#14/13 Colorado School of Mines (3-0/3-0 RMAC) vs. New Mexico Highlands (0-3/0-3 RMAC), Saturday, 12 p.m.
Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[Streaming: RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Mines Media Notes] 
 

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After winning their rivalry game over CSU-Pueblo on the road, unbeaten Mines returns home to face New Mexico Highlands as they continue RMAC play.

WATCH US
Saturday's game will stream live on the RMAC Network, which is also available on smart TV services like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire. Miles Dunklin, Justin Adams, and John Simmer will have the call on the RMAC Network. 

TICKETS AND PARKING
Digital tickets are available through Mines' new online ticketing portal. Parking in Lot K (north of the soccer stadium) is available for $10 - a reminder to all fans that Lot K does not open until 10 a.m. Free parking is available anywhere else on campus. Fans should be on the lookout for local neighborhood street closures in Golden on gameday; plan on utilizing 11th Street or Maple Street to reach Marv Kay Stadium. 

WEATHER REPORT
Saturday's forecast calls for a very nice day for football: morning clouds giving way to sunshine with a high of 76 and light winds.

CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2019
Mines has elected four captains for the 2019 season: senior linebackers Jimmy Bauer and James Kohlschmidt, senior running back Cameron Mayberry, and senior tackle Grant Stewart. Stewart is a returning captain from 2018.

MINES MOVES UP IN NATIONAL POLLS
The win over CSU-Pueblo moved Mines up in both major national polls; the Orediggers appear at #14 in the AFCA poll and #13 in the D2football.com top 25.

A BIG WIN DOWN SOUTH
Mines dominated every phase of the game as they rode a huge first half to upset #9/7 CSU-Pueblo, 34-14, on Saturday. It was the first time in a decade that Mines won in the Steel City as they snapped the Thunderwolves' 15-game home winning streak. Freshman quarterback John Matocha continued his emergence in his second start, completing 23-of-30 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns - all to Josh Johnston - while rushing for 95 yards and a score of his own. Cameron Mayberry became Mines' new all-time rushing touchdowns leader with the 49th of his career late in the first half as part of a 101-yard night. The Mines defense was spectacular led by Averie Mansfield (7 tackles) and Luke Jeter (6 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.5 sacks) as the Orediggers held the Pack to just 27 net rushing yards, their lowest total in 11 years. CSUP was limited to 13 first downs, 278 yards of total offense, and perhaps most critically, was only 4-of-11 on third downs.

MATOCHA COLLECTS WEEKLY AWARDS
For the second straight week, John Matocha took home RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, and he also added his first career NFFCC Player of the Week award as the state of Colorado's top player. 

MATOCHA LEADS THE WAY
John Matocha had an outstanding debut against Black Hills State in week 2, completing 20-of-22 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, along with 50 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He proved that performance was no fluke at CSU-Pueblo with a gritty 23-for-30, 201-yard, 3-touchdown passing night to go with 95 yards and a score rushing. With Mines running a balanced offense, Matocha's raw numbers haven't been as eye-popping as the pass-heavy offenses in past years, but his efficiency has been astounding: Matocha has completed 82.4% of his passes to rank second in NCAA Division II (the only freshman in the top 25), and his efficiency rating of 195.3 is fifth in D-II, more than 30 points higher than the next-best freshman, Austin Reed of West Florida. His ability on the ground has been especially impressive and he ranks fourth in the RMAC overall and first among quarterbacks in rushing (72.5 ypg).

LAST YEAR VS. NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Orediggers  fired on all cylinders as the offense racked up 629 yards of total offense and the defense held NMHU's offense to a single touchdown in a 43-14 road win last year. Isaac Harker threw for 360 yards and four touchdowns, two of them to Brody Oliver, and rushed for another score, while Cameron Mayberry ran for 135 yards and a score to lead Mines' offense. Harker produced a pair of 100-yard receivers in Oliver (135) and Riley Hoff (106), with Hoff and Sean O'Dell also catching touchdowns. The Mines defense held a Cowboy team that was averaging 44.3 points a game to just a single offensive touchdown, and also generated a third-quarter safety by Averie Mansfield and Logan Bock.

NOTING THE MINES-NMHU SERIES
The Mines-New Mexico Highlands series is knotted 26-26-2 dating to 1938, but the Orediggers have gone 16-3 since 2000 ... Mines has put up big numbers against NMHU the last few years, averaging 52.2 points per game over the last five years ... The Orediggers are 15-12-1 against NMHU at home ... Mines' current six-game win streak is the longest in the series' history for either side.

MAYBERRY MAKES HISTORY
With his touchdown at CSU-Pueblo last week, Cameron Mayberry grabbed the final career record he didn't already own: the Mines rushing touchdowns mark. Mayberry's 49 surpasses Greg Marshall's 48 set between 1989 and 1992. Mayberry already owned the records for carries (592) and yards (3,706), as well as single-game and single-season records in all three categories. Now, Mayberry eyes the chance to be Mines' first 4,000-yard career rusher as he stands 294 yards away. With 51 total career touchdowns scored (48 rushing, 2 receiving), Mayberry leads all college football players in all divisions for the most rushing and total touchdowns among active players:

NCAA Division II Active Career Rushers
Nate Gunn (Minnesota State)  -  3,896 yds
Cameron Mayberry (Mines)  -  3,708 yds
Stevie Green (Fayetteville St.)  -  3,568 yds
Nelson Brown (Cal [Pa.])  -  3,454 yds
Jaleel McLaughlin (Notre Dame [Ohio])  -  3,091 yds

NCAA All-Divisions Active Career Total Touchdowns
Cameron Mayberry (Mines)  -  51 TD (49 rush/2 rec.)
Walter Fletcher (Ball State)  -  50 TD (42 rush/7 rec./1 PR)
Brian Mann (Ferrum)  -  49 TD (48 rush/1 KR)
Justin Hill (Mount Union)  -  48 TD (44 rec./1 rush/3 PR)
Josh Parks (St. Thomas)  -  45 TD (43 rush/2 rec.)
Lance Moise (Concordia Chicago)   - 45 TD (43 rush/2 rec.)

