Falcons start with shutout

AIR FORCE ACADEMY» Quarterback Arion Worthman accounted for three touchdowns in a half’s worth of work and Air Force’s revamped defense allowed only six first downs, helping the Falcons cruise to a 62-0 win over VMI on Saturday.

Worthman ran for a short score and connected twice with receiver Geraud Sanders, including a 57-yard TD where Sanders was all alone. Worthman got the second half off as the Falcons worked in the backups.

“Glad we were able to give them a good show today,” Worthman said.

Air Force improved to 11-0 in season openers under coach Troy Calhoun, winning by an average of 37.5 points.

There was a scary moment early in the second quarter when VMI quarterback Austin Coulling took a big hit while going into a slide. He was strapped to a back brace and carted off the field. Keydets coach Scott Wachenheim said he was optimistic Coulling would be able to fly home with the team or in the morning.

“They’re still doing tests,” he said. “It was a good clean hit, I guess, and Austin hopefully will heal real fast and be ready to help us out the rest of the season.”

The Keydets, located in Lexington, Va., were making their farthest trip west in school history to play a football game. Before this, their outermost excursion west was to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M in 1950.

Air Force figured to be a work in progress on defense after losing 11 of its top 12 tacklers from a season ago. But the Falcons held the Keydets to 95 total yards.

“We lost a lot of players and everyone is like, ‘Oh, the defense is going to fall off,’ ” defensive lineman Jordan Jackson said. “We came out today and I believe we played very well.”

The offense scored TDS on five of seven possessions in the first half.