Colorado Mines weathers three delays, absence of top offensive weapon to roll past Washburn

GOLDEN — Joseph Capra fielded the snap at his own 10-yard line, took off on a designed draw play and found a hole as wide as the Front Range.

A solid block from his tailback and one diving defender’s miss later, Capra was running free at Marv Kay Stadium for Colorado School of Mines. The 85-yard touchdown scamper was the second-longest rush in program history and the highlight of a comfortable but quirky 41-27 win against Washburn on a long, soggy Saturday. This game started at 12:05 p.m. and ended at 7:40 p.m. because of three separate lightning delays.

“Probably the craziest thing I’ve ever been part of in college football,” Mines coach Bob Stitt said. “We’ve had lightning delays in the past, but nothing like this. I told the kids I was really proud of how they handled things.”

Capra had 207 yards passing and another 107 rushing with three touchdowns to give Stitt a victorious return to this stadium in his second stint as the Orediggers’ head coach. The Denver South product is Mines’ first local quarterback in eight years, and he now has 413 yards passing and 142 rushing in his first two starts.

When the contest wasn’t being delayed by lightning, or impacted by heavy rains, a quick-strike offense helped Mines pull away and then end any doubt against the Ichabods. Capra’s long run pushed Mines’ advantage to 21-0 early in the second quarter, and then Landon Walker went 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play after Washburn had cut the advantage to 27-13 late in the third quarter.

Mines controlled this game despite missing All-America wide receiver Flynn Schiele, who missed the contest with an injury sustained in the club’s season-opening win at West Texas A&M last week. There were flashes of the dominance on both sides of the ball that powered Mines to back-to-back national championship game appearances in 2022 and 2023, but also some issues to work on with better competition in conference play on the horizon.

Walker was a battering ram, finishing with 199 yards on 26 carries and a pair of touchdowns. He put the Orediggers in front to cap a 12-play drive with 5:33 left in the first quarter. Two Capra touchdown runs, including the 85-yarder, made it look like this was going to be a rout.

“They had a five-man box, so I knew if we just blocked everyone, I was going to get the second level,” Capra said. “Both of the safeties kind of took a bad angle. After that, I’m just kind of off. I was just worried about not getting caught.”

The Ichabods, with some help from the home side, clawed back into the contest. Mines had two turnovers. The first was a Walker fumble inside the Washburn 10-yard line. Orediggers linebacker Brady Zingelmann erased that one on the next play with an interception.

The defense couldn’t cancel out a Capra sack/fumble that Washburn recovered at the Mines 30. Both of the Ichabods’ touchdowns in this game came on screen passes, which was easily the most effective way Washburn attacked an otherwise smothering defense. All three of Washburn’s pass plays of 20-plus yards while the game was still in doubt were screens, and its longest play came on a 37-yard run by a receiver.

Redshirt freshman kicker Preston Kyle nailed a 56-yard field goal with room to spare near the end of the first half. It was the first field of 50-plus yards for the program since 2017. But, keeping with the theme of the day, Kyle also missed two shorter field goals later in the game and had one blocked.

Another issue for Mines was the penalties. There were seven of them for 85 yards, including four that gave Washburn a first down and multiple personal fouls.

“You try to eliminate the silly things out of a game, but the things that we don’t want to eliminate is how hard we play,” Stitt said. “There’s not a team in America that plays harder than our guys do. There’s gonna be some things like that, but I don’t want to eliminate the aggressiveness.”