45 minutes, Fort Lewis College struggled to find the punchline for that particular joke.
The FLC football team scored on its first two drives, then failed to find any more points as Black Hills State rallied to ruin FLC’s senior day with a 17-14 win in the Skyhawks’ season finale at Ray Dennison Memorial Field.
The Skyhawks (4-7, 3-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) seemingly could do no wrong in the first quarter and for most of the second. Jordan Doyle completed his first 12 pass attempts, two of which went to Nova Hardy for touchdowns of 11 and 12 yards to give FLC a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.
The Skyhawks had 315 yards of total offense at halftime, a total better than they accrued in six different games this season. Their 181 passing yards at intermission topped their output for five different full games, and their 134 rushing yards bested their output from seven full games this year.
Doyle finished 25-of-35 for 246 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 69 yards. Doyle Bode added 66 yards receiving, and Hardy had 53 yards and the two scores.
The FLC defense also was stout, holding Black Hills State to just 112 first-half yards, and senior Broderick Sargent had two of his three sacks before intermission.
“Boy, we go from doing everything right in the first quarter and not being able to do anything wrong – we’re just up and down the field – to doing everything wrong and give the game away,” FLC head coach John L. Smith said.
“I’m the most embarrassed I’ve probably ever been in my coaching career because they outcoached us, and that’s the sad part.”
Turnovers in the second quarter would keep FLC from going up three or four scores on the Yellow Jackets (2-7, 2-5 RMAC). Doyle fell victim to a sack-strip fumble after FLC drove to the Jackets’ 12-yard line early in the second quarter. But the big blow came just before halftime when Brian Baldwin picked off Doyle at the FLC 17 two plays after FLC picked off a pass of its own and went 83 yards for the touchdown with just 1 minute, 23 seconds left in the half to cut the FLC lead to 14-7.
“Been the story of our year, really, the turnovers,” Smith said. “Fumbling the ball. Throwing interceptions. … You can’t do that and win any kind of games.”
The Yellow Jackets came out stronger after halftime, scoring in the third quarter on Harrison Dollins’ 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Then they took their first lead on a Christian Parr 34-yard field goal with 5:59 to play in the fourth.
FLC had two chances to get off the field or at least make it a tougher field goal on the final scoring drive, but a pass interference penalty on a third down play and a defensive holding foul on the next third down kept Black Hills State drives alive.
“Third down hold. Third down hold. Third down (pass interference). And that has to come back on us,” Smith said. “If they’re not coached better than that that they can’t hold, that they can’t P.I., then that’s our fault.”
The FLC offense failed to gain much traction in the second half. The Skyhawks ran for just 12 net yards in the second half and had just 84 yards of total offense after halftime with just six first downs, four of which came on their final drive. That attempt at a rally stalled out at the Jackets’ 31-yard line, and Kipp Castanha’s 48-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left with 52 seconds to play.
Smith said the lack of production after halftime had little to do with the Yellow Jackets’ adjustments and more to do with a simple lack of execution on the part of the Skyhawks, who weren’t able to control the line of scrimmage to the degree they had in the first half.
Four wins is the most for an FLC team in a season since going 7-4 under then-head coach, now-defensive coordinator Ed Rifilato in 2006. But despite showing improvement, the Skyhawks and this year’s first-year head coach weren’t by any means satisfied with that total.
“Recruiting is a big issue right now,” Smith said. “We’ve got to go find some guys who can play the game.”
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