Adams State snaps 38-game winless streak

At around 7:10 p.m. on a frigid Saturday in Alamosa, a young Adams State student made an important phone call home.

“Mom, guess what? We won a game,” he dutifully relayed.

The Grizzlies snapped a 38-game winless streak with a heart-pounding 29-28 overtime win over Fort Lewis College that was sealed only after a 2-point conversation to end the game and give Adams State its first victory since Sept. 30, 2023. It was cause for the campus to erupt into bedlam at Rex Field.

Andre Branch is airborne in this second half run. Branch rushed for 116 yards and scored a touchdown in overtime. Credit: Dennis Schoenfelder Just as you see on TV, students lined the field in anticipation of victory. When Frank Acuri, the Grizzlies quarterback, punched it across the goal line to end the game and streak, players piled onto each other and shirtless students rushed onto the field to join the celebration.

“I’m just overwhelmed right now. Our kids fought. That is the true nature of it right now,” said a relieved, elated and exhausted Levi Gallas, who earned his first victory in 22 tries as head coach of the Grizzlies.

“That’s what you learn about this game is, you never know how it’s going to happen. You just gotta keep showing up and you gotta keep working and that’s what we did at the end.”

Adams State Head Coach Levi Gallas addresses the team following a 29-28 overtime victory over Fort Lewis. The win was Gallas’ first as head coach of the Grizzlies. Credit: Chris Lopez No hesitation about the decision to go for a two-point conversion to win the game in overtime, Gallas said. And Adams State had two tries at it after Acuri’s first attempt at two points was an incomplete pass only to have Fort Lewis flagged for holding, which gave new life and more shot at two points to end the game.

Adams State held an 8-point lead in the closing minutes of regulation, 21-13. But Fort Lewis drove 80 yards in under two minutes to score a touchdown with one second remaining and then tie the game with a two-point conversion, 21-21.

In overtime, Fort Lewis had the first opportunity to score, which it did on a 5-play drive to lead 28-21. The Grizzlies responded with their own 4-play drive that culminated with an Andre Branch 5-yard run and Gallas’ decision to go for two to end the winless streak.

“I had my senior captain come over to me and he said, ‘Coach, you need to go for two’ and that’s kind of what I felt and what I sensed.”

“I love you,” his offensive coordinator told him as they embraced.

“Dad, we won,” his daughter said.

Rex Field has never been this way. Watching an all-time losing streak come to an end is something to see.

Adams State snaps 38-game winless streak

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