GUNNISON – The No. 19 Colorado School of Mines football used 200-plus passing and rushing yards to overcome a 14-0 deficit after the first quarter to post a 35-26 victory over Western State Colorado on Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Bowl in Gunnison.
Mines (9-1, 7-1 RMAC) recorded 211 rushing yards and 233 passing yards in the contest for 444 total yards on 79 offensive plays. The Orediggers owned the time of possession battle with nearly 34 minutes of offense while also converting 10-of-16 third-down tries.
Western State (4-6, 3-4 RMAC) used a pair of touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before Mines got on the board with a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Tevin Champagne just seconds into the second stanza to cut the hosts' lead to 14-7.
A 35-yard field goal by Ryan Winke put WSCU up 17-7 with 7:19 to play in the first half, but Mines answered with a 10-yard pass from Justin Dvorak to Cole Spurgeon with 3:32 to play in the first half to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 17-14.
WSCU would close the first-half scoring with a 30-yard field goal by Winke to go up 20-14 as the squads headed into the break.
Mines would take its first lead of the contest on its first drive following halftime on a 16-yard touchdown from Dvorak to Spurgeon for a second time to go up 21-20 with 10:48 to play in the third quarter.
Mines added another touchdown to go up 28-20 on a 2-yard touchdown from Dvorak to senior Alex Waner with 6:04 to play in the third.
Austin Ekeler cut Mines' lead to 28-26 with 3:47 to play in the third on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Brett Arrivey. The 2-point conversion would fail, leaving Mines up two points.
Mines added another touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Dvorak to Champagne with 14:21 to play in the game to go up 35-26.
Neither team would be able to score the rest of the way, preserving Mines' ninth victory of the season.
Despite opening the game by completing 1-of-3 passes with an interception, Dvorak closed the contest by completing 22 of his final 23 passes on the way to a 23-of-26 passing line for 233 yards and four touchdowns.
He went over the 3,500-yard plateau in the win and now has 30 passing touchdowns and just six interceptions on the season.
Champagne set a new career high for rushing yards for the second-straight week with 33 carries for 181 yards and a touchdown. The Houston, Texas, product averaged 5.5 yards per carry after rushing for a then- career-high 142 yards in last week's victory over Colorado Mesa.
He needs just 51 yards throughout the remainder of the season to go over the 1,000-yard plateau for rushing yards. He added three receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown through the air in Saturday's win for a total of 215 all-purpose yards in the contest.
Spurgeon led the receiving corps with five catches for 65 yards and a pair of scores – good for his team-leading sixth and seventh receiving touchdowns on the season.
Waner added 23 yards on five receptions with a touchdown as well.
Senior Kole Kadavy led the defensive efforts for Mines with 11 tackles (nine solo) in addition to 2.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sack. The Greeley product leads the team with 122 tackles on the season and now sits just two tackles shy of tying the program's single-season record of 124 set by Daniel Leger in 2004.
Junior Billy Sprague tied with Kadavy for the squad lead with 11 stops (six solo) in addition to 1.0 sack, 1.0 tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.
Junior Andrew Renfrew added seven stops (six solo) and 1.0 tackle for loss, while fellow junior Dallas Fields and senior Chris Pinson notched six stops apiece, with Pinson adding a fumble recovery and a pair of pass breakups.
Ranked fourth in the NCAA Super Region rankings, Mines can all but asure itself of a spot in the NCAA Division II Playoffs with a win next weekend against Adams State (4-6, 3-5 RMAC) at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada at 11 a.m. ASU defeated Fort Lewis 34-30 on Saturday in Alamosa.
Scoring Summary
Qtr Time Scoring Play | Score
1st 05:20 WESTERN - Travis Haney 16 yd pass from Brett Arrivey (Ryan Winke kick) | WSCU, 7-0
02:26 WESTERN - Isaac Fuqua 2 yd run (Ryan Winke kick) | WSCU, 14-0
2nd 14:56 CSM - Tevin Champagne 3 yd run (Avery Llewellyn kick) | WSCU, 14-7
07:19 WESTERN - Ryan Winke 35 yd field goal | WSCU, 17-7
03:32 CSM - Cole Spurgeon 10 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | WSCU, 17-14
00:00 WESTERN - Ryan Winke 30 yd field goal | WSCU, 20-14
3rd 10:48 CSM - Cole Spurgeon 16 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 21-20
06:04 CSM - Alex Waner 2 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 28-20
03:47 WESTERN - Austin Ekeler 18 yd pass from Brett Arrivey (Brett Arrivey pass failed) | Mines, 28-26
4th 14:21 CSM - Tevin Champagne 10 yd pass from Justin Dvorak (Avery Llewellyn kick) | Mines, 35-26
