#1 Colorado School of Mines (9-0, 7-0 RMAC) vs. New Mexico Highlands (2-7, 1-6 RMAC) // Saturday, Nov. 4 // 12 p.m.
Alumni Field at Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[TV: KCDO Local3] [RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Tickets] [Mines Media Notes]

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With the regular season down to its final two games, #1 Colorado School of Mines turns its sights to New Mexico Highlands in Week 10 with a chance to secure at least a share of the RMAC title.

LIVE COVERAGE
Mines Football will be televised home live on KCDO Local3 in Colorado, and stream for free on the RMAC Network. Miles Dunklin and Geoff Girsch have the call. The Orediggers' Senior Day ceremony will be seen exclusively on the RMAC Network before the game starting at about 11:45 a.m.

FAN INFORMATION
For this week's game, please note the following important pieces of information:

- The Ore Cart Shuttles will run on game day for fans - visit the Parking page for more information.
- Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase digital tickets or print at home tickets ahead of time at minesathletics.com/tickets.
- Mines students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free with their BlasterCard. 
- Gates and the tailgating lot open two hours before kickoff at 10 a.m.
- Tailgating is permitted in Lot K only (next to Stermole Soccer Stadium, $10). Fans are encouraged to park for free in the parking garage at 1400 Maple Street, located two blocks south of Marv Kay Stadium. Visit the Parking page for more information.
- The City of Golden's street parking requires a permit seven days a week. Fans can not park in the neighborhood surrounding the stadium. 
- The New Terrain Beer Garden in the McKee West End Zone will be open for all fans 21+. 

WEATHER REPORT
After last week's snow game at Marv Kay Stadium, fans will enjoy a well-deserved beautiful day this Saturday with a forecast for mostly sunny skies and a high of 65.

SENIOR DAY IN GOLDEN
Before the final home game of the season, Mines will honor 31 fifth- and sixth-year seniors for their contributions to the program. This year's senior class has presided over an incredible four-year period of success for the Orediggers, and the sixth-year seniors have a chance to do what no other Mines class has done by winning a fifth RMAC championship ring. With football left to play, at 46 wins this year's class is one shy of the all-time record of 47 held by the Class of 2022, and they can claim appearances in the 2021 NCAA semifinals and 2022 NCAA final as firsts in program history.

AT THE HELM
Head Coach Pete Sterbick has won his first nine games in charge of the Orediggers after the former offensive coordinator took over the head job last April. Sterbick is now only the second coach in Mines history to start out 9-0, tying Thomas Beadle who was also 9-0 in 1898. With Sterbick's promotion, Mines retained all of its assistant coaches, promoting offensive line coach Tim Brandon to offensive coordinator to replace Sterbick. 

LEADING THE WAY
The Orediggers elected four captains for the 2023 season, with quarterback John Matocha earning his second "C" patch alongside center Steele Petty, defensive tackle Jack Peterson, and safety Logan Rayburn being first-time captains. 

IN THE POLLS
Mines remains #1 in the national polls for a third consecutive week, the top team in both the AFCA and D2football.com polls. The Orediggers are the sixth Mines team to be ranked #1 joining men's soccer, men's basketball, men's golf, men's cross country, and men's track & field; the Oredigger cross country team is also currently ranked #1 in their poll. Mines now owns three wins over AFCA top-10 ranked teams this season having beaten #3 Grand Valley State, #4 Angelo State, and #9 Western Colorado.

MINES TOPS REGIONAL RANKINGS
More important than the polls are the NCAA regional rankings, and Mines found itself on top of the first edition of the Super Region IV rankings announced Monday. The Orediggers lead last week's opponent, Western Colorado, for the top, with the top seven teams getting into the NCAA tournament and the top team receiving a first-round bye.

NCAA Super Region IV Rankings (Oct. 30)        
1. Colorado School of Mines            
2. Western Colorado University                
3. Texas Permian Basin                
4. Central Washington                
5. Augustana                
6. Minnesota State Mankato            
7. Bemidji State            
8. Wayne State             
9. Angelo State                
10. Texas A&M-Kingsville  

                 
ONE FOR THE THUMB
Mines would clinch at least a share of the RMAC championship with a win this weekend, which would be their fifth in a row. That would put the program in elite company: only two other teams, Western Colorado (seven straight from 1973-79) and Utah (six straight from 1928 to 1933) have won five in a row in the 114-year history of the conference. The Orediggers have won 15 RMAC titles all-time.

GREAT START
The 2023 Oredigger squad joins a very short list of five Mines teams to hold a 9-0 record, and would be only the third to get to 10-0 with a win this week. The 2019 team, which ultimately won its first dozen games, was the last team to start 9-0.

Mines Best Season Starts            
2023 - 9-0                
2019 - 12-0                
2018 - 9-0                
2004 - 12-0                
1898 - 9-0                

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Marv Kay Stadium is a tough place to play, and that's especially true against conference foes; Mines has not lost a home RMAC game since 2016. The Orediggers are 35-2 all-time in RMAC games since Marv Kay Stadium opened in 2015, and have won 31 straight since that 2016 loss, a span of 2,604 days.

LAST YEAR VS. NMHU
Mines cruised to a 54-16 road win at New Mexico Highlands last year producing 564 yards of offense behind a career day from John Matocha. Matocha threw for 369 yards and five touchdowns, and four different receivers had 70+ yards with Tristan Smith, Max McLeod, and Mason Karp all scoring. Mack Minnehan's fumble recovery in the end zone added a defensive score as the defense held NMHU to only 262 yards of offense.

SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
New Mexico Highlands enters Week 10 hoping to snap a six-game skid, coming off a competitive 24-21 loss to Chadron State last week. They have a run-first offense led by Shawntay Mills, who has been one of the RMAC's most productive running backs at 642 yards and four touchdowns; they have five players with at least 100 yards and a touchdown this season. Starting quarterback JD Jerry has 213 yards and three touchdowns, while Joey Cave has taken the most reps at that spot this season with 627 yards and three touchdowns passing. Defensively, Devin Coney leads the team with 77 tackles including 9 for a loss.

NOTING THE SERIES
Mines and New Mexico Highlands are meeting for the 58th time since 1938 ... The all-time series is close, with Mines taking the lead in 2019 and now standing at 29-26-2 ... The Orediggers have won nine straight dating back to 2013 and 19 of the last 22 dating to 2000 ... The Orediggers are 17-2-1 all-time at home ... NMHU will represent the sixth different state a Mines opponent has hailed from this season.

WEEK 9 REWIND
In a battle of unbeatens, #1 Mines left zero doubt, blasting #9 Western Colorado 42-7 in the snow at Marv Kay Stadium. The Orediggers handed the Mountaineers their first loss, outscoring the visitors 28-0 in the second half and fully controlling every aspect of the game with a massive 38:38 time of possession. John Matocha produced 331 total yards and threw three touchdowns, with Max McLeod catching two of those scores, while Noah Roper led a dominant Mines ground game with two touchdowns of his own. Against the RMAC's #1 defense, Mines rolled out 505 total yards, 266 rushing yards, and tripled Western's scoring defense average, with heavy second-half snow not slowing down the Orediggers. The defense, meanwhile, held WCU to only 142 total yards and seven on the ground as they generated four turnovers and five sacks in a total team effort.
 
WEEK 9 QUICK HITS
Standouts from Week 9's win vs. Western Colorado:

- John Matocha had a season-high 90 rushing yards to go with 241 pass yards and three touchdowns.
- Max McLeod caught two scores among six catches for 66 yards, and Zach Hoffman had a touchdown catch. 
- The Mines offensive line keyed a punishing ground game to the tune of 264 yards and three touchdowns led by Matocha (90 yards), Landon Walker (83 yards), and Noah Roper (62 yards, 2 TD) with Chris Yoo also scoring.
- The Mines defense held Western to just seven rush yards and 142 total yards of offense.
- Jaden Healy had a team-high eight tackles with 2.0 for a loss and 1.5 sacks. Nolan Reeve, Zach Hester, Kyle Bahnsen, and Adrian Moreno were also in on sacks.
- Mikee Barker and Logan Rayburn had interceptions and JJ Lee and Joey Beckner recovered fumbles as Mines was +3 on the day.

