COLORADO SPRINGS - Colorado School of Mines quarterback John Matocha has been named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week for guiding his team to a win over South Dakota Mines in Week 7.

Matocha tied his career high with five touchdown passes, producing 344 yards in the air and 22 on the ground in the Orediggers' 45-22 victory to improve to 7-0. It is the third time Matocha has won the award this season and 12th in his career.

The redshirt senior sparked the Orediggers to a 31-0 lead in the game with touchdown passes of 37 and 54 yards to Max McLeod and a three-yarder to Landon Walker, and later added strikes of 5 and 12 yards to McLeod and Blake Smotherman, respectively, in the second half. Matocha's final completion of the game, the touchdown to Smotherman, was the 1,000th completed pass of his career, and he also became Mines' and the RMAC's all-time total touchdowns leader during the game, surpassing former Mines QB Justin Dvorak and now sitting at 164, just seven shy of the NCAA Division II record.

The Orediggers have now had a combined eight RMAC players of the week this season: Matocha three times, punter Blake Doud twice, McLeod once, linebacker Jaden Healy once, and cornerback Jackson Zimmermann once. 

Mines, the newly-minted #1 team in NCAA Division II, heads to Black Hills State this Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.