Western defense blanks Fort Lewis College, offense rolls

The Western Colorado defense shut down visiting Fort Lewis College's offense, recording a shutout while the sixth-ranked Mountaineers' offense racked up yardage and points in a 55-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory on a chilly Saturday night in the Mountaineer Bowl.

Western is now 7-0 overall (5-0 in the RMAC), while Fort Lewis falls to 2-4 overall.

The Mountaineer offense was nearly unstoppable throughout the night. In 14 possessions Western scored points at the end of 10 of them, while the defense not only pitched a shutout but also added points on the scoreboard with a safety and a pick-6.

Right from the start the defense began putting its stamp on the game, as it limited the Skyhawks to just three yards before Western's Blake Kramer blocked the fourth-down punt to put the Mountaineers at the FLC 15 yard line for its first possession.

The Skyhawks put up a fight, though, and held Western out of the end zone, resulting in the first of JT Miller's six field goals.

The defense didn't allow a single yard in FLC's next possession, but again, the Skyhawk defense was able to limit the damage to only a 43-yard Miller field goal.

FLC went backward on it's next possession and this time, Western finally found paydirt with Josiah Roy's 18-yard touchdown pass to DJ Allen Jr. in the final minute of the opening quarter.

Western scored early in the second quarter with some trickery, as Roy tossed a backward pass out to his left to Antwuan Jackson, who stopped, pivoted back to his right and threw a 22-yard touchdown pass across the field to an uncovered Damien Nevel.

By the time the Skyhawks crossed their own 35 yard line and recorded their first first-down of the game, at the 7:31 mark in the second quarter, the Mountaineers had built a 27-0 lead.

Eventually, with yet another Miller field goal on the final play of the second quarter, the Mountaineers would take a 30-0 lead into the halftime break.

Western punted, for only the second time in the game, on its opening third-quarter possession, but the Mountaineers still found a way to add points. On second and 10 from its own 10 yard line, FLC quarterback Hayes Dwyer was sacked in the end zone by Trayveon Johnson.

The Mountaineer offense marched, but never completely won the battle on its next four possession, three of the four ending only with Miller field goals and the other with a Zac Grable punt.

It was after Miller's sixth field goal that the defense again made it mark as Donnell Colbert stepped in front of a Brent Rickert pass at the Western 37 and raced down the sideline past his bench, untouched for a 63-yard pick-6.

The scorefest ended with Gabe Schurbarth's 1-yard plunge into the end zone with just under five minutes to play.

Notes

• Western's defense was so dominant that it allowed the Skyhawks to cross the 50 yard line just twice, both of those times ending with Mountaineer interceptions.
• The Skyhawks finished the game with just 149 yards of total offense, only 47 of those yards coming on the ground.
• Western piled up 340 yards from it's offense, 111 on the ground and 229 yards through the air.
• Nevil would lead all rushers with 44 yards, but scoring his lone touchdown of the night on that pass reception from Jackson.
• Roy threw for 192 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, while also adding 33 yards with his legs.
• Allen Jr. caught four passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.
• Ian Loomis led the swarming group effort for the Mountaineer defense, finishing with six tackles while Kade Musser and Logan George each added five apiece.
• Western's last shutout was a 38-0 victory in September 2024 over visiting Adams State University.

Up next

The Mountaineers head to Spearfish, S.D., for their next game, an RMAC contest at Black Hills State (5-2, 3-2) on Sat., Oct. 24.