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

GOLDEN Joseph Capra fielded the snap at his own -yard line took off on a designed draw play and uncovered 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 -yard touchdown scamper was the second-longest rush in project history and the highlight of a assured but quirky - win against Washburn on a long soggy Saturday This event started at p m and ended at p m because of three separate lightning delays Apparently the craziest thing I ve ever been part of in college football Mines coach Bob Stitt stated We ve had lightning delays in the past but nothing like this I reported the kids I was really proud of how they handled things Capra had yards passing and another 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 yards passing and 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 - early in the second quarter and then Landon Walker went yards for a touchdown on the first play after Washburn had cut the advantage to - late in the third quarter Mines controlled this encounter 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 battle appearances in and but also several issues to work on with better competition in conference play on the horizon Walker was a battering ram finishing with yards on carries and a pair of touchdowns He put the Orediggers in front to cap a -play drive with left in the first quarter Two Capra touchdown runs including the -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 mentioned 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 several help from the home side clawed back into the contest Mines had two turnovers The first was a Walker fumble inside the Washburn -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 Both of the Ichabods touchdowns in this event came on screen passes which was easily the the majority effective way Washburn attacked an otherwise smothering defense All three of Washburn s pass plays of -plus yards while the contest was still in doubt were screens and its longest play came on a -yard run by a receiver Redshirt freshman kicker Preston Kyle nailed a -yard field goal with room to spare near the end of the first half It was the first field of -plus yards for the scheme since But keeping with the theme of the day Kyle also missed two shorter field goals later in the match and had one blocked Another issue for Mines was the penalties There were seven of them for yards including four that gave Washburn a first down and multiple personal fouls You try to eliminate the silly things out of a tournament but the things that we don t want to eliminate is how hard we play Stitt declared There s not a band in America that plays harder than our guys do There s gonna be selected things like that but I don t want to eliminate the aggressiveness Colorado School of Mine s Joseph Capra breaks away to rush yards and amount a touchdown against Washburn University at Marv Kay Stadium Saturday Sept in Golden CO Colorado School of Mines played Washburn University in their home opener Rebecca Slezak Special to The Denver Post Related Articles Grading The Week Broncos will be just fine without Javonte Williams kids No matter what Cowboys fans say Bob Stitt set the standard for Colorado Mines football Now he s back in Golden to make sure it endures Planning the perfect Colorado college football road trip in week by week Burnham Yard is near a Superfund site but experts say that shouldn t deter stadium advancement Keeler Colorado Mines football coach Bob Stitt is chasing even bigger dreams in Golden Starting with a bigger stadium By the end of the third weather delay which concluded at p m the fans left numbered in the dozens Stitt joked that it reminded him of the crowd at his first encounter as coach here in long before this operation became a Division II powerhouse Former Ralston Valley star Logan Madden threw a pair of touchdown passes after the final restart but a third figure for Capra on the ground kept this from getting even weirder Multiple players commented everyone was still locked in during the first weather delay which lasted just about minutes But the second one was nearly two hours That s when things got a little well different Capra revealed he played chosen Clash Royale on his phone and got particular food Linebacker Christian Peluse who had five tackles and one of Mines six sacks explained there was a concert and a dance party at one point And because this is Mines there was various homework involved The second and third was definitely just having fun with our friends Peluse stated We did indeed have two people bust out specific differential equations homework and certain physics That was funny but we have to stay up on school stuff too RMAC football Thursday CSU Pueblo Central Missouri Saturday Upper Iowa South Dakota Mines Chadron State at Black Hills State n Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams