The Colorado School of Mines football program of recent vintage returned to Golden on Saturday afternoon.
Looking like the program that played in back-to-back NCAA Division II championship games, the Orediggers piled up 763 yards of offense en route to a dominant 72-14 victory over Adams State at Marv Kay Stadium.
Quarterback Joseph Capra threw six touchdown passes in the first half, and Mines rumbled for 481 rushing yards to move to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in RMAC play ahead of a trip to unbeaten Western Colorado next week.
Max Barnes carried the ball 18 times for 201 yards and one touchdown, and Columbine High grad Josh Snyder had 109 yards and a score on 12 carries in the Orediggers’ second straight win.
Pierce Richards hauled in three of Capra’s first-half TD passes, and the sixth went to Blake Smotherman from 3 yards out to give Mines a 49-14 lead going into the break. Capra finished with 226 yards on 14-of-18 passing with zero interceptions and no sacks.
Mines scored touchdowns on each of its first 10 possessions, and tacked on a field goal on the 11th.
The Orediggers will need more of that next week when they head to Gunnison to face the fifth-ranked Mountaineers (7-0, 5-0), who hammered South Dakota Mines, 34-13, in Rapid City, S.D., on Saturday. Western Colorado has yet to beat a team by fewer than 17 points this season and now gets Mines, CSU Pueblo (7-1, 6-0) and Chadron State (6-2, 6-0) in a critical stretch in the RMAC title chase.
RMAC football
Saturday’s scores
Western Colorado 34, South Dakota Mines 13
Chadron State 41, Fort Lewis 0
CSU Pueblo 40, Black Hills State 14
New Mexico Highlands 28, Colorado Mesa 22