WELL-AWARDED
The weekly awards continue to pour in for quarterback John Matocha as he won his fourth RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honor in 2023 on Monday. Mines players have collectively won 10 RMAC weekly honors this season, including in each of the last four weeks.

VERY OFFENSIVE
Under Pete Sterbick as offensive coordinator between 2019 and 2022, Mines' offense routinely ranked among the best in the nation, leading the RMAC in scoring all three of those seasons (and leading the nation last year), and also ranking atop the RMAC in total offensive yards twice and in the NCAA top-10 last year. This year? Mines has the highest numbers of Sterbick and now-offensive coordinator Tim Brandon's careers so far, producing 44.8 points per game and 492.6 yards per game (25 yards per game more than 2022) to rank #7 and #4, respectively, in D-II.

MATOCHA SETS MORE RECORDS
John Matocha's assault on the Mines, RMAC, and NCAA Division II record books continues as he became the all-time D-II leader in total touchdowns last week, producing the 172nd of his career on a touchdown pass to Max McLeod. A starter since week 2 of his true freshman season in 2019, Matocha is 45-6 since then (his 51 starts are a Mines record) and now has even more records in sight. Already the Mines and RMAC passing touchdowns recordholder (he is now tied for second all-time in D-II at 148), Matocha will likely surpass Justin Dvorak's Mines and RMAC records for passing yards this week, standing only 128 yards shy of Dvorak's 13,466. Matocha already broke Dvorak's total offensive yards mark a few weeks ago and is fifth in D-II history at 15,165. And, while he set the D-II total touchdowns mark last week, the all-divisions college football record of 178 co-held by Houston's Case Keenum (FBS) and Central Iowa's Blaine Hawkins (D-III) is now in jeopardy. 

NCAA D-II Career Passing Touchdowns        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd         159        
2. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg    148        
     John Matocha, Mines        148        
4. Justin Dvorak, Mines        134        

NCAA D-II Career Total Touchdowns        
172 - John Matocha, Mines (148 pass/23 rush/1 rec.)    
171 - Tyson Bagent, Shepherd (159 pass/12 rush)        
166 - Jason Vander Lann, Ferris State (85 pass/81 rush)    

NCAA D-II Career Total Offensive Yards        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd         17,213        
2. Bo Cordell, Tusculum        16,432        
3. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg    16,064        
4. Steven Gachette, SW Baptist    15,235        
5. John Matocha, Mines         15,165        
6. Justin Dvorak, Mines        14,608        
7. Zach Amedro, West Liberty        14,598        

Mines/RMAC Career Passing Yards            
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16)        13,466        
2. John Matocha (2019-23)        13,338        

TO THE MAX
Max McLeod is on a roll the last few weeks, catching eight touchdowns in over his last three games. He is second in NCAA Division II this season with 998 yards and is sixth with 11 touchdowns, and he is on the verge of recording a second consecutive 1,000-yard season. In only his third year, McLeod is reaching the upper echelon of Mines' record book, as well, and is now third on the Orediggers' all-time receiving touchdowns list and jumped two spots last week to fourth on the yards list, now only 48 yards from becoming Mines' third 3,000-yard receiver.

Mines Career Receiving Yards            
1. Brody Oliver (2014-2018)    4,010        
2. Justin Gallas (2001-2005)    3,561        
3. Jonny Chan (2000-2004)    2,972        
4. Max McLeod (2021-pres.)    2,952        
5. Josh Johnston (2019-22)    2,939      
 
Mines Career Receiving Touchdowns        
1. Brody Oliver (2014-2018)    59        
2. Josh Johnston (2018-22)    40        
3. Max McLeod (2021-pres.)    39        
4. Adam Saur (2005-2009)    32        
5. Jonny Chan (2000-2004)    31        

NO RUNNING
The Orediggers' run defense has been one of the nation's elite units in 2023, allowing an RMAC-best 81.7 yards per game. The Orediggers have not allowed 100 or more yards in five straight games, and have two games - vs. Adams State (5 yards) and Western Colorado (7 yards) - of single-digit yards allowed. Mines has 69 tackles for loss overall led by their outside linerbackers Nolan Reeve (7.0) and Jaden Healy (6.0) with Kyle Bahnsen (5.5) and Jack Peterson (5.5) leading the defensive line.

