LARAMIE — Expectations were that a lot of dust would be churned up Saturday at Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium. But even a 3-yard gain was hard to come by, until Air Force receiver Kyle Halderman broke it open with one big play.
His 74-yard run set up the Mountain West Conference game’s first touchdown late in the third quarter as the Falcons fought their way to 20 second-half points in a 23-3 victory over the Cowboys.
Air Force improved to 2-0 by winning its MWC opener in a bruising battle that at times bordered on ineptness and maybe caution by the Falcons and Cowboys (1-1, 0-1).
One set of numbers stood out in measuring the tense, bitter struggle that thrilled only the defensive minded among the 23,168 fans.
The Front Range rivals combined to convert only 6-of-29 third-down opportunities, with the Falcons getting the upper hand with 4-of-16 success.
When the slugfest was over, only the defensive players had much room to talk.
“We were expecting a fistfight,” Wyoming free safety Chris Prosinski said. “We know Air Force likes to grind it out 3 or 4 yards a pop. There definitely was a lot of hitting out there. It was back and forth for the first three quarters. The big play definitely hurt us.”
For a time the game seemed to be a duel between Prosinski and Air Force safety Chris Thomas.
Each had 13 tackles as they both slammed into opposing ball carriers and were all over the field.
“There was no room for error anywhere,” Air Force defensive end Ryan Kemp said. “That was our mentality going on the field. Our inexperience didn’t show today. Everyone was pumped up. This was the first conference road trip for some of our younger players.”
Air Force’s defense caused five turnovers, four on fumbles.
Cowboys coach Joe Glenn measured the cost of the turnovers.
“We gave up one big play, but the story of the game is our five turnovers,” Glenn said. “You just can’t do that.”
Halderman, a sophomore who is filling the shoes of former AFA star Chad Hall, circled left end and raced toward the Wyoming goal line, only to be caught at the 1-yard line.
“We knew if we could break one it could turn the game around,” Halderman said. “Our offense needed something like that to show we could make plays. Wyoming came out real hard — it’s defense really was flying around. Eventually our offense wears people down.”
Senior quarterback Shea Smith completed the possession by smashing over left guard for the final yard and a 13-3 Air Force lead with 2:41 left in the third quarter.
“We’re the Air Force Academy and we know we have to be as resourceful as we possibly can be and win in different ways,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “There aren’t going to be two weeks the same for us. Both offenses were methodical. We have to play faster on both sides of the ball. We left a lot of big plays out there.”
The Falcons finished with a respectable 261 yards rushing.
AFA fullback Todd Newell had the game’s only other touchdown when he dove 1 yard over the top of the line for a 20-point lead with 2:27 left in the game.
“Everything we do is about heart,” Thomas said. “Wyoming’s a great opponent. We just gave it our all. Turnovers are huge for us. It was great.”
In the early going, kicker Ryan Harrison was up to Kemp’s error-free analysis, hitting on all three of his field-goal attempts of 40, 27 and 44 yards. Wyoming kicker Jake Scott hit a 47-yarder near the end of the first half, tying the score at 3-3 at halftime.
Smith hit three of his four passes for 15 yards, the fourth being intercepted.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
KEY STAT
2-of-13: Wyoming’s offense was able to convert only two third-down tries against the AFA defense. Both conversions came in the second half but eventually led to Wyoming punts.
KEY PLAY
While defenses was the story of the MWC game, a 74-yard run to Wyoming’s 1-yard line by Air Force’s Kyle Halderman late in the third quarter broke open the game. Senior quarterback Shea Smith followed with a 1-yard run for the game’s first touchdown.
QUOTE
“There aren’t going to be two weeks the same for us. . . . We left a lot of big plays out there.” – Troy Calhoun, Air Force coach
