GOLDEN, Colo. - Colorado School of Mines and Western Colorado had met 95 times prior to Saturday. Safe to say, none of those games had the drama of the 96th edition.

In a battle of undefeated teams, John Matocha's overtime touchdown run sealed a 20-14 win for #5 Mines in front of a standing-room-only Homecoming crowd at Marv Kay Stadium. The Orediggers (5-0, 3-0 RMAC) gained two crucial goal line turnovers, the first a fumble forced by Mack Minnehan and recovered by Jaden Williams late in regulation to keep the game tied, and then Williams' interception in the first OT to set Mines up for the walkoff score by Matocha.

Matocha ended up 21-of-25 for 179 yards and touchdowns in the air to Max McLeod and Josh Johnston, while also running for the final score. Michael Zeman rushed for 144 yards on 26 carries and had 185 total yards in another workhorse performance.

The Mountaineers (4-1, 3-1 RMAC) were led by quarterback Connor Desch who threw for 169 yards and a defense that got to Matocha seven times. 

With two of NCAA Division II's top-10 defenses on display, Mines got the early upper hand when McLeod hauled in a six-yard pass from Matocha, but Desch used his ability on the ground to drive the Mountaineers to a touchdown with his eight-yard keeper later in the first quarter.

The score stayed 7-7 until the third quarter when Mines went on a seven-plus minute drive to open the half capped by Johnston's toe-tapping touchdown for the 14-7 lead.

Both defenses continued to limit momentum until Western got something going midway through the fourth. A 25-yard Desch pass to Cameron Colangelo set up a four-yard Josh Cummings touchdown run to knot the game at 14, and four plays later, Western's Lane Farris forced Matocha to fumble at midfield with Dominick Fletcher recovering. Driving to go ahead and potentially win the game, Western had the ball at the Mines 1 after a pass interference call in the end zone, but Minnehan popped the ball out of Cummings' hands for Williams to recover on 2nd and goal. Neither team was able to make anything from their final possession after that, sending the game to overtime.

Mines won the toss and elected to go on defense first, and that decision paid off. On Western's second play, Desch was intercepted at the goal line by Williams, giving Mines the walk-off opportunity. Zeman ran for 13 yards on first down, a Tristan Smith catch put Mines at the four, and Matocha broke a tackle and hauled into the end zone for the win on the Orediggers' third play.

NOTABLES
- It was the first time in 96 meetings that Mines and Western played as undefeated teams.
- It was Mines' first overtime game since Sept. 17, 2016 in a 2OT loss to Colorado Mesa. The Orediggers' last win in overtime was in 2011 against Western New Mexico. 
- Mines stretched its home regular-season winning streak to 23 straight games dating back to that CMU game in 2016, and their RMAC winning streak to 14 in a row going back to 2018. 
- Western Colorado was the second team out receiving votes in this week's AFCA Top 25.
- Mines ended up with 319 total yards to Western's 304. The Orediggers also once again controlled the possession at 33:19. 
- Minnehan led the defense with seven tackles while Williams stopped five with a break-up in addition to his two turnovers generated. Zach Hester and Robert Miller had Mines' sacks.
- Matocha spread the ball around with Johnston, Mason Karp, Tristan Smith, and Michael Zeman all going for 30+ yards. Smith had six catches for 41 yards and Karp four for 46. 
- Cummings ended up with 86 yards on the ground for Western. Colangelo led all receivers with 53 yards off three catches.
- Both punters had outstanding days as Jacob Click booted seven for a 42.1-yard average and three inside the 20, and Kyle Yonker had six for a 46.3-yard average and also put three inside the 20. 

NEXT UP
Mines visits Black Hills State on Oct. 9 for a 1 p.m. start.