Not much has gone right for Western State this season, but when it comes to blocking kicks, the Mountaineers are proudly in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference class by themselves.
Western State (1-4, 1-6 RMAC) has blocked seven kicks this season, including two potential game-winning, fourth-quarter field goals by Fort Lewis last Saturday in Durango. The Mountaineers went on to beat the Skyhawks 27-24 in overtime for their first win this season and first OT win ever.
WSC offensive lineman Ryan Walstrom, a 6-foot-8, 330-pound junior from Valley High School, blocked both field-goal attempts against Fort Lewis to earn RMAC special-teams player- of-the-week honors. He also blocked two PATs the previous week against Western New Mexico and has five of the Mountaineers’ seven blocks.
“He’s 6-foot-8 (and) when he stands up and jumps, if we can get him in the fly-line of the ball, he’s got a pretty good shot at blocking them,” Western State coach Pat Stewart told the student paper, the Top O’ the World. “It was really a great job of (our defense in) competing their butts off down there and forcing them into a field goal, then the field-goal block team doing a great job and blocking two kicks.”
Continued climb. RMAC leaders Nebraska- Kearney and Colorado Mines, both at 6-1 and 5-0 in conference play, came in 12th and 20th, respectively, in this week’s NCAA Division II coaches’ poll. It’s a season-high ranking for the Lopers, who were 13th in the preseason poll.
UNK and Colorado Mines meet Nov. 13 in Golden for what likely will be the conference championship.
Footnotes. Nebraska-Kearney wide receiver Kyle Kaiser, a senior from Broomfield, had 10 catches for 282 yards (both careeer highs) and touchdowns of 29, 71 and 73 yards in a 38-24 win last week at Colorado State-Pueblo. . . . The win was defending RMAC champion Nebraska- Kearney’s 15th consecutive conference victory.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
