Air Force lifted its arms in celebration with a little more gusto. The volume of the locker room celebration was a little more piercing.

Victory is always sweet, but when it follows this kind of frustrating delay and comes in such a wholistic team manner, it creates the kind of jovial environment that engulfed Falcon Stadium in the late afternoon Saturday following a 24-21 victory over Wyoming.

“Oh my gosh,” senior defensive lineman Payton Zdroik said after snapping a five-game losing streak, the past two of which came by three points apiece. “That feels so good.”

The Falcons intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter behind a secondary that started three freshmen, the offense leaned on a vintage, 330-yard performance from the running game and senior Reagan Tubbs entered the lineup at kicker and converted all three field goal attempts and his lone PAT try.

“Obviously it’s huge for the whole team,” said Tubbs, who made kicks from 32, 29 and 40 yards. “But for me, personally, to get my chance, finally, after three and a half years, it feels really good.”

The season had been filled with shootout losses, as the offense had been the best in the Mountain West and the defense the worst. This one started like it might bring more of the same. Air Force (2-5, 1-4 Mountain West) opened with a field goal after a drive that covered 16 plays and more than 9 minutes. Wyoming (3-4, 1-2) answered with a nine-play, 74-yard drive that finished with the first of Terron Kellman’s two 23-yard touchdown runs.

But unlike the previous five games, Air Force’s defense started making plays and producing stops.

Wyoming’s final three possessions of the first half were scoreless, and after a touchdown to open the third quarter the Cowboys were held off the scoreboard until the deficit had reached double digits inside the final two minutes.

The pivotal play came when Wyoming had third and goal from the 3 with the score tied 14-14 midway through the fourth quarter. Tight end Evan Svoboda checked in as a wildcat quarterback. He took a direct snap and looked like he might run but instead pulled up for a jump pass. Sophomore safety Roger Jones Jr. read the play and intercepted the pass in the end zone.

Air Force responded with an 80-yard drive that ended with a Kade Frew touchdown run.

On Wyoming’s next possession freshman safety Max Mustell stepped in front of a pass from quarterback Kaden Anderson, who was hurried by Jackson Adams, and the Falcons took over on Wyoming’s 29-yard line.

The turnover led to Tubbs’ third field goal that put the Falcons up 24-14 with 3:04 remaining.

Air Force had forced just one turnover in the past 14 quarters before creating the pair in the fourth quarter.

“They showed what they were capable of, Max and Rog,” Zdroik said. “They played so great. It was awesome to get those turnovers. They were game-changing plays. I’m just so happy that they’re playing like the guys they know they are.”

Air Force averaged 5.9 yards on 59 carries, allowing it to largely keep it on the ground after weeks of passing production that was out of the ordinary for the system.

Sophomore quarterback Liam Szarka ran 26 times for 141 yards and a touchdown. It was his fifth consecutive 100-yard game, breaking a record for Air Force quarterbacks.

Szarka went 3-of-8 passing for 33 yards and hit Frew for a 2-point conversion with 6:39 remaining in the third quarter that tied the game.

Allen added 105 rushing yards, giving him 297 over the past two games.

“We knew that Wyoming was going to be a tough opponent, and we knew that this was going to be a really gritty game,” said Frew, who ran for 49 yards on a career-high 13 attempts. “To go out there, kind of run the ball down after down and make some big plays here and there, it was definitely good to get back to the fundamentals, so to speak.”

Air Force, which saw freshman cornerback RJ Reedus and safety Alexander Perez make their first starts, now goes into an off week before hosting Army on Nov. 1.

Last year the Falcons lost seven in a row. Once they finally broke through they didn’t lose again over the final four games.

“I think we’re going to take the same approach that we did last year,” Zdroik said, “where once we get this train rolling we’re going to ride this momentum and take it out the rest of the year.”