After last week’s miraculous victory on the road in Boise, Idaho, the Aztecs kept the momentum rolling as they welcomed the Air Force Falcons to Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday. In a battle between two first place teams in the Mountain West Conference, San Diego State looked to get its offense clicking early against this extremely versatile Falcon offense. After a shaky start, the Aztecs pulled it together and snatched a 28-9 victory.
After a couple of three-and-outs for the SDSU offense, Air Force seemed to maintain the momentum early. With the help of their triple option attack, the Falcons marched down the field on their first drive and scored the first points of the game: a short field goal to give them an early 3-0 lead.
This early lead did not hold for long, as junior defensive back Marcus Andrews snagged his first interception of the year for the Aztec defense. The SDSU offense flipped this turnover into seven points, as sophomore running back Adam Muema ran the ball 20 yards into the end zone, to make it 7-3 Aztecs.
The SDSU offense began to gel smoothly at the beginning of the second quarter. Sophomore quar- terback Adam Dingwell found his rhythm while running backs Muema and senior Walter Kazee led the charge down the field for yet another score. From 15 yards out, Muema pranced into the end zone again, to give the Aztecs a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Aztec defense remained resilient against this high-powered Falcon offense, and carried a 14- 3 lead into the half.
“We’ve built a lot of confidence throughout the season and after the Boise State win, the defense has just been, ‘sky’s the limit,’” junior defensive back Nat Ber- he said. “Not too long ago we couldn’t stop the offense and the offense was scoring for us, and this game we stopped their of- fense. But it’s a team game. We just keep getting better.”
To begin the second half, Air Force senior quarterback Connor Dietz lost the handle on the football and turned it over again. SDSU sophomore defensive lineman Everett Beed recovered and returned the ball 52 yards for another Aztec score. SDSU led 21-3 early in the third quarter.
For the Falcons, the ensuing possession resulted in the same outcome as Dietz fumbled in the pocket again, this time recovered by sophomore defensive line- man Sam Meredith. The offense immediately delivered again as Dingwell found junior fullback Chad Young for a 2-yard touchdown pass. The Aztecs extended the lead late in the third quarter to 28-3.
On the ensuing possession, Dingwell threw an interception, which the Falcon offense eventu- ally converted into a touchdown. The extra point attempt was missed and the Falcons cut the score to 28-9.
It was just another day at the office for SDSU running backs Kazee and Muema, as Kazee racked up more than 100 yards rushing and Muema pocketed two more rushing touchdowns.
“Our linemen did a great job blocking at the line of scrimmage and our tight ends did a great job blocking out there for us,” Kazee said. “It’s really on them that we were able to do this.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Berhe shined as he strung together a team-leading 12 tack- les and added an interception late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for SDSU.
After this 28-9 victory against Air Force, SDSU now inches one step closer to a potential first ever Mountain West Conference Championship. The Aztecs control their own destiny and are guaranteed at least a share of the title if they win their next game against struggling Wyoming. Next week, SDSU gets its bye week, followed by a trip to Wyoming to put an end to the regular season.
“I’ve played for the conference championship with teams three times now—or this will be the third time—and haven’t won one yet,” head coach Rocky Long said.
“And our whole existence of this football team is to win a Conference Championship. That’s what we build to, that’s what we train for and guess what: We get a chance.”
