Falcon’s fourth-quarter comeback falls short in 38-35 loss

  • Published
  • By Wayne Amann
  • Air Force Academy Public Affairs
SALT LAKE CITY (AFPN) --  Two touchdown drives engineered by backup quarterback Adam Fitch late in the fourth quarter were not enough in the Falcons’ 38-35 loss to the University of Utah in front of 41,935 spectators here Sept. 22.

“We could’a, should’a won, it’s the same thing I said last week,” Falcons head coach Fisher DeBerry said. “We just didn’t play all the time. We have to play 60 minutes when we play the defending conference champions.”

Utah (3-1, 1-1) rebounded from its first loss since 2003. The Utes went 12-0 in 2004 while capturing the Mountain West Conference title. Despite losing six offensive starters, including quarterback Alex Smith who was the No.1 pick in the 2005 NFL draft, Utah did not have to rebuild -- they simply reloaded.

Before a nationally televised audience on ESPN, Air Force opened strong when fullback Ryan Williams ran for 34 yards on one carry and put the Falcons up 7-0 with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Utah countered with Smith’s understudy from last year, Brian Johnson. The sophomore signal caller took his team 69 yards in 11 plays, the last being a 1-yard touchdown by Johnson.

After an exchange of punts, Falcon quarterback Shaun Carney flipped a screen pass to wide receiver Jason Brown who tiptoed down the sideline for 29 yards to the Utah 7-yard line. Williams punched it over for the touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

Johnson drew the Utes even again with his second 1-yard touchdown run set up by consecutive gains of 12, 16, 18, 13 and 13 yards.

The next sequence of events played out like a bad sitcom.

Air Force free safety Andy Gray recovered a fumbled Donny Heaton punt, but the Falcon offense failed to make a first down. Heaton’s ensuing rugby-style punt was blocked and recovered by Utah on the Air Force 33. Six plays later, Johnson added his third 1-yard touchdown.

On the first play of Air Force’s next possession, halfback Kip McCarthy fumbled a Carney pitch and Utah recovered on the Falcon 12. From there, Johnson hit wide receiver Travis LaTendressse in the end zone.

The Falcons settled down on their next drive thanks, in part, to a spectacular 27-yard reception by Brown on an under-thrown pass to put Air Force deep in Ute territory.

“We had chances to make plays on all sides of the ball when we needed to,” Brown said. “When we didn’t, Utah took full advantage.”

The drive culminated with a Carney-to-Chad Hall-to-Greg Kirkwood reverse for a 10-yard touchdown run.

Utah’s Dan Beardall drilled a 46-yard field goal with 1:06 left in the second quarter to stake his team to a 31-21 halftime cushion.

Their lead ballooned to 17 points in the third quarter when Johnson, who had plenty of time to throw when the Falcons defense used a three-man rush, hit wideout Brian Hernandez for a 60-yard touchdown bomb.

Enter Fitch. The senior rallied his troops with scoring drives of 86 and 80 yards, resulting in a 15-yard touchdown pass to Brown and a 4-yard touchdown run by Fitch.

Down by three with 1:08 to play, a Falcons’ onside kick was caught cleanly by Utah.

Air Force (2-2, 1-2) is on ESPN again Sept. 29 against Colorado State University. It marks the first time in school history the Falcons play back-to-back Thursday games.