Air Force Caps Season With 31-21 Win Over Washington State at Cheez-It Bowl

Post Game Interviews

Air Force football capped a stellar 2019 season with a 31-21 win over Washington State at the Cheez-It Bowl Friday night at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.

The win capped an 11-2 season for the Falcons, who end the season having won eight in a row. Both the 11 wins and eight game win streak are third best in program history.

Tailback Kadin Remsberg ran for an Air Force bowl-record 178 yards on 26 carries and a pair of fourth-down stops helped lead to head coach Troy Calhoun's winningest season in his 13 seasons at the Academy.

The Falcons racked up 371 yards rushing on the ground, which helped chew up over 43 minutes in time of possession. The Falcons had two players go over 100 yards rushing, with fullback Taven Birdow adding 108 yards on 20 carries.

The Falcons started the game by stopping Washington State on downs at its own two-yard line. Air Force then went 98 yards on 20 plays, capped by a one-yard run by quarterback Donald Hammond III for the first score of the game. The 20-play drive, which took 12:23 and went into the second quarter, is tied for the longest drive of the season in FBS play.

Washington State (6-7) then tied the game with a TD in on the ensuing drive, as quarterback Anthony Gordon found receiver Dezmon Patton in the back of the end zone from two yards out.

Jake Koehnke then finished off a 15-play Air Force drive with a 28-yard field goal to put the Falcons back up 10-7 with 3:39 to go in the second quarter. Koehnke finished the season a perfect 13 of 13 on field goals, becoming just the second kicker in program history to have a perfect season on field goal attempts.

The Falcons then took advantage of a WAZZU fumble and scored on its next possession, this time on a three-yard run by Birdow to go up 17-7.

The Cougars kept it close, however, by scoring a touchdown right before halftime to pull to within three at 17-14.

Air Force opened the second half with a 13-play touchdown drive to get some breathing room again, capped by a seven yard run by Hammond to go up 24-14.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Falcons withstood another fourth and goal play by Washington State, stuffing the fourth down rush attempt from the five with 14:10 to play.

Washington State did not go away, however, forcing a punt and again pulling to within a field goal after a 13 yard touchdown pass by Gordon to Brandon Arconado, which made it a 24-21 Air Force lead with 9:59 to play.

The Falcons then put the game away with 10-play, 60-yard drive, capped by a three yard touchdown run by Remsberg with 3:50 play. Remsberg dove for the left pylon and got the ball across arcoss the goal line while taking a hard hit. Remsberg surpassed 1,000 yards rushing on the season with 1,050 yards, the 16th most in a season at Air Force.

Offensively, the Falcons out-gained the Cougars 401-366 for the game.

Gordon threw for 351 yards on 28 of 42 passing and three touchdowns for Washington State. Arconado had 11 catches for 167 yards.

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