The Far West : Dowis Scores 6 Touchdowns for Air Force

Wishbone quarterback Dee Dowis ran for six touchdowns, a Western Athletic Conference record, in only 13 carries to lead Air Force to a 52-36 victory over San Diego State Saturday in a WAC game at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

Dowis, a senior, had scoring runs of 55, 28, 12, 16, 60 and 17 yards. Several WAC players have scored five touchdowns in a games.

Dowis finished with 249 rushing yards, breaking his own school record of 241 against Utah in 1987.

Dowis got three of his touchdowns as the Falcons scored on four straight possessions in the first half. Repeatedly faking defenders and outrunning others once he broke into the secondary, Dowis added a fourth score late in the half as the Falcons built a 35-16 halftime lead.

Less than two minutes into the second half, he scored again, on a 60-yard run. His 17-yard burst off the left side early in the final quarter put the Falcons ahead 52-22, and he sat out the last 12 minutes.

Ron Slack had touchdown runs of 68 and 35 yards for San Diego State, while 6-foot-8 quarterback Dan McGwire, the brother of Oakland A’s first baseman Mark McGwire, threw a pair of scoring passes.

BYU 24, New Mexico 3--Cornerback Brian Mitchell’s 97-yard interception return on the final play of the third quarter broke open a close game as the 19th-ranked Cougars defeated the Lobos in a WAC game at Albuquerque.

BYU led, 7-3, when Mitchell intercepted a pass thrown by split end Terrance Mathis on the final play of the quarter and raced for the touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Cougar defense held New Mexico to seven yards total offense in the second half, and a 15-yard run by Fred Wittingham and a 22-yard field goal by Jason Chaffetz accounted for the final margin.

Sophomore Ty Detmer completed 18 of 29 passes for 317 yards for BYU. Tight end Chris Smith caught five passes for 114 yards.

Detmer scored BYU’s first touchdown on a four-yard bootleg to open the second half and give the Cougars a 7-3 lead.

BYU struggled throughout the first half but took command in the third quarter as the defense sacked New Mexico’s Jeremy Leach three times.

New Mexico’s Mathis, a third-team All-American receiver in 1987 who was academically ineligible last year, caught eight passes for 108 yards in the first half but was shut down the rest of the game.

Fresno State 52, Utah 22--Mark Barsotti ran for four touchdowns and passed for two others to lead the Bulldogs over the Utes at Fresno. Barsotti had 77 yards rushing and 194 passing.

Fresno, which finished with 633 yards of total offense, also had 100-yard rushing efforts from running backs Aaron Craver and Myron Jones. Craver gained 124 yards, and Jones finished with 111 yards.

Utah quarterback Scott Mitchell, the nation’s leading passer last season, threw two touchdown passes, including a shovel pass to Clifton Smith that went 55 yards. Mitchell threw for 325 yards but completed just 17 of 48 passes.

Louisville 28, Wyoming 21--David Moyler, running down the right sideline, caught a pass from Browning Nagle and scored on a 34-yard play with just over four minutes remaining to give the Cardinals a victory over the Cowboys at Laramie, Wyo.

Consecutive holding penalties against Louisville left the Cardinals facing a second-and-33 situation when they scored the winning touchdown.

Wyoming, which beat Louisville, 44-9, a year ago, hadn’t lost a home game since early in the 1987 season, when it was beaten by Oklahoma State.