The Mountaineer football team shined against bitter rival Colorado School of Mines in an away conference victory on Oct. 26. Western opened up with a 24-point advantage, then hung on to win 38-28 against No. 10 Orediggers. The victory moved Western to an 8-0 overall record.
Elias Zarate opened up the scoring late in the second quarter with a 32-yard catch down the seam from quarterback Drew Nash. Zarate's touchdown spurred a quick scoring outburst for the Mountaineers. Less than 2 minutes later, Braeden Hogan scampered 53 yards for a 14-0 lead.
Mines struck back on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 33 seconds left. But Nash returned with a 49-yard drive, setting up Adam Tasei's 49-yard field goal to send Western into the halftime break leading by 10.
The opening possession in the third quarter produced another Mountaineer touchdown. Nash and company traveled 77 yards in nine plays. The drive culminated in a Daniel Parsek 6-yard touchdown on a Nash play-action.
The 17-point advantage widened on the first play of the fourth quarter. Nash kept the ball on a zone-read and ran untouched around the right tackle for a 30-yard touchdown. His run capped off an 11-play, 98-yard drive.
Mines stormed back into contention with three touchdown passes in seven plays, but Hogan’s touchdown run provided the Mountaineers a reasonable cushion. On the final Mines drive, Jaydon Young forced a fumble with a sack. Ernesto Lopez recovered the fumble for the Mountaineers, to polish off the 38-28 Western victory.
(Gregg Petcoff is the assistant athletics director for communications at Western Colorado University and can be reached at gpetcoff@western.edu.)
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