DURANGO – Playing in front of a national audience for the first time since the 2011 season, the No. 15 Colorado School of Mines football team put on an offensive display en route to a 56-14 victory over Fort Lewis on Thursday evening at Ray Dennison Memorial Field in Durango.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Mines (7-0, 5-0 RMAC) remained undefeated in the victory, and the squad's 7-0 start mark's the best start for the program since the 2004 team finished the regular season 11-0 on the way to a 12-1 record. FLC fell to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the RMAC in the loss.
The Orediggers marched 75 yards on 14 plays over the first four minutes of the contest in a statement drive that featured a converted a 4th-and-1 on its own 47 yard line on a spectacular catch by senior Diamond Gillis, before finishing with a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore Justin Dvorak for a 7-0 lead following Avery Llewellyn's extra point. Gillis' catch (VIDEO) was the No. 4 play on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 on Thursday.
After a short FLC drive and ensuing punt set Mines up at its own 13 yard line, the Orediggers moved down the field once again to go up 14-0 on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Dvorak to Gillis. Mines used nine plays to cover 87 yards in 3:16 on the drive, including a 4th-and-2 on its own 41 yard line on a 53-yard reception by Cole Spurgeon.
A 1-yard touchdown pass from Dvorak to Jimmy Ellis capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive on Mines' next possession gave the visitors a 21-0 lead with 13:35 to play in the second quarter.
The Skyhawks got on the board on their next drive with a 71-yard touchdown from Jordan Doyle to Juquell Thompson to cut Mines' lead to 21-7 with 12:05 to play before the break.
Dvorak added his third touchdown of the half on Mines' next possession with an 8-yard toss to Devin Reaves, pushing Mines' lead to 28-7 with 9:10 left in the half.
FLC answered once again with Doyle and Thompson, this time on a 17-yard scoring toss that moved the score to 28-14. After an Oredigger punt by Llewellyn set FLC up on its own 20 yard line, the Skyhawks got to the Oredigger 15 yard line before senior co-captain Kole Kadavy tipped and intercepted a Doyle pass and returned it to the 33-yard line to kill any FLC momentum (VIDEO).
The Orediggers took over with 58 seconds on the clock and marched down to the FLC 2 yard line with three seconds remaining, using its last timeout on a 25-yard pass from Dvorak to Gillis. Mines rolled the dice and went for the score, and a play-action fake to the running back left Spurgeon wide open for the touchdown – Dvorak's fourth through the air and fifth total - for a 35-14 lead at the break.
An injury late in the first half forced Dvorak from the game after halftime. The Tomball, Texas, product finished his night 24-of-33 for 308 yards and four touchdowns passing and 53 yards and a touchdown on six carries in two quarters of work.
Senior Matt Brown led Mines on two scoring drives in the second half. Mines added a 3-yard touchdown run by Reaves in the third quarter and hit Spurgeon for a 20-yard touchdown with 10:58 to play in the fourth quarter. He finished 9-of-11 for 120 yards and a touchdown and added 37 yards on four carries in the second half.
Freshman Steven Yoshihara finished 1-for-4 with his lone completion being a 44-yard touchdown to Drew Kerstetter with five minutes to play to close the game's scoring at 56-14.
The Orediggers churned out 92 plays for 662 yards – good for 7.2 yards per clip. Mines finished 34-of-48 through the air for 472 yards with six total touchdowns on Thursday.
Senior Tevin Champagne carried 19 times for 42 yards and Ryan Call added 24 yards on six carries as part of Mines' 190-yard, two-score rushing attack.
Ellis led the pass catchers with nine receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown. Gillis caught six balls for a team-high 96 yards and Spurgeon continued his hot play of late with 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns on six catches.
Nate Wiemers added 49 yards on four receptions and Champagne chipped in 34 yards on three catches as well. In total, 11 different Orediggers recorded receptions in the win.
Kadavy, the two-time reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, once again starred for the Oredigger defense that limited the Skyhawks to 14 points with seven tackles (five solo), 0.5 sack and an interception.
Billy Sprague posted a game-high 10 tackles (five solo) and a team-best 2.0 tackles for loss. Chris Pinson added nine stops (six solo) and 0.5 sack and Emmanuel Graves added six solo tackles, including an 11-yard sack to lead the defense.
Tommy Hoskins, Drew Stephon, Ian McFadden and Shawn Kobylinski notched four stops apiece as well, with Hoskins adding a tackle for loss.
Llewellyn, a Durango native, finished 8-for-8 on extra points and also averaged 47.3 yards per punt on three kicks, including a long of 57 yards.
Mines will host No. 14 CSU-Pueblo (5-1, 3-1 RMAC) on Saturday, October 25, at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada. The game will be regionally televised by the Altitude Sports Network. For Altitude Sports Network availability in your area, visit the company's zip code search page at www.altitude.tv/zipcodesearch.
Scoring Summary
Qtr Time Scoring Play | Score
1st 10:56 CSM - Justin Dvorak 1 yd run (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 7-0
05:25 CSM - Diamond Gillis 6 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 14-0
2nd 13:35 CSM - Jimmy Ellis 1 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 21-0
12:05 FLC - J. Thompson 71 yd pass from Jordan Doyle (Kipp Castanha kick) Mines, 21-7
09:10 CSM - Devin Reaves 8 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 28-7
05:30 FLC - J. Thompson 17 yd pass from Jordan Doyle (Kipp Castanha kick) | Mines, 28-14
00:00 CSM - Cole Spurgeon 2 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 35-14
3rd 04:07 CSM - Devin Reaves 3 yd run (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 42-14
4th 10:58 CSM - Cole Spurgeon 20 yd pass from Matt Brown (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 49-14
05:47 CSM - Drew Kerstetter 44 yd pass from Steven Yoshihara (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 56-14