REEVE LEADS THE WAY
Nolan Reeve continues to be college football's active leader in sacks, compiling 38.5 in his career to lead all divisions of the NCAA. Reeve has a team-leading 6.0 this season. Reeve still has work to get to Mines' career record, held by former Jacksonville Jaguar and all-American Marc Schiechl at 46.0, but Reeve has compiled double-digit sacks in each of the last two seasons, including tying Schiechl's single-season mark of 13.5 last year. 

NCAA Football Active Sacks Leaders            
1. Nolan Reeve (Mines)        38.5        
2. Josh Bever (Ohio Northern)    35.5        
3. Ryan Bodolus (Ursinus)        35.5        

THIIIIIIIRD DOWN
Third downs have been kind to the Orediggers this season on both sides of the ball as Mines ranks second in NCAA Division II third down conversion offense and sixth in defense. Mines has converted 57.6 percent of its third-down opportunities offensively, while the defense has allowed opponents to convert only 26.2 percent; both marks lead the RMAC. 

HUGE LOSERS
As has been well-documented, Mines Football is good at a lot of things. Scoring touchdowns, stopping opposing offenses, you know - football stuff. Not included on that list is predicting coin flips. The Orediggers have lost 18 of their last 21 coin tosses to start the game dating back to early last season, including seven of eight this season (winning only on Jack Peterson's call at CSU Pueblo). The good news? The Orediggers are 18-0 when losing the coin toss since the start of the 2022 season.

YOINK!
Mines is a healthy +11 on turnover margin this season, and it's come from all directions. In total, 17 different Orediggers have a hand in at least one turnover this season; cornerback Jackson Zimmermann's five interceptions leads Mines in total turnovers, with Evan Alexander (1 INT, 1 FF, 1 FR), Jaden Williams (1 INT, 1 FR), Jaden Healy (1 INT, 1 FF), and Zach Hester (1 FF, 1 FR) also having stats in multiple columns.

BIG LEG BLAKE
Mines has a legacy of great punters in its history, and Blake Doud's 2023 season is shaping up to be another chapter. Doud is averaging 46.5 yards per punt 32 kicks; that number unofficially leads the nation as Doud is one punt shy of meeting the NCAA's 3.6 punts per game average to be ranked. Of his 32 punts, he's put 15 inside the 20, had a dozen of 50+ yards, and opponents have only eight returns for an average of 4.7 yards. The redshirt sophomore from Parker, Colo. is a three-time RMAC Specialist of the Week and two-time D2football.com National Specialist of the Week this season. 

PEARSON ON MITCHELL AWARD LIST
Kicker Hunter Pearson is the RMAC's leading scorer among kickers this season, going a perfect 55-of-55 on PATs and 6-of-8 on field goals this season in combination with long snapped Josh Wojciechowicz and holder Jacob Click. The Virginia grad transfer has gotten attention for his performance, landing on the Fred Mitchell Award watchlist earlier in October. The award is given to the top non-FBS kicker in college football.

PRODIGGER
Former all-American cornerback Mason Pierce made his CFL debut on Labor Day (or Labour Day as our friends to the north call it), earning a call up from the 
Toronto Argonauts' practice squad and quickly earned a starting spot in the secondary, where he has stayed over the Argos' last six games. Pierce has 32 total tackles, three interceptions, and two caused fumbles in nine total games, and had a huge performance last week with a pick-six and a forced fumble in Toronto's 27-22 win over Ottawa. Toronto is 16-2 and the #1 seed as they play in the East Final on Nov. 11.

NEXT UP
Mines will close the regular season at Fort Lewis on Nov. 11. NCAA selections will be announced Nov. 12.