GOLDEN, Colo. - Scott Marshall's 23-yard field goal with three seconds remaining capped a 14-point comeback as #7 Colorado School of Mines survived Sioux Falls 24-21 to advance in the NCAA Division II Football Championship.

The Orediggers (12-0) will now enter the second round and will host Texas A&M-Commerce - an upset winner over #2 Tarleton State - on Saturday, Nov. 30 at noon. It will be the first time in program history that Mines has hosted a second-round game. Ticket information will be announced Sunday.

Mines trailed 21-7 in the third quarter before John Matocha touchdown passes to Zach Peterson and Garrett Hyles tied it at 21, and Marshall's field goal won it in the closing seconds.

The Orediggers struggled to establish their run game as Michael Zeman was held to 78 yards and Matocha 71 with a touchdown, but both did just enough to complement Matocha's 265-yard, two-touchdown passing performance. Josh Johnston led all receivers with 113 yards on eight catches. Thuro Reisdorfer ran for 166 yards and a score to lead Sioux Falls, but Mines limited quarterback Caden Walters to just 125 yards on 9-of-16 passing.

Mines never led until Marshall's field goal as Sioux Falls took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The Cougars shocked Mines out of the gate as Reisdorfer capped a 75-yard drive with a three-yard score, and Ja'Tai Jenkins rolled for a 40-yard scoring run late in the quarter to make it 14-0. Mines finally put together some offense to start the second quarter, however, as Matocha engineered a 10-play drive with his five-yard touchdown scramble cutting the deficit in half.

Sioux Falls came up with a key defensive stop at the end of the first half to prevent Mines from tying the game on 4th and 1 at the USF 6, and the Cougars stopped Mines again twice to start the second half to put them in a position to extend the lead. On the second play of their second drive of the half, Reisdorfer broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run, and that suddenly put Mines down 21-7.

Things slowly turned around for Mines, however, as they put together an eight-play drive off some good starting field position late in the third quarter. Zeman put together a pair of first downs on the drive, including a 20-yard scamper to the Sioux Falls 6, and Matocha then floated a pass to Peterson for a five-yard touchdown and 21-14 score. A Jack Peterson/Nolan Reeve tackle for loss on 3rd-and-4 stopped Sioux Falls on their next series, and Mines then went the length of the field on an epic 13-play, 96-yard drive that ended with Matocha's eight-yard pass to Hyles to tie it up with 4:49 to go.

Sioux Falls went a quick 3-and-out on their next try, and Mines then masterfully worked their way from their own 17 while killing the clock to get in a position to win it. Zeman picked up a key 4th-and-1 at midfield, and a pass to Brandon Farmer and a USF holding flag made it 1st-and-goal with 11 seconds left. Mines took one play to set up the field goal, and that left it up to Marshall, who booted a snap by Chris Clore and hold by Austin Toussaint through the uprights for the win.

NOTABLES
- Mines moves on to the NCAA Second Round for the third time in program history (2004, 2016). The Orediggers have never hosted a Second Round game.
- Mines' matchup with Sioux Falls was the first in program history, as will be their second-round clash with Texas A&M-Commerce.
- It was Mines' first game-winning field goal in a decade, since Dalton Lane's 29-yard boot in overtime against Chadron State in 2009.
- Zeman improved to 1,370 yards this season, marking the third-most ever by an Oredigger as he surpassed Lloyd Madden's long-time standard of 1,316 yards from the 1939 season. Only Cameron Mayberry (1,615 and 1,563 yards) has rushed for more.
- Sioux Falls ran for 242 yards - the most by a Mines opponent this year - but was held to just 125 passing yards. 
- Mines did not commit a turnover against a team that was one of the best in NCAA Division II at +14.
- The Orediggers controlled 36:13 of clock against a Sioux Falls team averaging more than 33 minutes per game.
- Kobe Brewster had a team-high 10 tackles, while Cam Forrest both forced and recovered Mines' lone turnover, a fumble, in the first half. Sioux Falls' Brody Grantham led all players with 15 tackles.
- CSU-Pueblo advanced over Augustana to meet Minnesota State on the other side of the Super Region 4 bracket.