LARAMIE — Air Force turned to its vaunted rushing game in the second half to rally for a 20-14 victory over Wyoming this afternoon.
The Falcons (3-1, 2-0 Mountain West) lead the nation in rushing offense and today against the Cowboys it showed with 379 yards on the ground.
AFA fullback Nathan Walker ran the ball in from the 8-yard line for the tying score early in the fourth quarter.
Late in the game, the Falcons drove 80 yards in 14 plays for the winning score, with quarterback Tim Jefferson running the last 6 yards. Erik Soderberg’s point-after kick was blocked, but Air Force had its first lead of the game at 20-14, which stood up.
The drive included a fourth-down conversion to score.
Then it became a matter of stopping the Wyoming offense, something the Falcons had trouble doing all game. But the defense did its job. Quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels completed a pass to David Leonard for 12 yards, but Air Force’s Reggie Rembert forced a fumble, which was recovered by Jon Davis at the Wyoming 47 with less than 3 minutes remaining.
“Air Force was able to stay ahead of the sticks most of the time. They would get into the third-and-short yardage and it was tough to stop,” Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said. “They would give it to the fullback and falling forward, he would gain two yards.”
Tew finished with 136 yards on 27 carries.
Wyoming took a 14-7 lead in third quarter on Alvester Alexander’s second touchdown. The Cowboys converted a failed fourth down by Air Force for the go-ahead touchdown.
“Nothing beautiful about it. Complete hats off to Wyoming,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “I thought physically they popped us a little bit today and yet the resiliency of our guys … that’s something we can work with.”
The first half was filled with mistakes by both teams but each managed to put together 80-yard drives for touchdowns. Wyoming scored first on a 13-play drive capped by Alexander’s two-yard run with 7:16 left in the half.
The Falcons came right back with a 12-play drive, capped by Tew’s 4-yard blast at the middle with 2:24 left in the half.
Davis intercepted a pass in the end zone in the first quarter to halt Wyoming’s other first-half scoring threat.
Soderberg missed a 26-yard field goal on the first play of the second period.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
