LAS VEGAS — Air Force put its shingle up.
Now bowl game committees can come calling. With a 35-20 victory Thursday night at Nevada-Las Vegas to finish the season (8-4, 5-3 Mountain West), the Falcons probably will have to wait a few weeks to learn their postseason destination.
Quarterback Tim Jefferson scored two touchdowns in leading the Falcons after they trailed 17-7 late in the second quarter. Leaning on a strong running game and a no-huddle offense at times, the Falcons finished with 343 yards rushing.
AFA receiver Jonathan Warzeka, who was doubtful for the game with a head injury, ended up playing and sparked a second-half comeback. Warzeka’s 54-yard run in the third quarter put Air Force ahead 21-17, and the Falcons never trailed again.
“I think it cleared the cobwebs a little bit,” Warzeka said of his run. “(UNLV) showed us that if we were going to take them lightly, they would put points on the board. There wasn’t a point in the game where they let up.”
While Air Force’s offense caught fire, its defense also picked up the pace in the second half. After surrendering 241 yards to the Rebels in the first half, Air Force held UNLV to two field goals in the second half.
“We didn’t play well in the first 25 minutes,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “The last 28 minutes, we came back really good.”
The Falcons fumbled away their first possession of the second half at their 21-yard line, but the defense came to life and stopped the Rebels on fourth-and-3 at the AFA 14. Warzeka supplied the spark with his career-long 54-yard run three plays later.
The Falcons put on a running show, with halfback Asher Clark (82 yards, 14 carries) and fullback Nathan Walker (60 yards, 15 carries) doing most of the work. An 11-play, 67-yard drive capped by Jefferson’s second touchdown put Air Force ahead 28-17 with 5:14 left in the third.
There weren’t any secrets to UNLV’s game plan in the first half. The Rebels just lined up and ran right at the Air Force defense.
When UNLV’s Tim Cornett wasn’t churning away downfield, quarterback Omar Clayton worked play-action passes for big gains. He finished 18-of-30 passing for 224 yards.
The mixture of Cornett and Clayton was the story of the first half, as the Rebels put together a 21-play, 83-yard drive and a 32-yard field goal by Nolan Kohorst that put the Rebels up 10-7 with 10:59 left in the first half.
Clayton’s 36-yard scoring pass to receiver Phillip Payne pushed UNLV to a 17-7 lead and continued momentum with 6:24 left in the half.
Up to that point, Air Force’s offense sputtered as much as its defense struggled. The Falcons took a 7-0 lead on Jefferson’s 5-yard pass to Zack Kauth with 2:12 played in the first period.
The score was set up on a tipped- ball interception by AFA linebacker Andre Morris on the second play of the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the first half,” Air Force safety Jon Davis said. “We stayed aggressive the whole game, but in the second half we cut down on our mistakes.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Three questions for AFA
1. Will the Falcons stay on pace to become the 11th Air Force football team to win at least nine games? With the 35-20 victory at Nevada-Las Vegas, the Falcons posted their eighth victory with a bowl game to go.
2. Will quarterback Tim Jefferson put up at least 193 yards of total offense to reach 2,129, which would be the most since quarterback Chance Harridge compiled 2,291 yards in 2002? Jefferson picked up 175 yards (111 passing, 64 rushing) against the Rebels, leaving him just 18 yards short with a bowl game in December.
3. Will the Falcons continue their dominance of UNLV? They did it, but not after the Rebels took the game to Air Force in the first half. The Falcons have won eight of the last nine games against the Rebels.
Irv Moss, The Denver Post
Key stat
1,001 Rushing yards this season for Air Force halfback Asher Clark, who became the 15th player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Of the 15, he’s the third halfback on the list. He ends the regular season with 1,001 yards on 174 carries after gaining 82 yards on 14 carries against UNLV.
Key play
With the Falcons’ offense struggling, Jonathan Warzeka provided life with a 54-yard scoring run for a 21-17 lead with 10:45 left in the third quarter.
Air Force never trailed again.
