LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Air Force's defense turned back UNLV's final drive of the night, which allowed the Falcons (3-4/1-3) to hold off the Rebels (2-5/0-3) in a wild 41-35 Homecoming final Friday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
UNLV dropped its fourth straight despite building an eight-point lead in the second quarter and carrying a 21-20 advantage into the halftime. Air Force quarterback Isaiah Sanders was nearly unstoppable, running for 173 yards and three touchdowns and completing his first eight pass attempts en route to a 217-yard night through the air.
The Rebels trailed by 20 points with 5:45 left in the third quarter but then scored two touchdowns to pull to within six. After forcing a punt for the first and only time, UNLV got the ball back and drove to the Air Force 30-yard line before Max Gilliam's pass attempt to Darren Woods Jr. was batted down on fourth down to end the threat.
Woods earlier caught two touchdowns while Brandon Presley grabbed one score. Senior tailback Lexington Thomas finished with 108 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Senior safety Dalton Baker turned in a game-high 18 tackles while junior safety Javin White forced his fourth fumble of the season.
STAT OF THE GAME:
Air Force scored on its first seven possessions in the game and punted only once.
REBEL OF THE GAME:
Quarterback Max Gilliam set career highs with 26 completions on 38 attempts for 261 yards. He also tossed three touchdowns for the second consecutive week.
QUOTABLE:
"Disappointing loss. We really came out and struggled on defense and put ourselves behind the eight ball … What I told the guys in the locker room is there's no doubt they fought their tails off for four quarters and got themselves back in the game and gave themselves a chance to win the game at the end, but the bottom line is the execution wasn't there."
-UNLV Head Coach Tony Sanchez
REBEL NOTES:
-UNLV fell to 8-6-1 on Fridays and 18-16-1 overall on non-Saturday games.
-Air Force improved to 16-6 in the all-time series, including three straight.
-UNLV dropped to 25-26 all-time in Homecoming games.
-The winning team in this high-flying series has averaged 38 points and never scored less than 24.
-Lexington Thomas' two touchdowns vs. AFA gave him 36 for his career, which moved him past Tim Cornett (2011-14) all alone in second in UNLV history. Thomas is just one away from tying Mike Thomas' school record set more than four decades ago.
-Thomas reached the 100-yard rushing mark for the fourth time this season and the 16th time in his career. That moved him into a tie for second in UNLV history with Cornett, who had 16 such games from 2011-14.
NEXT FOR THE REBELS:
UNLV will head to San Jose State on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3:30 pm PT on AT&T SportsNet.
