Air Force ends season with a bang
The Air Force Falcons finished off their regular season on 18 November with a victory over Mountain West Conference (MWC) rival University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels (UNLV), 35-20.
Game highlights
Air Force opened the scoring with a five yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tim Jefferson to Zach Kauth at 12:48 of the first quarter. The Rebels responded four minutes later with a touchdown of their own. Freshman running back Tim Cornett ran
it into the end zone from two yards out, tying the score at 7-7 going into the second quarter.
UNLV kicker Nolan Kohorst hit a 32 yard field goal to break the deadlock at 10:59 of the second. The Rebels scored again on a 36 yard pass from quarterback Omar Clayton who hit wide receiver Phillip Payne
to give the Rebels a 17-7 lead.
Air Force responded with a touchdown of their own with 1:49 left in the first half. Jefferson ran the ball in from one yard out, cutting the lead back to three points going into the locker room for half
time.
At 10:45 of the third quarter, Falcons Jonathan Warzeka ran the ball 54 yards into the end zone to give Air Force back the lead, 21-17. Jefferson took matters into his own hands again with a two yard run
with 5:14 left in the third. Kohorst hit another 32 yard field goal with 1:23 left, the only score UNLV would have for the rest of the game.
To cap off his stellar game, Jefferson rushed for another touchdown in the fourth quarter from two yards away.
Leading statistics
Falcons Jefferson rushed for three touchdowns and threw for one more in the victory, while his counterpart, Rebels Clayton lead the way with 224 yards through the air but only one touchdown.
Air Force running back Asher Clark rushed for 82 yards on 14 carries while UNLV’s leading rusher, Tim Cornett ran for 69 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown.
Zach Kauth led the Falcons in receiving yards with 53 on only three receptions and one touchdown. Rebels Phillip Payne accumulated 61 yards on only two receptions and one touchdown.
Thoughts on the game
"The first 25 minutes of the game, that was unacceptable," Falcons coach Troy Calhoun said according to the Associated Press. "The last 28 minutes, we played really, really good football."
"I thought it was a big momentum shifter for us," Warzeka said. "We needed to put some points on the board. We needed to set the tempo and put this game away."
"[UNLV] showed us that if we took them lightly, they were going to put points on the board and that's exactly what they did," Warzeka said. "Especially this being their last home game. They had a lot to
play for. There wasn't one time during this game that they were letting up."
What’s next
UNLV still has two games left this season, the first coming on 27 November against San Diego State and they wrap up on 4 December against Hawaii.
Air Force will be going to a bowl game, whether it is the AdvoCare V100 Independence bowl held in Shreveport, LA or the MAACO Las Vegas bowl, held in Nevada.
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