Luke Johnson

CO Mines won its 5th straight Saturday (10/24/26) afternoon, outlasting SD Mines 17-10 in the Battle of the Mines in front of a standing room only crowd of 6,056 at Marv Kay Stadium in Golden. This one was an old school slugfest between two of the RMAC's top run defenses. The Hardrockers struck first with an 11 play, 80 yard opening drive, but the Orediggers answered with 17 straight points in the 2nd quarter. First was a Joseph Capra 2 yard TD run, followed by a 15 yard Capra TD pass to Tyson Mauck, and finally a 50 yard Preston Kyle FG as time expired in the 1st half. Then it got interesting. While SD Mines held the ball for 22 minutes, the CO Mines defense bent without breaking. It held the RMAC's leading rusher, Dawson Dunbar, to a mere 46 yards, limiting the Hardrockers to just 69 rushing yards on 43 carries, while forcing 3 turnovers. When it mattered most, the Orediggers came up with 2 big stops. Aaron Gall and Luke Johnson stuffed SD Mines on 4th down midway through the 4th. Then on the final drive, back to back sacks by Justin Vaughn and Gall forced a 4th & 31 that ended with a fumbled lateral recovered by Mo Russolillo. Leading CO Mines to the win were:
🏈 Joseph Capra, 12 Cmps on 26 Atts for 120 Yds & 1 TD to go along with 33 rushing Yds & 1 rushing TD;
🏈 Max Barnes, 13 Carries for 41 Yds plus 2 Recs for 17 Yds;
🏈 Tyson Mauck, 1 Rec for 15 Yds & 1 TD;
🏈 Mo Russolillo, 10 Tackles (7 Solo & 3 Ast) with 3 QB Hurries & 1 Fumble Recovery;
🏈 Luke Johnson, 10 Tackles (3 Solo & 7 Ast);
🏈 Justin Vaughn, 3 Tackles (2 Solo & 1 Ast) with 2 Sacks;
🏈 Aaron Gall, 3 Tackles (2 Solo & 1 Ast) with 1 Sack & 1 Forced Fumble; &
🏈 Will Ramsey, 3 Tackles (2 Solo & 1 Ast) with 1 INT & 1 Forced Fumble. With the win, CO Mines improves to 5-2-1 (5-1 RMAC) and runs its all time series lead to 26-1, while SD Mines falls to 5-3 (3-3 RMAC). CO Mines hits the road next Saturday (10/31) to take on Adams St. at 12:00 (MT), while SD Mines travels to Gunnison to take on Western CO. Here are a few highlights from the Orediggers' home win:
#RMAC #RMACfb #COMinesFB #HelluvaEngineer

CO Mines was involved in a bizarre one against Washburn in Topeka, KS, yesterday (9/5/26) that concluded in a 16-16 tie. Yes, you read that correctly, a tie. CO Mines got off to a slow start that resulted in the Orediggers going into halftime, down 10-3. CO Mines’ 3 first half points came off the leg of Preston Kyle, who drilled a 43 yard field goal. Nick Stone provided CO Mines with a much needed spark in the middle of the 3rd quarter when he made a phenomenal leaping catch and somehow managed to get his left foot down inbounds for an Orediggers’ touchdown. Preston Kyle followed up with another 43 yard field goal and then put yet another through the uprights from 29 yards out to give CO Mines a 16-10 lead. While Washburn tied the game with a touchdown with 1:48 remaining, the Orediggers refused to let them take the lead as Redshirt Sophomore DB Jack Mills blocked the go ahead PAT to keep it tied 16-16. CO Mines was able to drive the ball past midfield to set up a Preston Kyle 64 yard field goal attempt. While Kyle put the leg to it and split the uprights, Washburn called a timeout half a second before the snap. Kyle’s second attempt at the 64 yarder, while impressive, was wide left, forcing OT. Unfortunately, before OT could get started, the WET BULB GLOBE TEMPERATURE (WBGT) reached 92.1 degrees Fahrenheit, and the MIAA mandates that all outdoor sporting events must immediately stop when the 92.1 threshold is met. Due to the amount of time it would take for the WBGT to drop below the 92.1 threshold, and due to the distance between the two teams, the resolution was to call the game a tie. Leading CO Mines in the game were: 🏈 Joseph Capra, 21 Cmps on 33 Atts for 214 Yds & 1 TD; 🏈 Nick Stone, 9 Recs for 125 Yds & 1 TD; 🏈 Max Barnes, 20 Carries for 82 Yds; 🏈 Mo Russolillo, 11 Tackles (8 Solo & 3 Ast); & 🏈 Luke Johnson, 6 Tackles (5 Solo & 1 Ast) & 1 INT. The Orediggers will be looking forward to a sense of normalcy next weekend when they travel a short distance to face an extremely familiar opponent in CSU Pueblo to kick off RMAC play. Here are a few of the Orediggers’ highlights from Saturday’s game: #RMAC #RMACfb #COMinesFB #HelluvaEngineer