Western Colorado football rallies to beat Colorado Mines, remain unbeaten

The Western Colorado Mountaineers took another step in their quest to reach the RMAC football mountaintop.

Senior quarterback Drew Nash punished the Colorado School of Mines defense with both his arm and legs, and fifth-ranked Western Colorado closed out the game with 27 unanswered points to beat the Orediggers, 40-17, at Mountaineer Bowl in Gunnison on Saturday.

The win moved Western Colorado to 8-0 and 6-0 in RMAC play with ninth-ranked CSU-Pueblo (8-1, 7-0 RMAC) set to visit the Western Slope next Saturday.

Nash totaled 354 yards of offense, including 234 yards and three touchdowns on 21-of-32 passing and 120 yards and one score on 13 carries. Freshman tailback Quinn Bailey scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving), as the Mountaineers totaled 442 yards of offense in their second straight win over Mines.

Mines (5-3, 3-3) took a 10-0 lead on Max Barnes’ 44-yard touchdown run and a Preston Kyle 35-yard field goal with 1:01 left in the first quarter. But the Orediggers only scored once more the rest of the way — an 8-yard Joseph Capra-to-Josh Best TD pass that gave Mines a 17-13 halftime lead.

It was all Mountaineers in the second half.

Bailey’s 4-yard scoring run gave Western a 20-17 lead with 11:41 left in the third quarter, Nash busted loose for a 63-yard scoring run at the 1:17 mark, and the Mountaineers tacked on two more TDs in the fourth quarter to blow the game open.