U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY – When trying to establish a winning formula for a football game, giving Air Academy running back Sam Beers a short field after throwing an interception probably isn’t the most ideal avenue.
But on its first offensive play of the game, Cheyenne Mountain quarterback Bruce Archambault’s pass was picked off by Kyle Demos, giving Air Academy the ball in the red zone. But in a bit of foreshadowing, the Red-Tailed Hawks limited the damaged and forced the first of four turnovers of the game; a fumble by Beers.
They took advantage of the turnovers to roll to a 48-15 win over the Kadets.
“It’s never the game plan for a team to give the ball to Sam Beers (with a short field),” Hawks coach Jay Saravis said. “He’s such a good football player and you can’t give him a short field. You just can’t.”
Thankfully for Savaris, he had his own running game to lean on and keep Beers isolated on the sideline. Nico Gagliardi got the Hawks (4-1 overall) on the board, amassing 67 rushing yards on their first scoring drive, ending it with a one-yard run.
Gagliardi was dominant on the ground, running for 212 yards and finding the end zone four times.
“My offensive line was the reason I was able to do that on our first drive,” Gagliardi said. “We wanted to come out and play our butts off from play one.”
But they still had to deal with Beers. The Kadets (3-2) got on the board when Malachi Ray chased down Archambault in the end zone for a safety. The ensuing drive, Beers broke off for a 55-yard touchdown.
They cut into the lead more on a Braden Dougherty touchdown pass to Demos, pulling Air Academy within six. But the Hawks maintained their offensive rhythm heading into halftime. An efficient drive ended with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Archambault to Jesse Boley.
The passing game was made all the more effective because of the running game that had been established. The Hawks utilized play action and got Archambault to bootleg out of the pocket to find his receivers.
“The linebackers played out about three yards and really bit on the fake,” Archambault said. “Once they bit on the fake all I had to do was roll out and I trusted our guys in space and got them the ball.”
With the win on Friday, the Hawks have matched their win total from two years ago, the last 10-game season they played.
The program has been on the upswing for the last few seasons and the 4-1 start to the year is building a foundation to what the current players want the program to be both now and in the future.
“It starts with the younger guys,” Gagliardi said. “We have to make sure that we as older brothers look out for them and make sure that they’re living up to their responsibilities so they can replace us and build a legacy.”