DURANGO, Colo. - The Yellow Jacket football team (2-8, 2-6 RMAC) picked up their second victory of the season in a close battle between the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks by a score of 17-14 on Saturday afternoon on what was Senior Day for the Skyhawks. 

Early on in the first quarter, the Jackets got down quickly, 14-0, after FLC scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass by Nova Hardy to Jordan Doyle just 2:37 into the game and another 12-yard pass from Hardy to Doyle five minutes later.  Those two quick touchdowns would be the only points given up by the Jackets all-day. 

After almost a scoreless second quarter between both teams, the Jackets defense stepped up to get the Jackets on the board after a Brian Baldwin 83-yard interception return for a touchdown to get the Jackets within seven points before the half.  This was Baldwin's second pick-six of the season in as many weeks after having brought back a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown two weeks ago in the team's first win at New Mexico Highlands on Nov. 2, 2013. 

As the Jackets gained momentum from the Baldwin pick-six, quarterback Ward Anderson, led the way for the offenses first long touchdown drive of 15 plays and 80 yards which was capped off with an 11-yard touchdown scamper by redshirt freshman running back, Harrison Dollins, to tie the game at 14-14 with 2:54 left in the third quarter. 

As both defenses kept the opposing offenses in check most of the second half, it was the Yellow Jackets who managed to get within field goal range of the Skyhawks as freshman kicker, Christian Parr, hit is 11th field goal of the season from 34 yards out to give the Jackets a 17-14 lead with six minutes to play in the ball game.  Sure enough, Parr's kick proved to be the game winner as the Jacket defense again held tough in likely their best performance of the season as they held FLC to  a season low for the BHSU defense to just two scores. 

Heading into Saturday, the Jacket defense was giving up just over 46 points per game.  Therefore, holding the FLC 32 points below their average will surely give them even more confidence heading into Senior Day versus Western State next Saturday (11/23). 

One of the most successful aspects of the Jacket defense on the day was getting off the field on third down, where they held tough and forced FLC to go 4-of-12 on third down (33%).  FLC managed 392 total yards of offense (246 pass, 146 rush) on 72 plays. 

The Jackets had three sacks as junior linebacker, Jeremy Tuten, led the game with nine solo tackles and had 11 overall including four tackles for a loss and one fumble recovery.  Fellow linebacker, sophomore Trent Boner, had 10 tackles on the day to give him 117 total on the season to keep him second-overall in the RMAC averaging 11 tackles per game.  For the second straight game, defensive tackle, Cody Benne, had a productive outing that was without veteran lineman Boone Bowker due to an injury.  Benne finished with six tackles and two sacks for a loss of 12 yards. 

Offensively, the Jackets ran 73 plays and had 279 total yards (125 pass, 154 rush) as Anderson went 16-of-26 for 125, no touchdowns and one interception.  Senior, Drew Nielsen, led the team in rushing with 78 yards on 23 carries (3.4 avg) with a long of 19 yards.  Dollins finished with seven carries for 25 yards including the 11-yard touchdown.  The offense went 8-of-19 (42%) on third-down.

Junior punter, Oscar Bengtsson, had an effective day to help win the field position battle as he had six punts for 255 yards (42.5 avg) including a long of 53 yards and two were downed inside the FLC 20 yard line. 

The Jackets will make up their game versus Western State (2-7, 2-5 RMAC) on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013 for their final game of the season and the annual Senior Day match-up from Lyle Hare Stadium.  The original match-up was postponed due to the wrath and snowfall of Storm Atlas back on Oct. 5.  Be sure to make your way out to the first annual Atlas Bowl to cheer on the Jackets as they look for their third win of the year!

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