Falcons rally late to win opener

  • Published
  • By Wayne Amann
  • Air Force Academy Public Affairs
SEATTLE (AFPN) --  For more than three quarters Air Force was, arguably, "sleepless in Seattle." The Falcons trailed the University of Washington Huskies, 17-6, nearly five minutes into the fourth quarter and needed a wake-up call in their 50th season opener.

They got it from backup quarterback Adam Fitch.

Less than one minute after Washington built its 11-point lead, the senior signal caller replaced sophomore starter Shaun Carney for the second time in the game to direct offensive coordinator Chuck Petersen’s no-huddle attack. Four plays later, Fitch found wide receiver Greg Kirkwood behind two defenders down the right sideline for an eyebrow-raising 84-yard touchdown strike, the fourth longest in Academy history.

Air Force refused to hit the snooze button.

A re-energized Falcon defense stalled Washington at its own 48-yard line, forcing a punt down to the Air Force 17 with 5:55 left in the game. Carney returned to engineer a 14-play drive, capped by a 1-yard quarterback keeper with 34 seconds left, for a scintillating come-from-behind, 20-17, win Sept. 3 at Qwest Field, home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.

“You can never rule a Falcon out,” Air Force head coach Fisher DeBerry said. “Rallying from 11 points down and making the plays we had to make, I can’t say enough about the character on this team.”

The Falcon's offense struggled with adversity in the first half thanks to fumbles that killed two drives deep in Huskies territory.

On Air Force’s first possession Carney guided his team from its own 31-yard line to the Washington 20 where he coughed up the ball.

The Huskies took the gift and reeled off an eight play, 57-yard drive ending in a 40-yard Evan Knudson field goal and a 3-0 lead.

After the Falcon defense stiffened on a fourth down and 2-yard situation at its own 16-yard line late in the first quarter, Fitch subbed for Carney in the no-huddle scheme.

“That was a pre-game decision,” explained DeBerry. “It wasn’t because we were disappointed in anything Shaun was doing. We wanted to put some pressure on Washington to make some mistakes lining up and to have a fast-pace game.”

The strategy worked briefly as Fitch, aided by a fake kick by senior punter Donny Heaton, marched the ball to the Husky 26, where halfback Chad Hall fumbled.

The next time Air Force got its hands on the ball, with Carney back at the helm, they held on to it long enough for place kicker Scott Eberle to connect on a 41-yard field goal. His first career three-point attempt, with 39 seconds left, tied the score at halftime.

Washington’s offense controlled the tempo for two touchdown drives in the second half. One resulted in a 1-yard scoring run by fullback James Sims midway through the third quarter, while the other ended with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Isaiah Stanback to Cody Ellis with 10:43 left in the fourth.

The scores were sandwiched around Eberle’s second Air Force field goal, a 27-yarder, with 1:05 left in the third. The Winona, Minn., senior tacked on a pair of extra points to post a game-high eight points.

“He looks like Tiger Woods swinging that leg,” DeBerry joked. “He’s so fluid and made such great contact with the ball. He came through in a big way for us.”

The Falcons kicking game, a source of concern in the pre-season, got off on the right foot, overall, in the Pacific Northwest.

“As many big plays as there were, the biggest was the sky-high kickoff by (Ryan) O’Dea,” DeBerry said of the ensuing kick after Air Force took its only lead. “You couldn’t have walked down there and dropped it out of the air any better than he did. They had trouble handling it and we got great field position (on Washington’s 10 yard line).”

Kirkwood’s momentum-swinging touchdown catch was one of his game-high six receptions for 134 yards, which more than made up for the kickoff he bobbled out of bounds at the 1-yard line four plays earlier.

“I told the guys in the huddle we’re on the 1-yard line so we’ve got to make plays to get out of the hole we’re in,” Fitch said. “We got the first down then hit the bomb to Woody to get us back in the game.”

“It was a perfect ball,” Kirkwood said. “He put it where only I could get to it in stride. One of the defensive backs couldn’t wrap me up and I got away.”

So did the Falcons.