GOLDEN, Colo. - Four Colorado School of Mines interceptions - including
Nick Angieri's game-sealing pick late in the fourth quarter - lifted Mines over Black Hills State 41-33 in a heart-stopping season finale at Marv Kay Stadium.
Angieri,
Logan Braden,
Tyler Mahan, and
Drew Stephon each had interceptions, with Stephon's going back 31 yards for a key first-half touchdown. Mines' four picks tied the program single-game record.
Mines ends the season 5-0 at home. It was a game where Mines (7-4) could never quite shake off the Yellow Jackets (4-6) as BHSU outgained Mines by nearly 200 yards (577 to 402). The Oredigger defense kept them in it, though, led by
James Kohlschmidt's 14 tackles and eight or more stops each by
Miguel Rosendo,
Logan Braden,
Averie Mansfield, and
K.C. Quarry.
Cody Limmer started the game for Mines and was 12-of-21 for 214 yards and three touchdowns, with
Ben Bottlinger playing the final quarter and completing one pass for 40 yards and rushing for a 12-yard touchdown. BHSU's Ryan Hommel threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns, completing 26 of 44 attempts, but also had all four Yellow Jacket picks.Â
BHSU got on the board first with a 17-play, 75-yard drive capped by Phydell Paris' one-yard dive to lead 6-0 after a missed PAT. Mines took the lead on Limmer's 16-yard floater to
Brody Oliver late in the first quarter, and Stephon's pick-six on the next drive made it 14-6 early in the second. BHSU responded with a 42-yard bomb from Hommel to Erick Hairston-Belcher to cut the lead to 14-13, but Mines had one more score in them before the half, taking the ball back after the Yellow Jackets' Jacob Parks missed a 51-yard field goal and going 66 yards in only 52 seconds to score on Limmer's second touchdown pass to Oliver and carry a 21-13 lead into the half.
Mines' quick-strike capability showed up again to start the third quarter as Limmer hit
David Sommers on the second play of the half, and Sommers shook a tackle to roll 74 yards to the house and put Mines ahead 28-13. BHSU answered with a 27-yard Payton Gilmore touchdown run, but their two-point conversion was intercepted by Braden to keep it a two-score game at 28-19. After a Mines punt, BHSU worked an 11-play, 71-yard drive to score on Hommel's one-yard keeper and cut the lead to 28-26 late in the third.
The fourth opened with Mines getting a vintage
Cameron Mayberry run as the sophomore broke multiple tackles on a 44-yard journey to the end zone, but the Yellow Jackets came right back and scored on Hommel's second touchdown to Hairston-Belcher, a nine-yard strike, with 8:23 remaining to make it 35-33 Mines.
Mines punted their next possession by Mahan came up with a crucial interception, and three plays later Bottlinger ran 13 yards into the end zone on a play fake to lead 41-33; a missed PAT gave BHSU a glimmer of hope, however, and they drove deep into Mines territory before Angieri's interception with 1:03 remaining stopped them at the Mines nine-yard line.
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