DURANGO, Colo. – On the tail end of a 3-game road trip, the Black Hills State University football team came away with their first win of the season as they defeated Fort Lewis 25-19 on Saturday afternoon. A game which saw three total safeties, two for the Yellow Jackets and one for the Skyhawks, the Green & Gold saw their defense make numerous big plays. The BHSU defense held FLC to 1-of-13 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down, while they also made one takeaway with a 43-yard interception by Joshua Faulkner that led to a touchdown just two plays later.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Score: Black Hills State 25, Fort Lewis 19
Team Records: Black Hills State 1-3 (1-1 RMAC), Fort Lewis 1-2 (0-1 RMAC)
Attendance: 1,316
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the teams traded three and outs on their opening possessions, the Yellow Jackets and Skyhawks would trade safeties on their second possessions with the ball. The scoring began as Kade Weber was called for intentional grounding in the end zone to give FLC the first two points of the game with 10:45 to play in the first quarter, and then on the ensuing possession Kuba Betlinski saw the ball go over his head and out of the end zone on the punt attempt to give BHSU two points to even the score with 10:02 remaining in the first quarter.
• After Fort Lewis recovered a fumble in plus territory, the Black Hills State defense stood tall and did not surrender any points. While the Skyhawks picked up one first down and moved the ball into the red zone, the pressure of Cole Marquez in the backfield on fourth and one to go was enough to force a bad pass by Stone Walker and end the drive.
• Weber led the longest drive of the day in terms of plays (13), yards (82), and time (7:50) to give the Yellow Jackets the first touchdown of the day. The possession was highlighted by 10-yard and 15-yard rushes by Weber, as well as a 21-yard pass from Weber to Carter Ochoa to move the ball into the red zone. Then it was an 8-yard screen pass play to the left side of the field from Weber to Danny Davis to end the drive in the end zone with 10:59 left on the clock in the second quarter. Ryan Ewing's PAT split the uprights to make it a 9-2 ball game.
• The BHSU defense continue to show their strength, forcing the third three and out by the Skyhawk offense of the game. Then a Mason Crosby punt inside the 20-yard line was aided even more by an FLC penalty, backing the Fort Lewis offense up to their own 6-yard line. Two plays later a low snap saw Walker pick it up and scramble in the back of the end zone, but Cooper Brown tracked him down and pushed him out the back of the end zone for their second safety of the contest, making it 11-2 with 5:17 left in the first half.
• While the Yellow Jacket offense was unable to add to the momentum following the safety, going three and out their next drive, the Skyhawks regrouped and trimmed the BHSU lead to just two at the halftime break as they found the end zone for the first time with 1:22 left on the clock. FLC used three plays of ten or more yards and capped the drive with a 5-yard, back-shoulder pass from Walker to Solomon Latimer for the touchdown. Betlinski added the extra point to make it an 11-9 game.
• The Black Hills State defense came up with another big play on the first Fort Lewis drive of the second half, as Joshua Faulkner hauled in his first career interception, and returned the ball 43 yards to the FLC 2-yard line. Two plays later the offense capitalized and punched the ball into the end zone on a 4-yard run by Davis in the wildcat formation. Ewing once again converted the extra point and pushed the score to 18-9 with 14:15 to play in the third quarter.
• The Skyhawk offense then regrouped and answered the ensuing drive to keep it a one possession game, as Orlando Guevara found a hole up the middle for a 47-yard touchdown run and Betlinski added the PAT to cut the lead to 18-16 with 13:37 on the third quarter clock.
• The Yellow Jacket offense found the end zone for the final time in the contest the next possession with a quick 5-play drive that took just 2:28 off the clock. The Green & Gold moved the chains on third and eight to go with an 11-yard rush by Cameron Goods, and then it was Luke Duby finding TJ Chukwurah for his NCAA-leading eighth receiving touchdown of the year on a 60-yard pass play down the middle. The PAT by Ewing made it 25-16 with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter.
• Later in the third quarter Fort Lewis would momentarily find themselves in the red zone again, however, a penalty and a 6-yard sack by Brown pushed the Skyhawks back and resulted in a missed 48-yard field goal attempt by Betlinski that fell wide-right and short with 2:48 to play in the period.
• The scoring concluded in the game with 11:41 to play in the fourth quarter with a 40-yard field goal by Betlinski that helped Fort Lewis claw back within one possession.
• The Black Hills State defense made their second fourth down stop of the game with 5:01 left of the clock as Vincent Friend made the key tackle of Guevara one yard short of the yard to gain. The Yellow Jacket offense then ran out the final 5:01 of time on the clock, moving the chains four times, which included a 7-yard pass play from Duby to Thomas Mabe and a 25-yard rush by Goods to ice the game away.

BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Luke Duby: 9-for-17, 115 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown
Danny Davis: 14 rushing attempts, 28 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 2 receptions, 13 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown
TJ Chukwurah: 1 reception, 60 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown
Sebastian O'Farrell: 8.0 tackles, 0.5 tackles-for-loss
Jack Gentile: 7.0 tackles
 
UP NEXT
After three consecutive weeks on the road, Black Hills State returns home for the first time in a month as they host Colorado School of Mines for Swarm Days on Saturday, September 27, for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Lyle Hare Stadium.
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