NCAA All-Divisions Active Career Rushing Touchdowns
Cameron Mayberry (Mines)  -  49 TD
Brian Mann (Ferrum)  -  48 TD
Wesley Schools (Grove City)  -  44 TD
Josh Parks (St. Thomas)  -  43 TD
Lance Moise (Concordia Chicago)  -  43 TD

PRECIOUS CARGO
A big part of the success of Matocha and the Mines run game has been thanks to the offensive line, which despite several new faces in 2019 has been outstanding to start the season. Mines has allowed only three sacks in as many games - second-best in the RMAC - while helping the Orediggers rank atop the league in rushing (240.7 ypg) by a more than 50-yard margin. Mines had only two returning starters - left tackle Grant Stewart and center Cody Ullestad - held over from last year but has successfully mixed in redshirt freshman Matthew Leehan at right tackle, senior Cap McClure at right guard, and junior Zach Budzik at left guard.

STAY ON TARGET
Josh Johnston has quickly emerged as one of Matocha's favorite red-zone targets, and that's produced four touchdowns over the last two games for the redshirt sophomore. Johnston caught three - all in the first half - last week at CSU-Pueblo, and currently is tied for third among RMAC receivers in touchdowns. Meanwhile, Sean O'Dell has been the workhorse of the receivers group with an RMAC-best 8.7 receptions per game, which also ranks fifth in NCAA Division II. O'Dell is turning a healthy 68.7 yards per game, and his ability to produce out of the slot has been key for the offense as he's generated games of six, nine, and a career-high 11 receptions in the last three weeks. He had 103 yards on those 11 catches at CSUP.

IN CONTROL
Mines' balanced offense has given opposing defenses problems this year, but perhaps their biggest problem has been that the Orediggers have been outstanding at controlling the ball. Mines leads the RMAC in time of possession at 35:12 per game, and that was certainly on display in the third quarter at CSU-Pueblo when the Orediggers, holding a 28-7 lead, had the ball for a whopping 12:18 of the quarter on drives of 5:45, 4:26, and 2:06 (with the final drive extending another 56 seconds into the fourth quarter to produce a touchdown). 

NONE SHALL PASS
Mines enters Week 4 ranked #1 in NCAA Division II in rushing defense, allowing a paltry 8.0 yards per game. The Orediggers' front seven has absolutely dominated games, surrendering rushing totals of -24, 21, and 27 yards this year; their 27 yards against CSU-Pueblo was the Thunderwolves' lowest total in 11 years. Mines is also fifth in the nation in tackles for loss (10.7 per game), 8th in scoring defense (10.3 ppg), and ninth in third-down defense (22.7%). 

ON THE LINE
If you're looking for a breakout star on the defensive line this season, look no further than junior defensive end Luke Jeter. Jeter was a problem for the CSU-Pueblo offense last week as he produced six tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks; four of his six stops were either for a loss or no gain. He and nose tackle Scott Adams combined for 10 tackles overall in the game.

LIVING IN THE BACKFIELD
The Mines defense leads the RMAC in both tackles for loss (29.0) and sacks (12.0) this season. Mack Minnehan's 4.5 TFL leads the team while Averie Mansfield, Scott Adams, and Luke Jeter each have 3.0. Adams and Nolan Reeve each have a pair of sacks; 11 different Orediggers have put down a quarterback this year. 

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
The hard hat is a longtime symbol of Mines students (every freshman receives one when they embark on the M Climb) and engineers everywhere. This season, the Mines bench is featuring a Turnover Hard Hat, which is awarded to and signed by a player generating a takeaway. So far the hard hat has been worn by five different players:

Mack Minnehan, at Adams State, Interception
Logan Braden, at Adams State, Interception
Josh Odom, vs. Black Hills State, Forced fumble
Geoff Keating, vs. Black Hills State, Interception
Kobe Brewster, at CSU-Pueblo, Interception

BLOCK PARTY
Mines' special teams have come up big in each game this year - in week 1 at Adams State it was Austin Toussaint's punting, in week 2 against Black Hills State it was the leg of Scott Marshall. Last week at CSU-Pueblo, however, it was a pair of blocks that turned the momentum of the game in Mines' favor. In the second quarter, RJ Phillips blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt and recovered the ball, leading to a Mines touchdown and 21-7 lead on the ensuing drive; later in the half, it was Geoff Keating that blocked a punt deep in CSUP territory that James Kohlschmidt fell on to provide Mines with the chance to score at the stroke of halftime and lead 28-7.

NEXT UP
Mines heads across the Rockies for the annual Nyikos Cup clash with Colorado Mesa on Oct. 5.