Colorado Mines football cruises past South Dakota Mines

A week after its RMAC win streak came to an end, the Colorado School of Mines football program is ready to start a new one.

Riding the arm of redshirt senior quarterback Evan Foster, the 12th-ranked Orediggers got back on track with a 45-20 thrashing of South Dakota Mines on Saturday afternoon at Marv Kay Stadium in Golden.

Foster put up 319 yards and four touchdowns on 19-of-26 passing, connecting with senior Max McLeod and junior Flynn Schiele on two scoring passes apiece as Mines (5-1 overall, 3-1 RMAC) jumped ahead 42-6 with 3:20 left in the third quarter and cruised from there.

McLeod finished the game with eight receptions for 172 yards, while Schiele hauled in six passes for 126.

Sophomore defensive back Will Ramsey got things started with an interception return for a touchdown on South Dakota Mines’ first offensive possession of the game. It was the Orediggers’ first defensive touchdown of the season. Things didn’t get much better after that for the Hardrockers (3-4, 2-3 RMAC), who were held to 287 total yards.

McLeod and Schiele had touchdown grabs of 50 and 24 yards and Landon Walker ran in a score from 1 yard out to give the Orediggers a 28-3 lead by halftime. The lead ballooned to 36 points after McLeod reeled in his second TD grab, putting him at 51 for his career to become the second player in Mines history and 11th in NCAA Division II to reach 50 TDs.