SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 23, 2012
Nevada-Las Vegas 38, Air Force 35: Bradley Randle rushed for 66 yards and scored three touchdowns as host Nevada-Las Vegas snapped an eight-game losing streak by downing Air Force in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.
The win was the first for the Rebels (1-3, 1-0) since a 38-35 victory over Colorado State on Oct. 29, 2011, and it also snapped a five-game losing streak to the Falcons (1-2, 0-1).
Randle, the son of former major-league infielder Lenny Randle, had scored just four touchdowns in his career entering the game. But the 5-foot-7 junior had a pair of one-yard touchdown runs to go with a 9-yard score that gave UNLV its first lead of the game at 31-28 late in the third quarter.
The Rebels, who overcame 352 yards rushing by the Falcons, extended the lead to 38-28 on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Nick Sherry to fullback Williams Vea with 6:56 to go. Air Force got to within 38-35 on a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Connor Dietz with 4:41 remaining but couldn’t get past midfield on its final possession in its quest for a possible game-tying field goal attempt.
Cody Getz finished with 113 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for Air Force while Tim Cornett had 114 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries for UNLV.