GOLDEN, Colo. - #1 Colorado School of Mines dominated every phase of the game as they clinched at least a share of the RMAC title with a 77-3 win over New Mexico Highlands to remain unbeaten.

John Matocha broke yet another career record, becoming the RMAC and Mines all-time passing yards leader as he guided the Orediggers (10-0, 8-0 RMAC) to a 42-0 halftime lead that took the Cowboys (2-8, 1-7 RMAC) out of the game almost immediately.

Matocha completed his first 15 passes in the most efficient outing of his career, completing 17-of-19 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns, and rushing for 21 yards and a score, in only two quarters. Max McLeod became the third Mines receiver to cross 3,000 career yards as he caught two touchdowns in a 127-yard first half.

The Mines defense continued to dominate, holding one of the RMAC's most run-heavy offenses to only 68 yards on the ground and 126 yards of offense in total. Mines was +3 with a Joel Diaz interception, Eb Alfred-Igbokwe fumble recovery, and Joey Beckner/Aaron Rhea fumble combination generating turnovers.

Mines scored a touchdown on all but one of its 12 drives, and did so with lightning-fast efficiency in the first half. McLeod caught a 29-yarder from Matocha on their opening drive and Schiele battled his way into the end zone midway through the first for a 14-0 lead. A fumble by quarterback Joey Cave was pounced on by Alfred-Igbokwe one play later, and that led to Noah Roper's two-yard plunge three plays later. Schiele's 13-yard touchdown made it 28-0 at the stroke of the first quarter.

The second quarter went pretty much the same way with Matocha starting off by finding a wide-open Konnor Mickelsen for a 25-yard touchdown early on, and then taking it in himself with a nine-yard rushing touchdown later in the second to lead 42-0 at halftime.

The second half started with Diaz's interception to set Mines up in the red zone, and with Matocha's day done, Evan Foster found McLeod for a 15-yard touchdown one play later. Brock Zanetell saw his first action at quarterback on the next series and guided the Orediggers to an impressive 77-yard, five-play drive as Braelon Tate and Mickelsen chunked out rushing yards to lead to Zanetell's three-yard scoring keeper. 

NMHU's best drive of the game came in the third quarter to go 57 yards on 13 plays, but they had to settle for three on Will McDaniel's 35-yard field goal.

Gage Guardiola's fumble to open the fourth quarter, forced by Beckner and recovered by Rhea, led to yet another score with Tate finding the end zone on a six-yard score, and Mines tacked on rushing touchdowns by Chris Yoo and quarterback Jake Sype later in the quarter to set the final at 77-3.

NOTABLES
- On Senior Day, the Mines Class of 2023 tied the program record for wins by a class with their 47th. They are the only Mines senior class to win five consecutive RMAC titles.
- Mines is assured of at least a share of the RMAC title and can win it outright at Fort Lewis next weekend. The Orediggers are only the third RMAC program - and first since Western Colorado in 1979 - to win five straight.
- Mines had a whopping 634 yards of total offense on only 61 plays (10.4 yards per play), split between 364 yards in the air and 270 on the ground. The offensive line pushed Mines to its second consecutive 250+ yard rushing game and kept five different quarterbacks clean in a sack-free performance. 
- With his 10th consecutive win to start his head coaching tenure at Mines, Pete Sterbick surpassed Thomas Beadle's 9-0 record in 1898 as the best head-coaching start in program history.
- Mines improved to 10-0 for just the third time in program history and first since 2019.
- Matocha surpassed Justin Dvorak for the Mines and RMAC passing yards record and is now at 13,627. Matocha also came very close to another career record - the college football all-divisions total touchdowns mark. After setting the D-II record last week, his five on the day took him within one of Case Keenum (Houston) and Blaine Hawkins (Central Iowa), who co-hold the record with 178. 
- Matocha's 286.7 quarterback rating was a career-high. Mines quarterbacks had only two incompletions all day as Evan Foster was 6-for-6 for 73 yards and Zanetell completed his first career pass.
- McLeod caught his 40th and 41st career touchdown passes to move past former teammate Josh Johnston for second all-time at Mines. Meanwhile, he joins Brody Oliver and Justin Gallas as the only other 3,000-yard receiver in program history, and his first catch of the day put him over 1,000 yards for a second consecutive season.
- The defense had numerous individual standouts led by five tackles apiece from Adrian Moreno and Evan Alexander. Perhaps no Oredigger shined more in the second half than redshirt-freshman lineman Henry Isackson, who compiled four tackles and a sack in his longest stretch of game action yet.
- Alfred-Igbokwe added a sack to his fumble recovery.
- Mickelsen impressed in the punt return game compiling 54 yards on three tries with a career-long 30-yarder.
- Hunter Pearson stayed perfect this season going 11-for-11 on extra points; he is 66-of-66 in 2023.
- Mines had a boatload of career highs and firsts including Tate's 81 and Yoo's 75 rushing yards; Schiele's 103 yards and two touchdowns; Zanetell's first career touchdown; and the first career turnovers for both Alfred-Igbokwe and Rhea.
- The Orediggers are Colorado's final unbeaten football team after Air Force's loss to Army on Saturday.

NEXT UP
Mines closes the regular season at Fort Lewis next Saturday.