GUNNISON, Colo --- The Western Colorado football team looks to move to 4-0 for the first time since 1980 when the Mountaineers host Fort Lewis 1 p.m. Saturday at Mountaineer Bowl.

THE MOUNTAINEERS HEADING INTO THE WEEK | 2021 SEASON STATS
Western Colorado moved to 3-0 on the season after defeating Adams State in Alamosa for the first time since 2000, 24-10. The Mountaineer defense shined, not giving up an offensive touchdown in the game while Josh Cummings paced the Western Colorado attack with a career-high 154 yards and two touchdowns.

On the season Cummings leads the RMAC in rushing with 318 yards (106 yards per game) while adding on four touchdowns and averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Connor Desch is fourth in the conference with 221.7 passing yards per game as he's completing 59.3 percent of his passes and has thrown seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Cole Riters and Damian Macias lead the team with 11 receptions apiece with Riters leading the team in receiving yards (188) and Macias and Cameron Colangelo each having a team-best two touchdown catches.

On defense, the Mountaineers are second in the RMAC in points per game allowed (11.3) and third in yards allowed per game (323). Linebackers Robert Garlock (21), Lane Farris (19) and Wyatt Buhr (15) lead the team in tackles with Farris owning a team-best 6.5 tackles for loss. Tim Mullin has 11 tackles and a team-high two forced fumbles.

FORT LEWIS HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | 2021 STATISTICS
The Skyhawks are 0-3 on the season after losing to No. 7 Colorado School of Mines 76-0 at home last week. Overall this season, FLC has been outscored 174-14 in its first three games of the season.

Jack Hanenberg is 19-for-61 passing for 237 yards, no touchdowns and five interceptions on the season. Brayden Lucero leads the team in rushing with 74 yards while Dylan Holt is the team's top receiver with five catches for 77 yards. On defense, Jayden Helms leads the team with 38 tackles while Fred Mady III has 34. Paine Smith Jr. has a team-high two sacks.
  SERIES HISTORY VS. FORT LEWIS
The Mountaineers are 43-16 all-time against Fort Lewis, having won two games in a row and three of the last four. Western colorado won the first 19 games in the matchup and are 7-4 against the Skyhawks since 2009.

RED ZONE WARRIORS
It's no secret that the Western Colorado defense has been stellar to start the season, and a big part is they aren't breaking when teams reach the red zone (inside Western's 20-yard line). The Mountaineers have allowed teams to get to the red zone seven times, allowing just one field goal and no touchdowns.

The offense has done its job when it gets to the red zone as well, scoring 10 of 11 times and scoring a touchdown seven out of 11 times.

'CUMMINGS NAMED THE RMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (SEPT. 13)
Western Colorado's Josh Cummings big day on the ground led to him in a win over Western New Mexico led him to being named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. The redshirt sophomore rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries - averaging 8.9 yards per carry. This includes a 47-yard touchdown run by Cummings in the first quarter to get the scoring going for the Mountaineers in the 49-14 win over the Mustangs in Silver City.

'NEERS OFF TO FIRST FOR FIRST 3-0 START SINCE 1980
Western Colorado is off to its first 230 since the 1980 team started the year 4-0 after defeating Adams State. A key reason for a lack of 2-0 starts for a program that has seen high success - particularly in the 1980s and 1990s? The Mountaineers often schedule a non-conference NCAA Division-I team or a challenging Division II team in its first two weeks of the season for one of its non-RMAC contests.

SEASON OPENERS
Western Colorado after its 2021-opening win is 33-63 all-time in season openers. Before this season, the last season-opening win for the Mountaineers came in 2014 against Wayland Baptist, 38-21, on the road. Of their 32 previous season opening wins, the Mountaineers have finished those seasons with a winning record 19 times (59.4 percent) and won the conference title 12 times (37.5 percent).

BAINS REACHES GAME NO. 100 FOR WESTERN AGAINST STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Western coach Jas Bains enters his 11th season as head coach of the Mountaineers and last season's lone contest against SFA marked his 100th game as head coach. He's just the third coach in Western history to reach the 100-game mark - joining Bill Noxon (133 from 1971-84) and Carl Iverson (127 from 1988-2000).

MOUNTAINEER ALUM EKELER CONTINUES TO SHINE IN NFL
Western Colorado alum Austin Ekeler started his fifth NFL season with the Los Angeles Chargers and continues to make a mark.

Ekeler, an undrafted free agent signee out of Western in 2017 who signed a four-year, $24.5 million extension prior to the 2020 season, this season has rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown while catching nine passes for another 61 yards this season.

The 26-year-old who came to Western out of Eaton High School in Colorado owns the Mountaineers' single-game (344), single-season (1,676 - also owns the No. 2 and No. 4 spots) and career (5,857) rushing yard records as well as the single-game (5), single-season (19) and career (55) rushing touchdown records. He also owns the single-season (126) and career (378) scoring records at Western.